Yama Sakura 87 comes to an end with service members from the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, the Australian Defence Force, and America’s First Corps gathering to take part in the event’s closing ceremony held at Camp Asaka, Japan, Dec. 14.

Following the ceremony, a trilateral statement commemorating the success of the exercise among the three nations stated:

“We have just concluded another successful trilateral Yama Sakura exercise involving service members from Japan, the United States of America and Australia. This exercise allows us to improve our joint human, procedural and technical interoperability and enhance our collaboration among Cross-Domain Operations and Multi-Domain Operations. Yama Sakura’s greatest achievement is its longevity, a legacy of growth and relationships forged over 40 years between our countries. We look forward to all the exercises to come rekindling these friendships and applying the lessons learned together.” Yama Sakura, One Team!

The trilateral command post exercise is the cornerstone event of the U.S. Army’s Pacific’s Operation Pathways series, demonstrating America’s commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

The exercise saw a lot of firsts for the exercise including the first-ever U.S. Army Warfighter held in Japan, and the first Warfighter concurrent with Yama Sakura.

More than 7,000 service members from the three Allied and partnered nations participated in the 10-day exercise. The trilateral exercise spread across three nations, six locations and 17 time zones.

Additionally, the exercise saw the following nations invited as observers for future participate in exercises like Yama Sakura to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific: The Philippines, India, Singapore, France, The United Kingdom and Canada.

The exercise leveraged new concepts and ideas to enhance the interoperability and combined readiness among the Allied and partnered nations.

The closing ceremony ended with a recognition ceremony for service members from each nation. Commanders from each nation presented coins of excellence to the service members followed by a gift exchange between the Allied and partnered nations.

Since its first iteration in 1982, Yama Sakura has demonstrated a continued commitment by both the United States and Japan to work together as dedicated Allies in support of the U.S.-Japan security treaty and for continued peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region.