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Robert D. Eldridge
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Sep 10, 2018
The necessary calamity
Officials should use the Typhoon Jebi experience to improve their disaster management responses.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Aug 19, 2018
Okinawa referendum could bring clarity
A prefectural vote would give all residents a voice on the Futenma relocation plan.
Japan Times
COMMENTARY / Japan
Feb 13, 2018
The four mottainai in Okinawan affairs
Opportunities to defuse tensions surrounding the U.S. military presence on Okinawa have been wasted.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 16, 2016
Alcohol de-glamorization and accountability
Drinking by high-ranking U.S. officers and events where alcohol is featured work at cross-purposes to the military's message of temperance.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jun 10, 2016
A U.S.-Japan-Taiwan grand bargain for Senkakus
Japan should recognize Taiwan in exchange for Taipei's acknowledgement of Japan's sovereignty over the Senkaku Islands.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 31, 2016
In Okinawa, community relations really matter
The U.S. and Japanese governments need to take a number of steps to build strong relationships with local communities in Okinawa that are hosting U.S. bases.
Japan Times
JAPAN / OBITUARY
Dec 29, 2015
Eiji Kimizuka, former GSDF Chief of Staff, dies at 63
Friends of the Ground Self-Defense Force throughout Japan and the world were saddened to learn about the passing of Eiji Kimizuka, a retired four-star general who served as the Chief of Staff of the GSDF from 2011 to 2013 but perhaps was best known for leading the bilateral response to the March 2011...
COMMENTARY / Japan
Mar 5, 2015
Disaster information vital for foreign residents
The 20th anniversary of the Great Hanshin Awaji Earthquake in January and the fourth anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11 should prompt community leaders to ascertain their level of preparedness for future catastrophes including the need to get information out to individuals, especially foreign residents.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Jan 21, 2015
Remembering and learning from the Kobe quake
Cooperation in disaster relief efforts have helped strengthen ties between Japan and the United States.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 21, 2013
JFK's message echoes today
President John F. Kennedy, more than many others then or now, recognized the exponential power that Japan and the U.S. possessed when working together.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Apr 5, 2013
John F. Kennedy's legacy may finally come to Japan
If Caroline Kennedy succeeds John Roos as U.S. ambassador to Japan, she will complete a trip that her father, John F. Kennedy, began 50 years ago.
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 31, 2011
Quake relief effort highlights a vital U.S. military function
SENDAI — In September 2009, I resigned my tenured faculty position at a Japanese national university to begin working for the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa. While at Osaka University, I had the opportunity to teach many talented Japanese and international students over the years both at the undergraduate...
COMMENTARY / World
Mar 30, 2011
Time for a Japan-U.S. mutual assistance treaty
Immediately following the tragic earthquake and tsunami on March 11 in the Tohoku region, U.S. military forces in Japan began sending supplies, equipment, and personnel to the devastated area to assist in the relief operations known as "Operation Tomodachi."
COMMENTARY / World
Jan 7, 2002
One step up, two steps sideways in Nago
WASHINGTON -- On Dec. 27, Japanese central government officials and leaders from Okinawa Prefecture announced agreement on a basic plan for the proposed construction of a joint civil-military use airport on the reef off eastern Nago City. The announcement by the Futenma Relocation Committee ("Daitai...
COMMENTARY / World
Feb 18, 2001
Okinawans have good reason to be angry
On Feb. 6, the morning edition of the Ryukyu Shimpo, one of Okinawa's two main dailies, reported that the commander of U.S. forces in Okinawa, Lt. Gen. Earl B. Hailston of the III MEF/Marine Corps, called Okinawa prefectural officials, including Gov. Keiichi Inamine, "nuts and a bunch of wimps" in a...

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