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U.S. veterans’ group passes resolutions calling for abandonment of base construction at Henoko and Takae

U.S. veterans’ group passes resolutions calling for abandonment of base construction at Henoko and Takae

Takae August 15, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Washington special correspondent Sakae Toiyama reports

[Berkeley] At its annual national convention on August 15, Veterans for Peace, a peace organization made up of military veterans with 120 chapters across the United States, unanimously passed a resolution calling for cancellation of the plan to build a new U.S. base in Henoko, Nago City, the planned relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. In addition, the group unanimously...

 

Lummis urges Veterans for Peace to support retraction of Henoko relocation plan

Lummis urges Veterans for Peace to support retraction of Henoko relocation plan

August 16, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Sakae Toiyama reports from Washington DC

On August 14 at the 31st annual convention of the Veterans for Peace (VFP), a representative of the Ryukyu-Okinawa Chapter Douglas Lummis, and an associate of the same chapter Yoshikazu Makishi called for the VFP...

Onaga: “Government trying to wrest Okinawa into submission” with lawsuit

Onaga: “Government trying to wrest Okinawa into submission” with lawsuit

August 6, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On August 5, the first hearing in a new lawsuit brought by the Japanese government against Okinawa Prefecture was held at the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court. The lawsuit is an “action for the declaration of illegality of inaction;” the government wants...

During lawsuit Onaga states local autonomy will fail if all decisions are made on national level

August 4, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On August 3, the Okinawa Prefectural Government submitted written statements to the Fukuoka High Court from Governor of Okinawa Takeshi Onaga and Mayor of Nago City Susumu Inamine. The statements relate to a case the central government brought against the prefectural...

Yoichi Iha attends first Diet session, vows to convey Okinawa’s situation

Yoichi Iha attends first Diet session, vows to convey Okinawa’s situation

August 1, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

[Tokyo] On the morning of August 1, Yoichi Iha, who was recently elected to represent Okinawa in the House of Councillors, attended his first Diet session. With a look of determination on his face, Iha said, “It is a heavy responsibility to become a Diet member...

MOD personnel dispatched as crime-prevention patrols actually on guard duty in Takae

MOD personnel dispatched as crime-prevention patrols actually on guard duty in Takae

July 27, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On July 26, news covered that the Ministry of Defense (MOD) dispatched 60 officers to Okinawa to help as crime prevention patrols in response to the incident of a woman assaulted and killed by a U.S. base employee, but that the officers are instead on-duty as guards...

Rare scene in Japan: US servicemen carrying guns walk along road in Takae

Rare scene in Japan: US servicemen carrying guns walk along road in Takae

July 27, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

In Takae, Higashi around 7:15 a.m., about 10 armed U.S. military personnel made their way north on Okinawa Prefectural road 70. According to local eyewitnesses, the solders traveled north from the intersection at Arakawa Dam, carrying guns. A woman who saw the soldiers,...

Takae, a village ward of 140: “Not a single person is in favor” of helipad construction

Takae, a village ward of 140: “Not a single person is in favor” of helipad construction

July 25, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

By Ayako Sakaguchi

As sit-in protests continue daily in opposition to the construction of new helipads in the U.S. military’s Northern Training Area, people from outside the village can be heard making comments such as, “Almost none of the locals are actually...

Ministry designation will help Kerama become an important tourist destination, attract tourists from abroad

Ministry designation will help Kerama become an important tourist destination, attract tourists from abroad

July 26, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
On July 25, as part of a project it will embark on with the objective of drawing foreign tourists to Japan’s regional areas, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) determined a policy to brand Zamami and Tokashiki Villages in the Kerama Islands as a national park,...

Governors’ Organization makes special requests to Minister of Defense concerning the SOFA

Governors’ Organization makes special requests to Minister of Defense concerning the SOFA

July 26, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On July 25, the Governors’ Association for Military Facilities in Japan (chaired by Governor of Kanagawa Prefecture Yuji Kuroiwa) comprised of fifteen prefectures of Japan where the U.S. has military bases, paid a visit to Minister of Defense Gen Nakatani at the...

Ruling parties in Okinawa assembly pass position document asking for halt to US military’s helipad construction

Ruling parties in Okinawa assembly pass position document asking for halt to US military's helipad construction

July 21, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

At the regular meeting on July 21, ruling parties in the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly passed a position document by majority vote requesting the cancellation of helipad construction in the U.S. military’s Northern Training Area (NTA) in Takae, Higashi Village....