Skeletal remains found on Okinawa base

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Military and Okinawa police are investigating the Wednesday morning discovery of skeletal remains in the Marine Corps’ Central Training Area.

“The Naval Criminal Investigative Service’s Major Case Response Team, the Pacific Region’s U.S. Armed Forces Medical Examiner and the Ishikawa Police Department are working together to investigate and determine the circumstances surrounding skeletal remains,” Gunnery Sgt. Chuck Albrecht, a Marine Corps spokesman, said Friday.

“The incident is under investigation and further information will be provided as it becomes available,” he said.

Details on the circumstances surrounding the discovery were not available Friday.

Okinawa Webcams

I found a nice collection of webcams over at Okinawa Surf.com
I have put a link to one of the cams at Sunabe Seawall in my sidebar for your convenience. For the complete collection of all the cams visit Cams.

United States to return Okinawa bases

Japan and the United States have reached an agreement that three military bases in Okinawa prefecture will be fully returned to Japan.

During talks at the vice ministerial level in Hawaii on the reorganization of U.S. forces in Japan Friday, the United States accepted a plan to return all facilities at Naha Port, Makiminato Service Area and Camp Kuwae to Japan, and part of Camp Zukeran, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported Monday.

The agreement will be included in a final report, to be made at the end of this month. The decision will lessen the burden on Okinawa of hosting U.S. military facilities.

Japan has long sought the return of these facilities, and the United States finally gave its consent during the talks. Though it has not yet decided which parts of Camp Zukeran will be returned to Japan, a decision is expected shortly, the newspaper reported.

New movie to explain the Battle of Okinawa

Kousho Fukuchi is now releasing a third motion picture on the World War II Battle of Okinawa.

Produced by the One Feat Campaign Association, the new documentary is ‘The Evidence of the Okinawa Battle’. It’s Japanese release is set for March 27th. An English language version is now in production.

Fukuchi says the movie’s purpose is to let the world’s children and others see the war from a Battle of Okinawa perspective. He chose television newscaster Jhon Kabira to narrate the film. Kabira, who was born in Naha City, says he’s happy to help because “I want the world’s people see this movie and let it be an inheritance to the future.”

‘Evidence of the Okinawa Battle’ is the third in Fukuchi’s Okinawa series. The first, ‘Evidence of the Future’, was released several years ago. It was followed with ‘The Documentary of the Okinawa Battle War’. The films are made using films taken by American military photographers during and after the Battle of Okinawa. Fukuchi notes the film shows experienced people talking, and says it’s easy to understand.

“This movie has made it easy to understand,” says Fukuchi. “The words are selected just like a school child’s text book. I hope school children can see the movie too.”

The upcoming World Uchinanchu Festival played into Fukuchi’s planning. The October event will be a time “for everyone to see this movie.” He says “these days, children are forgetting about the war, and don’t care so much about talking about war stories.”"

Sunabe Seawall

Here is a shot out at Sunabe Seawall. We use to climb around on these when we were doing what Marines do best, gettin' drunk hahaha..........Anyway I'm surprised none of us ever broke a leg or something.

This was my favorite place to hang out on Okinawa. Pack a cooler, park, turn up some tunes............Good times.

Habu heading south

Taiwan Habu
Okinawan Habu
The Taiwan habu has been a fixture in northern Okinawa, but now seems to be slithering south.

The poisonous snake has long been in the Nago City area and points north. That changed a week ago, when the Taiwan habu was found mixed in with sugar cane at a factory in Uruma City. It was the first time the snake was observed in the south.

The Taiwan habu has a strong poisonous venom, posing a threat to workers harvesting the sugar cane. The Prefecture Environmental Office is now involved, trying to determine how extensive the problem could be. For now, they’re warning farmers to exercise caution when in the fields with the cane.

There is a chance the snake may not have actually migrated south. Officials say some sugar cane grown in the north is transported by truck to the factory in Uruma City. “If the habu has moved alive to the south with the cane, and then escaped, it poses a big problem,” said an official. “The Taiwan habu will be spreading quickly to all Okinawa.”

The habu migrated to Okinawa from Taiwan and China decades ago. Officials say its poison is far stronger than that of its Okinawan habu relatives.