Okinawa 1988-1991

Okinawa 1988-1991

Sunday, May 08, 2005

79-year-old fisherman rescued after drifting at sea for 3 days

Japan Today - News - 79-year-old fisherman rescued after drifting at sea for 3 days - Japan's Leading International News Network: "79-year-old fisherman rescued after drifting at sea for 3 days"

NAHA — A 79-year-old fisherman from Okinawa Prefecture was rescued in the predawn hours Sunday in waters off Miyako Island in the prefecture after drifting aboard his boat for three days, the Japan Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard ship found Yuzo Shimoji aboard the 0.78-ton Yuko Maru at 3:35 a.m. He was slightly dehydrated but in good condition, Coast Guard officials said. He was carrying bananas, rice balls and candy. Shimoji intended to return to the port Thursday morning but lost his way due to haze. His boat later ran out of fuel. (Kyodo News)

Reducing forces on Okinawa could be dangerous

European and Pacific Stars & Stripes: "Congressional panel says reducing forces on Okinawa could be dangerous"

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Reducing the number of American forces on Okinawa may not be a wise move at a time of uncertain and shifting security issues in East Asia, according to a panel created by Congress to study the basing of U.S. forces overseas.

In a report to be released publicly Monday, the Overseas Basing Commission advised the Pentagon to go slow in considering any changes to the troop level on the island.

“Okinawa is the strategic linchpin to operational capabilities in East Asia,” the 262-page report states. “Diminishing our combat capability on the island would pose great risk to our national interests in the region.”

The report stressed that although today’s military focus predominantly is on terror threats in other regions, “we cannot rule out that sometime in the next quarter of a century the emergence of a more traditional great power competitor … in East Asia.”

Recommendations include adjusting the Okinawa basing posture by transferring air assets on Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to nearby Kadena Air Base and/or Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni on the Japanese mainland.

“All other Marine Corps assets should remain on Okinawa,” the report states.

Col. Victor Warzinski, spokesman for U.S. Forces Japan, said the commission’s statement concerning the importance of Okinawa was “spot on.”

“Okinawa is the linchpin, or keystone, to East Asia and we’re pleased to see the commission noted that,” Warzinski said.

However, he questioned whether moving Marine air operations to Kadena or Iwakuni would be possible.

“Kadena is already an active, vibrant base,” he said. “This is not as simple as moving pins on a map.”

Okinawa’s U.S. military bases cover 20 percent of the main island in the prefecture and represent 75 percent of the area used solely by the U.S. military in Japan. Of some 47,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, more than half are on Okinawa.

The commission noted that although the two countries agreed in 1996 to return 21 percent of the property used by U.S. forces on Okinawa, few turnovers have been completed.

“Okinawa has a particularly strategic location and hosts a significant number of U.S. combat forces,” the report states. “This has been a local irritant, not because of anti-U.S. sentiment, but rather due to the pacifistic nature of the older generation who endured the Battle of Okinawa.

“Some realignment of forces on this particular island is planned and may ameliorate local feelings while maintaining the necessary forces for the defense of Korea and other regional contingencies,” it concluded.

For the past decade, a vocal minority on Okinawa has pushed for the removal of all Marines — numbering some 18,000, according to the commission — from the island. U.S. and Japanese officials are in the midst of talks regarding the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, but no agreements have been reached.

Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine, who advocates some troop reductions and moving MCAS Futenma to an offshore base, was unavailable Friday for comment.

“As we were closely looking into the contents of the report, it is too early to make any comments on it,” said a senior prefectural official.

Marine officials had little comment on the report Friday.

“It is inappropriate for us to discuss specific aspects of these talks,” said Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Eric Tausch. “The Marines are ready to begin relocating MCAS Futenma when a suitable replacement facility that meets our operational needs is completed.”

Saturday, May 07, 2005


Here's another shot of MCAS Futenma.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Spy photos spot signs of N Korea nuclear test site

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Spy photos spot signs of N Korea nuclear test site: "Spy photos spot signs of N Korea nuclear test site"

American officials believe that new satellite photographs of North Korea show intensive preparations for a possible nuclear weapons test, it was reported yesterday.

The imagery is said to show tunnels being dug under a mountain in the north-east of the country and then rock and building materials being taken back in, possibly in an effort to contain an underground blast.

The pictures also show what appears to be an observation stand a few miles away.

Japan Today - News - SDP leader urges U.S. to promptly return Futenma base - Japan's Leading International News Network

Japan Today - News - SDP leader urges U.S. to promptly return Futenma base - Japan's Leading International News Network: "Futenma base"

Saturday, May 7, 2005 at 16:07 JST
WASHINGTON — Japan's Social Democratic Party leader Mizuho Fukushima said Friday she has submitted a request to U.S. President George W Bush urging him to quickly vacate and return the land used by the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station in Okinawa and other bases in urban areas.

Fukushima told reporters that the request, made through Michael Green, senior director for Asia on the White House National Security Council, also includes scrapping the planned relocation of the Futemma base's helicopter functions to an offshore airport to be constructed in the central Okinawa city of Nago. (Kyodo News)

Tuesday, May 03, 2005


Shuri castle

Monday, May 02, 2005

Whale returns to Japan's school lunch [May 02, 2005]

The Australian: Whale returns to Japan's school lunch [May 02, 2005]: "Whale returns to Japan's school lunch"

SERVED as burgers and marinated in sweet and sour sauce, whale meat has returned to Japanese school lunches 20 years after it went off the menu amid global anti-whaling campaigns.

Japan Today - News - Rainy season begins in Okinawa earlier than usual - Japan's Leading International News Network

Japan Today - News - Rainy season begins in Okinawa earlier than usual - Japan's Leading International News Network: "NAHA — The rainy season is believed to have begun in Okinawa
Prefecture, six days earlier than usual, the Okinawa Meteorological
Observatory said Monday."

The start of the season in the area is also three days earlier than last year. The weather for this week is expected to remain unsettled in the area, it said. (Kyodo News)

Sunday, May 01, 2005

Japan Today - News - Japan, U.S. to give up plan to relocate Marines in Okinawa - Japan's Leading International News Network

Japan Today - News - Japan, U.S. to give up plan to relocate Marines in Okinawa - Japan's Leading International News Network: "TOKYO — Japan and the United States will give up a proposed plan to
relocate part of the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa Prefecture to
the Japanese mainland because they could find no appropriate sites,
Japanese government sources said Saturday."

The plan, discussed as part of the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan at the working-level talks, was aimed at reducing the U.S. military concentration in Okinawa, where the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan are located. Any decision to give up the plan is expected to trigger protests from locals. (Kyodo News)

Report: N. Korea May Have Fired Missile - Yahoo! News

Report: N. Korea May Have Fired Missile - Yahoo! News

TOKYO - The U.S. military informed Japan that
North Korea may have fired a short-range missile toward the Sea of Japan on Sunday morning, Kyodo News service and national broadcaster NHK reported.

This is not good folks. Darren