“Why do you want to live there?” my grandfather asked me when I first told him that I was moving to Tokyo in 1991.

His ‘job’ in the early 1940s was to be the last person to evacuate the (then) sleepy NSW coastal town of Coffs Harbour and blow the bridge on the only road to the hinterland in Dorrigo and beyond. The plan was to ensure that the local population would seek refuge in the high country of Australia and live happily cut off from eastern seaboard while the Japanese troops took the north, consolidated the force and then made its way south.

While this never eventuated and was a rather quaint kind of ‘Dad’s Army’ idea that no doubt gave the local population some comfort, the threat of Japanese invasion of Australia in the early 1940s was very real.

Most readers will know of the Japanese midget submarine attacks in Sydney Harbour. What most Australians will not realise is extent of the Japanese attacks across northern Australia.

Eighty years ago in 1942, the then garrison town of Darwin was attacked by the Japanese Imperial Forces in what remains the largest single attack ever mounted by a foreign power on Australia. Darwin, the largest population centre in northern Australia at this time, was considered a vital asset in Australia's defences against an increasingly aggressive Japanese Empire in the 1930s. Its port and airfield facilities were developed, coastal defence batteries constructed and its garrison steadily enlarged.

On February 19, 242 Japanese aircraft, in two separate raids, attacked the town, ships in Darwin's harbour, and the town's two airfields in an attempt to prevent the Allies from using them as bases to contest the invasion of Timor and Java during World War II. Two hundred and fifty-two Allied service personnel and civilians were killed that day, along with Japanese lives lost. More bombs were dropped on Darwin than Pearl Harbour. There were numerous other attacks across the top of Australia and the Australian Government at the time decided not to reveal the extent of this to the general Australian public to avoid panic.

Darwin’s central role as the gateway into Australia for a military attack is no longer as important given the advancements in technology and warfare, however its relevance in the Indo-Pacific region does – if not even more so than in 1942.

With the renewed national focus on defending Australia from threats to the stability of our Indo-Pacific neighbourhood, the Territory is set to become the key northern hub for defence of the continent and the forward projection of military power in a way that has not been contemplated for nearly eighty years.

Central to this stability will be the Australia-Japan bilateral relationship.

My grandfather would be happy to know that Australia and Japan are now the northern and southern anchors to help ensure a Free and Open Indo-Pacific region – with our shared values, adherence to international norms and human rights, and shared security relationship with the United States.

This was reinforced this week with the 80th Anniversary of the Bombing of Darwin ceremony in Darwin. Of particular note was the presence of the Japanese Ambassador to Australia, His Excellency Shingo Yamagami, as a very welcomed guest of honour, including a historic address to the Northern Territory Parliament. This was further highlighted by the presence of the Australian Governor General, Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition, as well as US and other diplomatic representatives.

The development of the Australia-Japan defence and security relationship has been an incremental one compared with the economic and trade relationship. This is understandable for numerous reasons on both sides and is often the nature of defence international engagement.

In addition to traditional security threats, Japan (like Australia) is facing new challenges such as cyber attacks, including ransomware and hacks of critical infrastructure; threats to economic security stemming from coercion, vulnerable supply chains or the theft of technology; disinformation campaigns; and, of course, the pandemic.

Strengthening of the Quad and finalisation this year of the Reciprocal Access Agree­ment (RAA), which is important for increasing training and exercises between the Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) and the Australian Defence Force, builds on existing military arrangements and is a move in the right direction.

It’s important that Australia capitalises on the momentum the RAA brings to the relationship. A strong first step is to develop concrete joint training opportunities in partnership with the JSDF.  The Australian Government should be providing Japan with specific proposals for getting the JSDF to Australia routinely and perhaps in the future a modest permanent presence embedded with the ADF (as we do with the USMC Rotational Force – Darwin).

There will be political and public perception hurdles to overcome on both sides to lift the bilateral relationship to the next level, but now is the time to be thinking boldly.

The great ending to this story over 80 years is that the Northern Territory now stands as arguably the best location in the Indo-Pacific region for the JSDF’s training needs. There are capable alternatives on the US mainland, however most experts agree that even these don’t offer the unique characteristics that can be found at existing training areas in the Northern Territory. No other location provides for multi-domain training across air, land, sea, space, and cyberspace available in the Northern Territory. 

Why did I want to live in Japan? Because we are natural partners and it is now time to fully realise this.

Guy Boekenstein MAICD is Asia Society Australia's Northern Australia fellow.