] If, so why would Japan want to replace them with F-22’s?
IMO, JASDF is replacing the F-1 and F-4 with F-2, for air-to-mud and air-to-surface duties.
Seems the JASDF is overlapping/staggering the modernising/replacement of their fighters: morphing from a blend of many F-15, some F-2, few F-4, no F-1; to few ATF, many F-15, some F-2, no F-4.
For example, F-15 will eventually replace the F-4 at Naha AB, Okinawa Prefecture, to balance the modernising PLAAF.
The F-22 is a figther with limited air-to-ground ability. The F-15 is a fighter with no air-to-ground ability. And the F-4 and F-104 were fighters with limited air-to-ground ability.
AFAIK, F-4 was the previous F-X that replaced the F-104, and F-15 is the current F-X that replaced the F-4. Both the F-4 and F-15 are emphasised as air defense fighters that aren’t supposed to fly far into enemy territory and bomb enemy ground targets, so the F-4 cannot aerial refuel, and the F-15 only in recent years began to practise aerial refuelling with USAF tankers. Aerial refuelling that allows more loiter time to fighters on CAP missions isn’t a popular cause, so the JASDF has no tanker until KC-767.
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