May 15, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
Osaka Mayor Toru Hashimoto, the co-leader of the opposition Japan Restoration Party, has said that the Japanese military’s “comfort women” regime of forced prostitution of Asian women before and during the Second World War was necessary for Japanese soldiers to maintain discipline. He also said that U.S. soldiers in Okinawa should make more use of the adult entertainment industry there in order to reduce sexual crimes against local women. On...
May 13, 2013 Masatoshi Omine of Ryukyu Shimpo
Joe Drago, an 87-year-old Boston resident who fought in the Battle of Okinawa talked about the battle through Skype to a group of students at St. Bede’s College, a Catholic boys’ high school located in Christchurch, New Zealand. The lesson was...
May 5, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On May 3, at the Ie Jima Auxiliary Airfield, the U.S. military conducted parachute training from MV-22 Osprey vertical take-off and landing transport aircraft. The training occurred 19 times over three consecutive days with a total of 15 aircraft flying to the airfield.
Up...
May 3, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
At round noon on May 2, a halo, or circle of light like a rainbow that appears around the sun, could be seen in the sky above Okinawa. Shading their eyes with their hands, people looked up at the sky to see the mysterious scene, taking pictures with the cameras in...
April 30, 2013 Ryota Shimabukuro of Ryukyu Shimpo reports from Washington D.C.
In a meeting held at the Department of Defense in the afternoon of April 29, Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera and the U.S. Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel announced that 12 more MV-22 Osprey aircraft will be deployed...
May 5, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
After 10:00a.m. on May 1, at Ie Jima Auxiliary Airfield, the U.S. military conducted parachute training for soldiers jumping from MV-22 Osprey vertical takeoff and landing transport aircraft. One of the soldiers involved landed on private property outside that controlled...
April 28, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On April 27, many people enjoyed digging clams at Henoko beach in Nago, near where the U.S. military plans to construct an alternative facility for Futenma Air Station. With an area of sea full of colorful coral in front of them, people questioned why part of these...
April 24, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On April 23, the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG) announced that a venomous snake of the Sakishima-habu variety was caught on Miyako-jima. According to the OPG, this is the first time that such a snake has been caught in Miyako, which is known as an island that...
April 26 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
In the evening on April 25, a panel discussion was held on the topic of the Japanese government planning to hold a ceremony on April 28 to commemorate the anniversary of the restoration of Japanese sovereignty after the San Francisco Peace Treaty took effect in 1952....
April 29 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
April 28 marked the 61st anniversary of the restoration of Japanese sovereignty after the San Francisco Peace Treaty took effect in 1952 and when Okinawa was separated from Japan and placed under U.S. occupation. On this day, from 11:00am at the open-air amphitheater...
April 21, 2013 Jun Kinjo of Ryukyu Shimpo
On April 20, Chosei Tamaki, the head of the Move Through Nature of Yambaru Association, an environmental non-governmental organization, confirmed the presence in the forest of the Takae district of Higashi of rare species of plants such as an orchid...
