Japan and the United States launched a major field training in Kirishima Training Area in southern Japan’s Miyazaki Prefecture Tuesday, as part of the biggest-ever joint military exercises which kicked off in several places in Japan last Friday.

The field training, called “Forest Light”, involves 550 Japan Ground Self-Defense Forces (GSDF) members and 215 marines and sailors from the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit (MEU) of the United States, and will last till Dec. 15.

Major training events include bilateral heliborne assault, helicopter and fast rope training, motorized movement to contact, passage of lines, sniper training, communications and first aid, among others.

Following an opening ceremony, the two sides held practice of first aid in the afternoon, during which the U.S. Marines shared with GSDF members the experience they gained through missions in Iraq and elsewhere.

First Lieutenant Caleb Eames, public affairs officer of the 31st MEU, said the annual bilateral field training exercise helps Japanese GSDF and U.S. Marines maintain interoperability and readiness.

“We value bilateral engagement and cooperation,” he said, adding “we are very proud to be the partners with the Japanese ground Self-Defense Forces.

“It is very important for the spirit of bilateral cooperation with every nation, thereby keeping the region safe and secure. The more training, the more bilateral nature the exercise is, the better-off everybody involved is,” he said.

Eames told Xinhua there are also other army services doing training with the Japanese at different times, but for the Marine the scale is much the same as last year’s, which involves the same type of training that happened for quite a long time.

However, the series of Japanese-U.S. drills, following one that was conducted by the United States and South Korea in waters west of the Korean peninsula after the exchange of artillery fire between South Korea and the Democratic people’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), will involve more than 34,000 Japanese and 10,000 American troops and is the largest ever, media reports have said.

“Naturally, we take into consideration changes in the security environment in surrounding areas, but we are not targeting a specific country,” Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa had told reporters when asked about the significance of the latest exercises.

In terms of hardware, about 400 planes and 60 warships will participate, including the nuclear powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington, which took part in the Korean peninsula exercises, as well as Japan’s Maritime Self-Defense Force’s next- generation Aegis-equipped battle ships.

The core of the drills, according to authorities, will focus on counter-measures to a potential ballistic missile attack and will utilize Standard Missile-3 interceptors on the both U.S. and Japanese Aegis destroyers deployed to the Sea of Japan off the Noto Peninsula in central Japan and Patriot Advanced Capability-3 ground-to-air missiles currently stationed at bases from Hokkaido to Okinawa.

South Korea joined the drills in Japan for the first time as an observer.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu had said the U.S.- Japan joint exercise and their alliance should not damage the interests of third parties including China, adding that the international community does not support actions that escalate tensions on the Korean Peninsular following the exchange of fire between Pyongyang and Seoul.

China had proposed an emergency six-party consultations on the Korean Peninsula situation in Beijing in early December following the rising tensions on the peninsula, as it believes the only way to resolve the Korean Peninsula issue is through dialogue and negotiation.