Japanese Star Wars

Leave it to our friends the Japanese to come through for us where our Canadian neighbors fink out.

Japan wants to put a missile shield it is developing with the United States in place in early 2006, one year earlier than planned, due to threats from North Korea and China, a report said Saturday.

The move reflects the government's decision that a missile defense system is needed as soon as possible because of the growing threat posed by North Korean and Chinese ballistic missiles, the Yomiuri Shimbun said.

The launch of the system would coincide with the timing of the revised Self-Defense Law, the mass-circulation daily said, citing government sources.

If there's anyone who knows when technology works, it's the Japanese. Good on them for having faith in a system that's been proven feasible and usable several times.