A joint naval exercise between Indian and Japanese Coast Guards will be held on January 15 to strengthen relationship and refine the joint operating procedures between the coast guards of the two nations. The exercise named Sahyog Kaijin-XV is scheduled to be held in the Bay of Bengal off Chennai on 15 January. Japan Coast Guard ship ‘Echigo’ will be visiting Chennai between January 11-16 and a highlight of the exercise includes a “scenario of hijacking of a merchant vessel and subsequent rescue in a combined coast guard operation of both countries”.

The exercise would be jointly witnessed by the Director General, Coast Guard, Vice Admiral Bisht, and Vice Amdiral Hideyo Hanamizu, Vice commandant of the Japanese Coast Guard besides other top officials.

Did You Know???

• Japan suffers 1,500 earthquakes every year.
• Japan consists of over 6,800 islands.
• Mt. Fuji, the tallest mountain in Japan, is an active volcano.
• Japanese Trains are among the world’s most punctual: their average delay is just 18 seconds.
• Japan’s literacy rate is almost 100%.
• The first novel, The Tale of Genji, was written in 1007 by a Japanese noble woman, Murasaki Shikibu.
• Japan is a world leader in robotics. Japanese engineers are known for producing a range of human-like robots such as ASIMO.
• Sumo is recognized as the national sport of Japan, although the most popular spectator sport is baseball.