Archive for May, 2019
Recent News
May 18, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
A terrible law which conceals the reality of the U.S. bases in Okinawa has been passed. An amendment to a drone regulation law that prohibits small unmanned drones from flying over U.S. military bases in Japan and Japan Self Defense Forces (JSDF) facilities was recently passed in the House of Councillors by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP)-led coalition.
The law restricts drone flights within a roughly 300 meter perimeter of facilities and land designated...
May 17, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Ryota Shimabukuro
In April Professor Emeritus Akio Koizumi and Associate Professor Koji Harada, medical faculty members of Kyoto University, conducted a study concerning perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), which is suspected to be carcinogenic. Specifically,...
May 17, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Okinawa City – Over six times the standard level of hexavalent chromium was detected at the construction site where Okinawa City is planning to build a 10,000 person-capacity multi-purpose arena on May 16. Hexavalent chromium is sometimes found in the ground at...
May 17, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Wakana Arakaki
Toshie Asato is the eldest professional Battle of Okinawa storyteller in Okinawa, upon whom the movie Gama: Getto no Hana was modeled. At the age of 98, she has decided to stop storytelling due to poor physical health. On May 16, she held her...
May 17, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
For the first time ever, the Thai Festival hosted by the Embassy of Thailand in Japan is to take place as early as this fall in Okinawa. The festival is being advertised on the Embassy of Thailand’s homepage. The festival is known for being hosted around the world...
May 10, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Ishigaki – The Okinawa Defense Bureau announced May 9 that during an environmental monitoring survey conducted at the end of April in Hirae, Ishigaki, where the JSDF plans to deploy, the found a crested serpent eagle, a national special natural monument, building...
May 12, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Saki Yoshida
The Okinawa Defense Bureau (ODB) is advancing construction, such as building seawalls and depositing soil, to entrench the “outer moats” of the Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF). Photographs taken from drones have become a precious...
May 8, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture published an anthology on the city’s history titled “The U.S. Military Operations and Civilian Internment Districts 1945-1946 – Centered in Yambaru, Nago.” It contains translations of records by U.S. military officers and photographs...
May 13, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
A record rainfall of a magnitude expected once every 50 years hit Yonaguni Island on May 13, which lost its intensity by afternoon, turning into a light shower. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) is urging people to stay alert of mudslides triggered by the heavy...
May 13, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
(Tokyo) On May 12, the Okinawa One-Tsubo Anti-War Landholders Association, Kanto Bloc held a protest near Shinjuku Station in Tokyo to re-think “May 15,” as this year marks 140 years since the 1879 Ryukyu annexation (the “Ryukyu Disposition”) and 47 years...
May 8, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
In a video message released by Prime Minister Abe Shinzo May 3, he announced his intention to revise Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, including an explicit reference to the Japanese Self Defense Forces (JSDF), and stated that he was sticking to the goal of carrying...