Tag - okinawa

 
 

OKINAWA

Kubura fishing port and Kubura district on the island of Yonaguni, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Dec 17, 2023
Frontier islanders decry lack of plan to aid fleeing Taiwanese
Concerned about the potential for a China-Taiwan conflict, Japan has embarked on its biggest defense buildup since World War II.
U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture
JAPAN
Dec 16, 2023
Henoko base relocation project enters new phase in Okinawa
The project to relocate a U.S. military base to the Henoko coastal area is entering a new phase five years after land reclamation began there.
Construction work is conducted in the Henoko coastal area in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 15, 2023
Okinawa promotion spending to fall to ¥267.8 billion in fiscal 2024
The outlay would stand below ¥300 billion for the third successive year, according to a government estimate.
Cinema at Sea film festival entry “God Is a Woman,” directed by Andres Peyrot, examines the complex feelings the Kuna, indigenous people living on Panama’s San Blas Islands, have about an unreleased documentary made about them in 1975.
CULTURE / Film
Dec 9, 2023
Cinema at Sea festival highlights diversity and unheard voices
The inaugural event for the film festival in Naha, Okinawa, boasted a strong lineup of features from places and peoples underrepresented in world cinema.
A Japan Coast Guard ship and helicopter search the area on Thursday where a U.S. military Osprey aircraft crashed off Yakushima in Kagoshima Prefecture a day earlier.
JAPAN
Nov 30, 2023
Japan asks U.S. to suspend Osprey flights until safety is confirmed
The U.S. air station in Futenma continued its operation of Osprey aircraft after Wednesday’s incident, causing local residents to voice their concern.
A rendering of the new Junglia theme park scheduled to open in Okinawa in 2025
BUSINESS / Companies
Nov 27, 2023
Nature-focused theme park to open in Okinawa in 2025
The park aims to take advantage of the outstanding forests of northern Okinawa Prefecture, which have been designated a World Heritage site.
Cabs not in operation are parked at a taxi company in Naha in October. Finding a taxi in parts of Okinawa Prefecture is becoming increasingly difficult because of a shortage of drivers.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Nov 27, 2023
Getting a taxi in Okinawa harder than ever amid driver shortage
The number of cab drivers working in the prefecture peaked at 10,041 in 2009 and declined to 5,246 in 2021.
A North Korean rocket carrying a military spy satellite is launched in this undated photo released Wednesday.
JAPAN / Politics / ANALYSIS
Nov 22, 2023
North Korea calls spy satellite launch a success, but questions linger
A rocket carrying the payload passed over the Japanese archipelago late Tuesday, but Tokyo said it had not confirmed the veracity of Pyongyang's claims.
U.S. President Richard Nixon in the Oval Office of the White House in June 1972
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 19, 2023
Nixon's 1953 trip to Okinawa and its lasting impact
Nixon’s trip to Okinawa 70 years ago this month planted seeds for his agreeing to its reversion when he became the U.S. president.
Japan's Self-Defense Force on Sunday conducted a tsunami evacuation drill in Yonaguni, Japan's westernmost island, in Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2023
Japanese island holds disaster drill in shadow of Taiwan threat
Yonaguni is only 110 km from Taiwan. In August last year, China fired missiles into nearby waters in response to a visit to Taiwan by Nancy Pelosi.
U.S. Kadena Air Base in Okinawa
JAPAN
Nov 12, 2023
U.S. spy drone unit leaves Kagoshima for move to Okinawa
The U.S. drones are set to be used to strengthen surveillance of Chinese military ships in the East China Sea.
EF Polymer CEO Narayan Lal Gurjar (right) and COO Kunihiro Shimoji at the company in Onna, Okinawa Prefecture, in August
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Oct 30, 2023
Organic polymer brings water to drought-hit farmlands
The India-born, Okinawa-nurtured product seeks to replace petroleum-derived polymers to promote sustainability.
The Iriomote cat, native to the island of the same name in Okinawa Prefecture, is remarkable for its resilience: It occupies the smallest habitat of any wildcat on Earth.
ENVIRONMENT / Wildlife / OUR PLANET
Oct 15, 2023
The last of Japan's wildcats
Only about 100 animals of each species survive today, putting both on the brink of extinction along with more than 3,700 other species nationwide.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 12, 2023
Okinawa governor refuses to approve design change for Henoko base
The central government has claimed that the governor's disapproval "seriously harms the public interest."
Photo shows the Air Self-Defense Force's Nyutabaru base in Miyazaki Prefecture, where six F-35B fighters are expected to be deployed next fiscal year, with a temporary squadron to be established.
JAPAN / Politics
Oct 8, 2023
Japan boosting SDF presence in southwestern area of Kyushu
The region will see new SDF units from next April, including an F-35B stealth fighter squadron and a surface-to-ship missile unit.
A U.S. military MQ-9 Reaper unmanned reconnaissance drone at a Maritime Self-Defense Force air base in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, in November last year
JAPAN
Oct 6, 2023
U.S. spy drones may be relocated from Kagoshima to Okinawa
The move is part of efforts to strengthen surveillance around the Nansei island chain.
Aoi Suzuki and her two sons head back down to a barbecue after watching the sun set.
PODCAST / deep dive
Sep 28, 2023
Traveling Okinawa with a broken heart
Writer and photographer Lance Henderstein reads us his article on traveling Okinawa during the rainy season.
A woman with HTLV-1 from Okinawa Prefecture talks about her experience of being turned away at a clinic outside the prefecture.
JAPAN / Science & Health / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Sep 25, 2023
Website aims to shed light on little-known blood cancer virus
Awareness of HTLV-1, a virus that causes adult T-cell leukemia and other diseases, is low in Japan. A website called Hot Lives aims to change that.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki speaks at a news conference in Naha on Sept. 4. Tamaki has raised issue with Japan's ongoing military building and its effect on Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN
Sep 20, 2023
Rapid military buildup a worry for Okinawans, governor says
"We must never allow people in Okinawa to go through the same horrible experience that we went through" in World War Two, said Denny Tamaki.
A group of Chinese tourists arrive at Haneda Airport in Tokyo in August.
JAPAN / Society
Sep 6, 2023
Japan takes steps toward establishing overtourism countermeasures
The Japan Tourism Agency did not specify when the new countermeasures will be finalized. However, the goal is to have them compiled by the fall.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’