​​​​​​​ ISTANBUL Tokyo on Monday lodged a protest with Moscow after alleged violations of Japanese airspace by a Russian military plane. An IL-38 military plane violated Japanese airspace three times off the coast of northernmost Hokkaido island, the country's Defense Ministry said. Japan mobilized its military jets which fired "signal flares" for the first time ever against the alleged intruding Russian plane, it added. The incident happened between 1:00 p.m. (0400GMT) and 3:00 p.m. (0600GMT).