JAPAN/U.S. NAVY OFFICERS CHAT BY NAVY SHIPS, 1996-03-16 (photo)

Japan Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) Lieutenant Hidetsugu Hamasaki (C) and Lieutenant Teruo Ozawa chat with Lieutenant Jeff Gordon, from Long Beach Island, N.J. of the U.S. Amphibious Force Seventh Fleet in front of the Japanese destroyer JDS Isoyuki at Katsuren, or White Beach naval facility, which the U.S. and Japanese forces share on Japan's Okinawa island March 16, as U.S. military sealift command ship USNS Guadalupe is seen in background. With the China-Taiwan tensions, the U.S. is assembling off Taiwan one of its largest fleets in Asia since the end of the Vietnam War. JAPAN-US