Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, right, and Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera attend the flag returning ceremony by Japan’s Self-Defense Forces involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations in the Israeli-held Golan Heights at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. The 47-member unit returned the team’s flag upon coming back to Japan after the government ordered withdrawal due to worsening security conditions in Syria, concluding Japan’s longest-running PKO since 1996.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, third from left, watches as Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera, second from right, receives a flag from Maj. Fumihiro Kayanuma, right, who led Japan’s Self-Defense Forces involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations in the Israeli-held Golan Heights, during a flag returning ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013.
Japan’s Self-Defense Forces personnel involved in U.N. peacekeeping operations in the Israeli-held Golan Heights listen to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during a flag returning ceremony at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo Sunday, Jan. 20, 2013. <AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye>
