Okinawa Times and Ryukyu Shimpo front-paged reports saying that Okinawa Vice Governor Jahana filed a protest with MOFA Ambassador to Okinawa Kawamura and MOD Okinawa Bureau Director-General Tanaka against the parachute drop training that the U.S. military conducted at Kadena Air Base on Tuesday. The papers noted that this was the fourth time for the U.S. military to conduct parachute drills at Kadena this year.

In a related story, Ryukyu Shimpo front-paged a report on a statement released by the USFJ on Wednesday saying: “Poor weather at Ie Shima required moving training to Kadena and met the requirements of the agreement.” The paper added that Lt. Gen. Schneider, USFJ Commander, said: “Yesterday’s parachute training is critical to sustaining the readiness of the units involved, and we appreciate the understanding and support of the Japanese people.” The paper speculated that the USFJ issued the statement in response to the media’s broad coverage of Defense Minister Kono’s comment criticizing the training. Okinawa Times ran a similar report on an inside page.