October 19,
2008: The Japanese Navy is cutting
training exercises by over half because of the rising cost of fuel. Japan has
one of the largest and most modern fleets in the Pacific, with 45 destroyers,
nine frigates and 18 submarines. They also have 80 P-3 maritime patrol aircraft,
over 200 helicopters and dozens of support ships. This force uses a lot of
fuel, and parliament has refused to raise the budget to cover the increased
fuel costs. Patrols will be largely unaffected, but going out just for training
will be sharply cut. This will cause many specialized skills to decline, but
not to the point where the fleet will lost a notable amount of its
effectiveness. At least if the cuts do not go on for a year or two.
