Undated photos of F-15J/DJ Eagles from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force. (JASDF)

TOKYO — The number of flights Japanese fighter pilots made to intercept Chinese and Russian aircraft approaching Japan were down by 14% the past fiscal year, their lowest response in a decade, according to Japan’s Ministry of Defense.

Data released Friday shows Japanese jets scrambled 669 times during Japanese fiscal year 2023, which ended March 31.

That’s 109 fewer than the 778 scrambles Japanese pilots made the previous fiscal year and the lowest total since fiscal 2013.

Fighters are still intercepting foreign military aircraft at a high rate, Japan’s Joint Staff said in a statement released with the data.

There was only one violation of the country’s airspace involving a Russian aircraft, according to the data, which did not offer further details.

“Since fiscal 2013, the number of scrambles continues to be at a high level, with over about 700 scrambles conducted every fiscal year, and military aircraft continue to be active around Japan,” the release said.

Chinese aircraft were the most likely to approach Japan, provoking 479 scrambles during the past fiscal year. That’s down from 575 scrambles against Chinese aircraft the previous year.

Japanese Defense Minster Minoru Kihara visits Air Defense Command headquarters at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Oct. 10, 2023. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)

Japanese pilots scrambled 174 times against approaching Russian planes in fiscal 2023, according to the Defense Ministry release. The lowest response in a decade, 150 flights, occurred the previous year.

In June, Chinese aircraft passed between the Japanese islands of Miyako and Okinawa, according to the release. In June and December, Chinese and Russian bombers carried out a joint patrol over the East China Sea and Sea of Japan.

In August, a Chinese drone flew for the first time flew between Japan’s Yonaguni Island and Taiwan and over Sea of Japan, the release said.

Defense Minister Minoru Kihara mentioned the flights at a news conference Friday.

“The Ministry of Defense and the Self-Defense Forces will continue to take all possible precautions to ensure vigilance and surveillance and take strict measures against airspace violations,” he said.

Russian aircraft have noticeably reduced their activity near Japan since 2021, said James Brown, an international affairs expert at Temple University’s Japan campus.

“Russia is trying to maintain the pretense that its military capabilities in the Pacific are unaffected by the war in Ukraine,” he said by email Tuesday. “In reality, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has limited its ability to show force in east Asia since so much of its equipment and men have been chewed up in the Ukrainian meat grinder.”