Okinawa Times wrote that the Ministry of Defense announced on Tuesday that it would issue certificates for civilian employees who have received COVID-19 vaccines at U.S. bases in Japan to use as proof of vaccination when entering foreign countries. The ministry’s local offices will accept applications for the certificates. The paper wrote that the governments of the United States and….Read more

KADENA – On Oct. 19, Kadena Town Assembly Speaker Nakandakari Kenei and other assembly members visited the 18th Wing of the U.S. Kadena Air Base in relation to the accidental firing of a training flare by a Kadena-based F-15 fighter jet. The delegation submitted a protest resolution demanding the U.S. military take steps to prevent a similar incident from happening….Read more

Ryukyu Shimpo and Okinawa Times wrote that on Monday the Naha district court handed down a four-year prison sentence to a civilian employee of the U.S. Air Force who was indicted on the charge of attempted forcible sexual intercourse with a Japanese woman with whom he was unacquainted in the early hours of April 17 this year. The defendant was….Read more

Saturday’s Okinawa Times and Monday’s Ryukyu Shimpo wrote that the GOJ and the Okinawa Prefectural Government announced on Friday the results of the analysis of contamination in water samples they collected at the base on July 19. The analysis was conducted following the U.S. military’s release of water containing PFOS and PFOA from the Futenma Air Station after treating it.….Read more

On Oct. 16, the Okinawa Police urgently arrested a 49-year-old unemployed woman, who claims to live in Uruma City, on suspicion of violating the act on special measures concerning criminal cases. She allegedly trespassed on the U.S. military’s Camp Foster. During interrogation she admitted having trespassed but reportedly said, “I decline to state the reason.”   According to the arrest….Read more

Ryukyu Shimpo and Okinawa Times wrote that concerning the detection of PFAS above the GOJ’s provisional standard of 50 nanograms per liter in tap water in the town of Kin, which hosts Camp Hansen, the U.S. Marines in Okinawa released a press statement on Thursday saying that they could not identify sources of the contamination through a preliminary survey at….Read more

Ryukyu Shimpo wrote that high levels of PFAS were detected at a drain in Chatan that is connected to Kadena AB in a survey conducted by university professors last year. Meio University Professor Tashiro Yutaka collected water and foam samples at the drain on June 23, 2020, a day after a fire broke at Kadena AB and Kyoto University Associate….Read more

Okinawa Times front-paged a report from Washington saying that Senator Alex Padilla from California, which hosts MCAS Miramar and other bases, has introduced two pieces of legislation that direct the Department of Defense to identify and clean up PFAS at and near U.S. military installations across the country. Fourteen senior senators, including Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, co-sponsored one of….Read more

CHUBU — Over 30,000 plaintiffs are preparing to file a fourth lawsuit over noise pollution from the U.S. military Kadena Air Base, Ryukyu Shimpo learned on Oct. 13 from the plaintiffs’ preparatory group. In the previous three lawsuits, residents living near the Kadena Air Base have complained of noise damage caused by U.S. military aircraft and have demanded, among others,….Read more

Ryukyu Shimpo took up USFJ documents it obtained through FOIA on the leakage of foam extinguisher on base, claiming the U.S. military elected to not make public two such incidents that occurred at MCAS Futenma in August 2019 and January 2020. In the latter mishap, some 34 gallons of firefighting foam containing toxic PFAS leaked from a fire engine due….Read more