A Japanese daily reports that the U.S. and Japan are considering revising bilateral guidelines on defense cooperation to allow both nations to respond more rapidly to massive disasters.

The Mainichi Shimbun said that as part of the revision, the two countries are considering creating a standing joint consultative body between their militaries to flexibly respond to large-scale disasters.

Japan’s Self-Defense Forces and U.S. forces immediately set up a joint consultative body to deal with the earthquake that rocked the eastern part of Japan in March this year. However, the two governments didn't establish a joint policy coordination body for eleven days and came under fire for failing to tackle the disaster swiftly.

U.S. and Japanese forces joined hands in rescuing quake victims and rebuilding regions hit by the disaster for the first time in March since the two countries revised their defense cooperation guidelines in 1997.