JAPAN PERSPECTIVE

Tokyo handles the sequence with its usual precision. Japan Today opens with the exact tally: one dead, more than 60 wounded, flights suspended, oil prices up nearly 2%. The article then runs the full chronology — Iranian strikes on Kuwait, US retaliation on Qeshm, CENTCOM's denial of US losses, IRGC communiqué on the Fifth Fleet hit in Bahrain and the cargo 'Panaya'. Tokyo refuses an editorial line. The floor stays with the protagonists: Kuwait Airways resumes flights after safety measures, CENTCOM claims new 'defensive strikes', Araghchi posts on X that Iranian armed forces are conducting operations. News On Japan publishes a technical note that is crucial in context: 'Second Oil Shipment Arrives in Japan After Passing Through Hormuz'. For Japan, this is the central information — a second authorized Iranian oil shipment has transited the strait and reached a Japanese port. The note reveals that Tokyo has negotiated separately, discreetly, to keep an energy flow despite the official closure of Hormuz. The Japanese perspective is that of a country with much to lose and little to say — the archipelago imports 90% of its oil and Asian routes pass through the strait. No Japanese paper picks up the Iranian Patriot theory. None mentions the multilateral coalition proposed by Seoul. Tokyo watches the oil market and counts the barrels.