Politics
Pick Up Stories
Okinawa marks 51st anniversary of revers… [Politics]
May 15th marked the 51st anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to the Japanese administration in 1972. According to published figures, the Japa...Read More
Futenma base foes gird for battle [Politics]
Opponents of the plan for relocating Futenma Marine Corps Air Station from Ginowan City to the Henoko district of northern Okinawa’s Nago C...Read More
Oliver Stone visiting Okinawa to discuss… [Politics]
American director, producer and screenwriter will be joining a former Okinawa governor and two other panelists on Wednesday, August 14th, to...Read More
Base relocation plan to continue despite Nago election [Politics]
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s central government has dismissed Sunday’s Nago mayoral election results as meaning little, and vows plans for a replacement airfield in northern Okinawa...
Ruling LDP ‘stunned’ by Nago election outcome [Politics]
Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is shocked by the defeat of an Liberal Democratic Party-backed candidate in Sunday’s Nago City mayoral election. In the waning d...
Susumu Inamine wins Nago mayoral election [Politics]
Incumbent Susumu Inamine has won the mayoral election in Nago, Sunday, ensuring the plan to build a new facility to Nago’s Henoko district to replace MCAS Futenma faces further com...
World academics, peace leaders blast Henoko plan [Politics]
Opposition to the announced approval of land reclamation, which will lead to creation of a Futenma Replacement Facility at Nago City’s Henoko district, is drawing flak from dozens ...
Prime Minister’s popularity rises despite tensions [Politics]
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has his hands full at the moment, with issues ranging from the China-Japan dispute over the Senkaku Islands, Korea-Japan antagonism over a range of issues...
Critical Nago election could impact Henoko deal [Politics]
Battle lines are sharply drawn in the small northern Okinawa city of Nago for Sunday’s mayoral showdown that could have a dramatic impact on how easily –or near impossible—the land...
Prefectural Assembly calls for governor’s resignation [Politics]
Less than a month after Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima gave the green light for Japan to begin land reclamation in northern Okinawa as part of the Futenma Replacement Facility a...
Japan vows to defend islands after China’s restrictions [Politics]
Imposition of new rules for entering what China calls its territories in the South China Sea has Japan seething, and the Defense Minister promising a readiness to defend its disput...
Futenma base foes gird for battle [Politics]
Opponents of the plan for relocating Futenma Marine Corps Air Station from Ginowan City to the Henoko district of northern Okinawa’s Nago City are angry with the governor’s decisi...
Private vessels, reservists could assist in crisis [Politics]
Continuing tensions between China and Japan over remote islands have the government creating contingency plans for recapturing such islands as the Senkakus, using privately owned s...
Governor’s landfill permit approval riles Naha City [Politics]
The Naha City Assembly has adopted a written protest against Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima’s approval of reclamation work needed to build a substitute facility for the Fu...
Japan and ASEAN agree on air freedom [Politics]
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, ASEAN, has backed a bid by Japan for endorsement of “freedom in the skies” triggered by China’s imposition of a large air defense zone t...
Tokyo gives nod to Seoul air defense zone [Politics]
Even as it continues to lash out at China for its imposition of an air defense identification zone in the East China Sea that blankets the Japan-administered Senkaku Islands, Tokyo...
Governor standing firm against Henoko for FRF [Politics]
Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima has again underlined his unchanged stance of seeking transfer of the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station to the outside of Okinawa. Nakaima said at ...
China creates defense zone over Senkakus [Politics]
Tokyo is charging a weekend move by Beijing that established its own air defense zone over part of southwestern Okinawa Prefecture that includes the Senkaku Islands as “very danger...
Tokyo creates website to promote Senkakus, Takeshima [Politics]
A new website is now operational by the Japanese government, marketing its rights over islands in its territory that are being contested. A Cabinet minister says Tokyo has been usi...
Okinawan LDP lawmakers agree to Henoko plan [Politics]
After months of enormous pressure from the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan headquarters in Tokyo, the five Okinawan LDP lawmakers accepted a plan to relocate the MCAS Futenma fro...
New U.S. Ambassador takes post in Tokyo [Politics]
Japan has a new U.S. Ambassador, and one who is close to America’s president, Barack Obama. Caroline Kennedy arrived to pomp and circumstance in Tokyo, taking a horse-drawn carriag...
Masaharu Noguni re-elected Chatan Mayor [Politics]
Chatan Village’s held its mayoral election, Nov. 17th. The incumbent, 68-year-old Masaharu Noguni, who ran as an independent but was backed by progressive groups beat his challenge...
Defense Minister takes pot shots at China [Politics]
Tensions between two Asian giants intensified this week as Japan’s Defense Minister warned mega-giant China its drones flying over southwestern Okinawa Prefecture would be shot dow...