US-Japan Alliance Digest Vol 4.21

Headlines:

Details:

• Mitsubishi Estate is reportedly planning a $15 billion investment in US data centers to help satisfy AI-related demand, and US AI startup Anthropic opened its first Asian office in Japan. The announcements expand integration of AI ecosystems between the US and Japan. Mitsubishi Estate plans to build 14 data center campuses with up to 8GW capacity in the next 5 years through US subsidiary TA Realty. The first was built in Virginia, with other projects set to start in Georgia, Illinois, and elsewhere. On the other side, large language model developer Anthropic opened a Tokyo office in response to Asia boasting its most active users and a tenfold increase in regional revenue. Japanese firms such as Panasonic and Rakuten Group are collaborating with Anthropic to introduce its technology.
• New investments by Nippon Steel and Toyota indicate continued Japanese interest in US manufacturing. Both companies announced investments in key sectors, with Nippon Steel announcing its $11 billion plan to turn around US Steel by 2028 and Toyota announcing a plan to invest an additional $10 billion for EV battery manufacturing in the US over 5 years. Production started at its first such plant in North Carolina this month. Nippon Steel, which agreed to make these investments as a condition of its US Steel acquisition approval, will invest in steel production efficiency upgrades with new technologies in an effort to increase US Steel’s earnings by $3 billion per year.
• Japan’s Mitsui signed a 20-year liquid natural gas (LNG) import deal with the US’s Venture Global on Nov. 11, through which it is expected to import from the US 1 million tonnes of LNG per year from 2029. The deal comes after Japan agreed to increase its purchases of American LNG as part of the recently finalized trade and investment agreements between the two nations. The agreement is Venture Global’s third with a Japanese buyer.
• Prime Minister Takaichi said that Minamitori island (Japan’s small, easternmost island) may be key to Japan’s cooperation with the US on critical mineral exploration. The two countries will jointly study developing rare earth mining in its surrounding waters. Surveys have indicated that abyssal clays contain high concentrations of critical elements like neodymium, dysprosium, and terbium, but at depths of up to 5,500 meters which would make extraction costly. At the G7 foreign ministerial summit on Nov. 12, foreign ministers also discussed China’s adverse restrictions on critical mineral exports and stated their resolve to strengthen independent supply chains.
• Patrols by US military and Japanese police in Okinawa are resulting in more arrests in an effort to improve public safety and community relations, with 15 servicemembers arrested in a single patrol in Okinawa City for violating a 2024 liberty order prohibiting late night off-base drinking. The arrests are part of an effort by US Forces Japan to reduce military crime on the island following multiple sexual assault cases in recent years. While many US military patrols are conducted alongside Japanese police, the mayor in Naha declined joint patrols, leading to the US starting solo patrols on Nov. 1. On Nov 3, a US Marine was arrested on suspicion of injuring a local restaurant employee.

“US-Japan Alliance Digest” is a bi-weekly summary of bilateral and related developments compiled by Sasakawa USA’s “US-Japan NEXT Alliance Initiative.” To receive “Alliance Digest” via email, contact dhinkley@spfusa.org.