Trying to run down the source of this Japanese Ministry Of Defense statement on the F-35...

This movement follows the progressive deployment of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II stealth combat jet. "The F-35 is not suitable for emergency takeoff and it will be difficult to maintain the same previous system," the Japanese Ministry of Defense said at the time. 

To compensate for the reduction in systematic visual identification through interceptions, the Japanese military increased the proportion of ground-based long-range radars and early warning aircraft for long-distance monitoring.

Saw this on Tumblr on a site that's aviation centric and usually puts out spot on  info.

My problem.

I can't run it down to verify it.

If true then this is pretty damning.  I'm sure work arounds will be developed (especially since long range combat is being envisioned for future warfare), however we've kinda been down that road before.

If I recall correctly the F-4 and F-14 were both designed to engage enemies beyond visual range and those are just Navy examples.

Fast forward to today and wonder what this means for the Finnish contest?  Has anyone put the F-35 on quick reaction duty?