By Yamamoto Nobuyuki   A change-of-command ceremony was held  at U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base (Yokosuka City) on July 8. Captain Les Sobol replaced Captain Rich Jarrett as the base’s commander. Captain Jarrett, who had been dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic for nearly two years, thanked his colleagues, the Maritime Self-Defense Force, and local governments for “making his mission the best.”….Read more

Asahi reported that what appeared to be a bullet was discovered in the backyard of a private residence in the town of Kin in Okinawa on Thursday morning, saying that the owner of the house found that one of its windows had been broken late Wednesday night. Because the residence is adjacent to Camp Hansen, the police suspect the object….Read more

Sunday’s Mainichi wrote that the Okinawa Police arrested on Saturday a U.S. Marine assigned to MCAS Futenma on suspicion of assaulting a local man by strangling him from behind on a street in Okinawa City at around 4: 55 a.m. on Saturday. The police suspect the Marine was intoxicated. The suspect has denied the allegation.

On June 27, the Naha District Court (presiding judge: Kato Takashi) sentenced a 32-year-old U.S. servicemember affiliated with Torri Station to eight months in prison for violating the Road Traffic Act but suspended the sentence for three years (the prosecution had demanded eight months’ imprisonment). The defendant was arrested in June last year for driving under the influence of alcohol….Read more

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

On June 24, Major General Stephen Liszewski took office as new commanding general of Marine Corps Installations Pacific (MCIPAC), which oversees U.S. Marine bases located in Okinawa Prefecture. After attending a personnel change ceremony held at Camp Zukeran (Kita Nakagusuku Village), the new commanding general said in response to a question from Ryukyu Shimpo, “We will conduct training to ensure….Read more

Okinawa Times wrote that Governor Tamaki held brief talks with Prime Minister Kishida ahead of Thursday’s ceremony in Okinawa marking the end of the Battle of Okinawa. According to Tamaki, the premier did not make a clear response to the governor’s request to the central government to set up a venue for dialogue on Futenma relocation or obtain the U.S.….Read more

NHK’s Aomori station reported on Thursday that following the leakage of 760 liters of water from pipes at a hangar at Misawa AB in January, the GOJ and the governments of Aomori Prefecture and Misawa City conducted water quality surveys at ten locations near the base on June 17. The Misawa City Government announced on Thursday that chemical compounds 2.4….Read more