Japan gets ‘some of the same toys as the big boys’ as first aircraft carrier since WWII enters service

The upgraded ship, now capable of deploying the vertical take-off variant of the F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter, will be a welcome addition to the Japanese arsenal, analysts say – although the Kaga alone will not be a game changer amid rising regional tensions over maritime security.

“One weapons system or warship will not change the entire military equation in Japan’s favour, but the advanced aircraft that it will carry will certainly give it greater capabilities,” said Robert Dujarric, co-director of the Institute of Contemporary Asian Studies at the Tokyo campus of Temple University.

“The broader advantage it will provide is the greater ability to operate and interact with US and other forces in the region, giving Japan some of the same toys as the big boys.”

The Kaga was unveiled to Japanese media on Monday at Kure naval base in Hiroshima prefecture.

With a displacement of 27,000 long tons (27,433 tonnes) fully loaded and a length of 248 metres (814 feet), the 115 billion yen (US$758 million) vessel was originally launched in 2015 as the second in the Izumo class of helicopter carriers – the largest warships Japan has built since the end of the second world war in 1945.

Changes made to date include a redesign of the bow section and the addition of a new heat-resistant coating to protect the deck from the extreme temperatures generated when the F-35B’s engines are angled downwards to enable it to take off and land vertically.

Ryo Hinata-Yamaguchi, an assistant professor of international relations at the University of Tokyo, said questions remain over how the Self-Defence Forces will deploy the Kaga, which bears the same name as an aircraft carrier deployed in the attack on Pearl Harbour in December 1941 but was sunk in