Defense Minister of Japan Hamada Yasukazu, Foreign Minister of Japan Hayashi Yoshimasa, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and U.S. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin participate in a news conference Wednesday on the outcomes of the 2023 U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee meeting, at the State Department in Washington, D.C. Photo by Michael Reynolds/EPA-EFE/ Jan. 11 (UPI) -- U.S. and Japanese leaders announced a series of initiatives to strengthen their "cornerstone" alliance to keep the Indo-Pacific "free and open," ahead of Friday's White House meeting between President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and...