Japan mobilised its new Type 25 missile, with a reported 1,000km range, from Kumamoto for the system’s first large-scale drill. The containment arc is no longer a concept; it has been exercised, coordinated and institutionalised under Tokyo’s new Joint Operations Command.

That architecture did not begin with missiles on Yonaguni. In early August, Japanese Defence Minister Shinjiro Koizumi swung through Canberra and New Delhi, signing a hypersonic missile-testing agreement with Australia and a dedicated maritime security memorandum with India. They are building blocks of an autonomous Indo-Pacific network Tokyo is constructing as Washington’s attention fractures between its war with Iran, alliance disputes and domestic politics.