Regarding the March 4 letter “Group hopes U.S. ad raises awareness of Futenma”: I was pleased to read about the work of the okinawa-U.S. Citizens for okinawa (JUCO) network to educate the American public about the negative consequences of proposed new U.S. military construction in okinawa. As a U.S. citizen living [...]
Two front-page articles on March 5 under the headlines “Futenma relocation off White Beach proposed” and “China unveils 7.5% jump in defense spending” indicate the respective plans of the existing superpower and of another power that wants to be a superpower in the future. What do they have in mind? So [...]
Hirokazu Nakaima has finally begun dropping hints he’s ready to seek another term as okinawa’s governor, telling the Liberal Democratic Party it’s all up to them.
The shaking that rattled people in okinawa awake at 5:31 a.m. on February 27th was stronger than even government officials realized at the time, and the earthquake magnitude figure has now been revised upward to 7.4.
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Sachiko YamadaWriter, 33 (Okinawan)I was in the USA from 1997 to 2003, and one thing I missed was the service. In okinawa the customer is always right, but in the States the shop staff often take the higher ground with their customers. Shintaro YanaseEmployee, 30 (Okinawan)I would definitely miss Okinawan food. If I had [...]
The only way to see or speak to Moses Ssentamu is through a Plexiglas window at the West okinawa Immigration Center in Ibaraki City, so there is no independent way to verify his claims of physical and psychological abuse. But if true, they raise serious concerns about okinawa’s treatment of visa overstayers and asylum seekers. [...]
Democratic Party of okinawa Secretary General Ichiro Ozawa is criticizing government efforts to relocate Futenma air base within okinawa Prefecture, saying it could harm the party ahead of the House of Councilors election in July, DPJ sources said Sunday. Ozawa told the ruling party’s executives Thursday that the government cannot opt to keep the U.S. [...]
Regarding Yosuke Kaneda’s Feb. 21 letter, “Encourage foreign students to stay”: Encouraging more foreigners to settle in okinawa as a solution to the growing labor shortage — due to the declining and aging population — would be difficult to implement and would have various negative side effects. A much more practical and satisfactory solution [...]
The Annual Tokyo Marathon last Sunday (Feb. 28) ran smoothly. Perhaps not every one of the 35,000 participants ran smoothly, but the event was organized and managed exceedingly well. The relatively low-tech, inclusive and international nature of the marathon makes it a much better showcase for Tokyo than the Olympics would have been. The [...]
Located smack in the center of a crowded city, the Marine base on okinawa is at the epicenter of a yawning rift between Tokyo and Washington, posing a challenge to the United States’ most important alliance in the Pacific.
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