U.S. Army Lt. Gen. Xavier T. Brunson, the commanding general of America’s First Corps, shakes the hand of Lt. Gen. Ryoji Takemoto, the commanding general of the Japanese Ground Component Command, following the opening ceremony for Yama Sakura 85 in Camp Asaka, Saitama, Japan, Dec. 4, 2023. As a part of U.S. Army Pacific's Operation Pathways, the 43rd iteration of Yama Sakura exercise, YS 85, is the first U.S. Army, Japan Ground Self-Defense Force, and Australian Army command post exercise based in Japan. Participants from the JGSDF and the Australian Army train together with Soldiers of the U.S. Army I Corps, 7th Infantry Division, 11th Airborne Division, U.S. Army Japan, U.S. Army Reserve and U.S. Army National Guard in a Joint environment to strengthen multi-domain and cross-domain interoperability and readiness to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific.