Tuesday’s Sankei wrote that Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Nishimura on Monday visited Futenma Daini Elementary School, where a window fell from a Futenma-based U.S. military helicopter. Nishimura told reporters that the Futenma base should not stay in its current location indefinitely and should be relocated to Henoko swiftly.

Monday’s Mainichi wrote that the GOJ is studying the idea of doubling its budget for promoting economic development in 12 municipalities in northern Okinawa, including Nago, in fiscal 2019. The paper speculated that the GOJ is considering the idea because it has become easier to move forward with the FRF construction at Henoko following the municipal election in Nago on….Read more

Saturday evening’s Asahi wrote that The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday that the U.S. Navy is investigating at least a dozen U.S. sailors based in Japan, some serving on the USS Ronald Reagan, on suspicion of buying, selling, and using LSD, ecstasy, and other drugs. The sailors in question are suspected of buying and selling drugs via the internet and distributing them….Read more

It was learned that as of the end of FY16, the U.S. had not reimbursed the Japanese government more than 100 billion yen in excess advance payments made for defense equipment purchases under the Foreign Military Sales (FMS) program, failing to settle accounts after procurement was completed.   The U.S. tends to make higher estimates for required advance payments on….Read more

Tokyo, Feb. 8 (Jiji Press)–The major Japanese daily Sankei Shimbun apologized Thursday to two local newspapers in Okinawa Prefecture for criticizing them for failing to report on the rescue by a U.S. Marine of a Japanese man involved in a traffic accident, an episode that later turned out to be incorrect.  In its morning edition the same day, the Sankei….Read more

Japan’s financial regulator has begun on-site inspections of multiple digital currency exchanges to check their risk management systems, following a massive theft of digital money worth 58 billion yen ($533 million) from Coincheck Inc., a minister said Friday.   The probes come after all exchange operators in Japan, both registered and those awaiting approval, were due to report to the….Read more

TOKYO — Of the 58 billion yen ($530 million) in cryptocurrency stolen from marketplace operator Coincheck, at least several million yen has likely been converted into bitcoin and other virtual currencies on the hidden darknet, according to sources close to the investigation. Earlier this week, an English-language site appeared on the darknet — a part of the internet accessible only….Read more

It has come to light that Coincheck Inc., a Japanese cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked and has lost 58 billion yen ($533 million) worth of NEM deposits made by 260,000 investors.   The company promises to refund the entire amount in yen from its own resources, but whether this will happen is uncertain at this point. Coincheck must disclose all pertinent….Read more

Former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who is visiting the U.S., held a press conference in Washington on Feb. 7 and recounted his discussions on the Okinawa base issue and North Korea’s continued missile development with U.S. federal lawmakers during his three-day stay. On the relocation of the U.S. Marines Air Station Futenma to Henoko, Nago, he stressed that “Henoko is….Read more