Japan is scheduling the redeployment of the SDF soldiers in Iraq:

The Defense Agency chief on Monday formally told the United States that Japan will pull its troops out of Iraq when British and Australian forces withdraw, but an air unit will remain in Kuwait for logistic support, a Japanese official said.

Director General Fukushiro Nukaga informed the U.S. during a top-level security meeting in Washington.

Britain and Australia have announced their troops will leave the Samawah area but have not said when.

The British and Australians are templating to redeploy their troops from Iraq at the end of this year which would mean that Japan will have their troops redeployed by then as well. As I had noted before plus with my personal pictures and recollections of the city Samawah, the results from the SDF deployment are mixed, but I for one appreciate their service in the effort to rebuild Iraq.

With the Japanese now templated to redeploy, will the Koreans now be tempted to do the same? You never know, those dastardly Japanese are really sneaky. In fact the real reason the 600 Japanese soldiers are being redeployed may be to add to a building invasion force to retake the Dokdo Islets. If so, Korea better hurry up and redeploy their 3,000 soldiers to reinforce the Dokdo defenses or better yet after this past week maybe the Camp Humphreys defenses.