Japan holds live-fire military drills

Japan's Ground Self Defense Forces have kicked off a series of annual live-fire military exercises.

About 2,400 JGSDF personnel with some 80 tanks and armoured vehicles participated in the drill in central Japan at the Higashi Fuji training grounds.

The exercises, which are due to run until Sunday, display the Japanese army's hardware as well as demonstrating troop mobilisation strategies as part of an "integrated response to island attacks", according to a statement.

The drills will also exhibit the JGSDF's latest hardware, including combat and amphibious vehicles.

The drills were being held amid regional tensions surrounding North Korea's repeated weapons tests.

Pyongyang fired two intercontinental ballistic missiles in July which landed in the Sea of Japan.