Ryukyu Shimpo and Okinawa Times reported that a parachute fell in a field in Ie, Okinawa, at around 4:45 p.m. on Thursday. The papers speculated that the parachute fell from a U.S. military airplane that was conducting training around the U.S. military’s Iejima auxiliary airfield. Ryukyu Shimpo said that according to the Okinawa Defense Bureau, an anemometer was attached to….Read more

The Japan Coast Guard confirmed there were two China Coast Guard vessels in the contiguous zone outside Japan’s territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands (Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture) on June 30. This was the 76th consecutive day that Chinese government ships were sighted near the Senkakus.

NAHA — The 1945 Battle of Okinawa claimed the lives of an estimated one in four of the island’s people, but Okinawans’ suffering was not to end there. Over the next 27 years of American rule, local women were subjected to a storm of sexual violence by U.S. military personnel and civilian staff, with at least 310 cases reported.  ….Read more

Okinawa Times reported that Masahito Tamari, director general for military base affairs of the Okinawa Prefectural Government, visited the U.S. Consulate General in Naha on Wednesday to protest the jettisoning of fuel tanks by a U.S. Navy FA-18 off the coast of Okinawa and the landing of Ospreys at the Naha Port Facility. Concerning the jettisoning of fuel tanks, Tamari….Read more

The Japan Coast Guard confirmed there were two China Coast Guard vessels in the contiguous zone outside Japan’s territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands (Ishigaki City, Okinawa Prefecture) on June 29. This was the 75th consecutive day that Chinese government ships were sighted near the Senkakus.

NHK reported online that the MSDF rescued an American family of three from their crippled yacht in waters off Okinawa on Tuesday. According to the network, the yacht, ALIYAH, went dead in the water after it was dismasted in bad weather in waters about 770 km off the main island of Okinawa. The 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters reportedly said….Read more

The two major Okinawa papers reported on Okinawa Governor Tamaki’s testing positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday, which will force him to remain in self-isolation and refrain from official duties at least through July 7, saying that since he attended a prefectural assembly session for an hour or so on Monday night even after he learned that one of his family….Read more

NHK reported that Okinawa Governor Tamaki tested positive for the novel coronavirus this morning and hence decided not to carry out official duties at least through July 7. As one of his family members caught the virus yesterday, the politician had been designated a close contact since last night. He reportedly has minor symptoms including a sore throat.

By Tsukazaki Shohei and Asato Shugo   On June 24, the Okinawa prefectural government responded that it would agree to a proposal that was presented by a tribunal of the Environmental Dispute Coordination Commission within the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications concerning the digging of soil at a mine located inside the Okinawa Senseki Quasi-National Park in commemoration of….Read more