Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Hosted Enhanced Honor Cordon and Bilateral Meeting With Japanese Defense Minister Shinjirō Koizumi

View Online Secretary of War Pete Hegseth Hosted Enhanced Honor Cordon and Bilateral Meeting With Japanese Defense Minister Shinjirō Koizumi Jan. 15, 2026 SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Well, Minister Koizumi, Shin, thank you for being here, welcome, and thanks for joining us this morning. We got up and showed the actual physical strength of the U.S.-Japanese alliance. We got a chance to work out with the Old Guard, one of our oldest units in the U.S. Army, the president's force and it was just a great demonstration. So, thank you. We'll have to do the same thing back in Japan at some point. We've met a couple of times, a number of times, both in your office personally, but also on the USS George Washington where our president and your prime minister -- had another remarkable show of the strength of this relationship. In fact, our president said it's one of the most remarkable relationships in the entire world, and the U.S.-Japan alliance is exactly that. And our job and our goal here is to continue that, to strengthen that in every way possible. That's why I was also very pleased to see your prime minister commit last year to increasing Japan's defense spending. We see the strength and the investment that Japan is making, and we think that's a really important step and welcome and appreciate that. It's going to be hard-nosed realism, practical commonsense approach that puts both of our vital national interests together and keeps the peace. Strengthening our forces through realistic training and exercises in Japan, across the first island chain, again, is the kind of operational demonstration we need to be capable of showing. It is in order to ensure peace through strength - our president talks about that all the time. We talk about America first, yes, but it doesn't mean America alone; it means with our friends that are investing and standing with us. And that's how we bring peace through strength around the world, here in our hemisphere and everywhere. So, welcome, thank you for being here. Appreciate the continued friendship and partnership and look forward to our conversation today. Thank you. Thank you. JAPANESE MINISTER OF DEFENSE SHINJIRO KOIZUMI:  I'm very pleased to see you here in Washington D.C., and thank you very much for the opportunity. This is already our fourth meeting in just three months since I became defense minister in October. Prime Minister Takaichi and President Trump are maintaining extremely close communication. And with the strong relationship between Pete and I added to that, the Japan-U.S. alliance is becoming even more solid and unwavering. And let's continue to closely work together at our level to ensure that Prime Minister Takaichi's planned visit to the U.S. this spring will be successful. During my trip, I spent a lot of time with Admiral Paparo in Honolulu, and I was also able to have very intensive and in-depth discussions about Japanese and American responses to an increasingly severe security environment. I also delivered a speech in Honolulu in which I emphasized that we can further ensure regional peace and prosperity by linking free and open Indo-Pacific, or FOIP, Japan-US alliance and peace through strength. In Los Angeles where you also visited recently, in addition to visiting the company, I attended a reception celebrating the 50th anniversary of Operation Tomodachi, which is the US forces operation during the Great East Japan earthquake. Yesterday, I had a meeting with members of U.S. Congress and directly conveyed my appreciation for the bipartisan support for Japan-U.S. Alliance. And this morning, we had a great PT session and worked up a good sweat. And because the PT session was quite hard and because I gave my best shot, I got a little bit dehydrated, but thanks to the medical check by U.S. personnel, everything turned out fine. And I thought that's exactly what the Japan-U.S. alliance is all about. By Japan demonstrating unwavering resolve and making every effort, the United States provided strong support, and I was able to truly feel that bond of the alliance this morning. You taught me this word the other day, if I may quote Theodore Roosevelt, we must stand as the man in the arena and take the lead in actions in a noble mission of national defense. I'm very much looking forward to our substantive discussion today on the various matters to further enhance deterrence and response capabilities to the Japan-U.S. Alliance. SECRETARY OF WAR PETE HEGSETH: Thank you. Amen, thank you very much. Appreciate it. We look forward to it. Thank you all.

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