Commentary A decade ago, the word “amphibious” was taboo in Japan. It was too “warlike,” conjuring up in some minds images of World War II and Japanese forces sailing overseas to attack foreign countries. So the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) had no amphibious capability—despite its obvious usefulness for an island nation defending its own far-flung islands, including ones China claims as its own. Things were so bad that when the U.S. Marines quietly, and for the first time, assigned an officer to Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force (GSDF) in 2011, the Japanese tried to keep it hush-hush. Ten years later, Japan has an amphibious force—the Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade (ARDB)—and nobody remembers what they were complaining about. It’s undeniable progress, progress that many observers—even some knowledgeable ones—thought was impossible. Work started in earnest in 2012, and in 2018 the Japanese formally established the ARDB at Camp Ainoura near Sasebo. When fully …