Tag - okinawa

 
Menu
Search
 
July 01, 2026
 

Today's print edition

Home Delivery
Subscribe for more access

OKINAWA

Last month, U.S. military police mistakenly detained an American citizen during a solo patrol in the city of Okinawa.
JAPAN
Dec 27, 2025
U.S. military police detain civilian in Okinawa by mistake
The Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement does not allow U.S. military police to detain civilians outside U.S. bases.
The United States has informed Japan that it hopes to expand Marine Corps live-fire training at five Ground Self-Defense Force firing ranges to include the use of heavy weapons such as antitank missiles and rocket launchers.
JAPAN
Dec 24, 2025
U.S. hoping to use heavy weapons in training at five GSDF sites
An official from the Defense Ministry said that it plans to allow the use of such weapons after obtaining the understanding of regional communities.
A suicide note left by international politics scholar Kei Wakaizumi is currently on display at the Okinawa Prefectural Archives in the town of Haebaru, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / History
Dec 22, 2025
Secret Okinawa-reversion negotiator’s suicide note now open to public
The letter, which describes the envoy’s grief over brokering a nuclear agreement with the U.S., will be on display through Sunday.
The village office of Tonaki, Okinawa Prefecture. The village recorded zero births in 2023.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Dec 22, 2025
Okinawa’s remote island villages battle acute depopulation
Eight of the prefecture’s 41 municipalities recorded fewer than 10 births in 2023.
Ground reclamation work underway in Nago in January.
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2025
Japan resumes ground work for Futenma base relocation
The ministry notified the Nago city government and other related parties of the work resumption off the coast of the city’s Henoko district after a six-month hiatus.
U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in the city of Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, in 2023
JAPAN
Dec 19, 2025
U.S. military rejects Okinawa access requests over PFAS findings
PFAS have been found in nearby rivers and other sites, raising concerns about potential effects on drinking water.
Yuko Obuchi, head of the Liberal Democratic Party's panel on Okinawa promotion, speaks at the panel's meeting in Tokyo on Thursday.
JAPAN
Dec 18, 2025
Okinawa development funds to see first rise in 10 years
The planned increase comes as the LDP aims to win the next Okinawa gubernatorial election, expected next summer.
Military radar towers on Yonaguni, the westernmost inhabited island of Japan.
JAPAN
Dec 13, 2025
Japan builds up ‘missile archipelago’ near Taiwan to counter China
As tensions between China and Japan rise, the sparsely populated island of Yonaguni finds itself right on the front lines.
China is advancing a revamped World War II narrative to justify its regional claims while portraying Japan as a threat to the postwar order.
COMMENTARY / Japan / Geoeconomic Briefing
Dec 12, 2025
Is China guardian of the ‘postwar international order’?
China is advancing a revamped World War II narrative to justify its regional claims while portraying Japan as a threat to the postwar order.
Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi arrives for a party leaders' debate in the Upper House of parliament in Tokyo on Nov. 26. Takaichi has refused to back down from recent Taiwan-contingency remarks that were fiercely criticized by China.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Dec 11, 2025
China’s heavy-handed attack on Takaichi is backfiring
Japan has never formally accepted that Taiwan is part of the PRC and Taiwan has never, for one day, been under the Communist Party’s control.
U.S. President Donald Trump meets with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Busan, South Korea, on Oct 30.
COMMENTARY / World
Dec 11, 2025
Survival in Trump, Xi and Putin’s ‘great power’ world
Japan and other middle powers must help shape the new order — or risk becoming subject to it.
American playwright and actor Jeremy O. Harris has been released three weeks after his arrest in Japan on suspicion of drug smuggling while prosecutors investigate, police said Wednesday.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 10, 2025
Japan releases ‘Emily in Paris’ star after drug arrest
Harris was detained at Naha Airport after customs officers found 0.78 grams of a substance containing the stimulant MDMA in the 36-year-old’s tote bag.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks during a news conference with his Australian counterpart at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Sunday.
JAPAN
Dec 7, 2025
Chinese fighters target SDF jets with radar lock-on as tensions surge
Beijing pinned the blame for the encounter on Tokyo, saying that SDF aircraft had repeatedly harassed a Chinese naval formation during training.
Jeremy O. Harris at the Met Gala in New York in May
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Dec 5, 2025
U.S. playwright Jeremy O. Harris arrested in Okinawa for alleged drug smuggling
Known for his Tony-nominated “Slave Play” and his appearance in the hit show “Emily in Paris,” Harris was detained at Naha Airport on Nov. 16.
Elementary students engage in creative activities at Okinawa International School in the city of Nanjo, Okinawa Prefecture.
JAPAN / Society / Regional Voices: Okinawa
Dec 1, 2025
Okinawa school attracts Tokyo families seeking international education
Two-thirds of first graders at Okinawa International School come from families who relocated from outside the prefecture, mostly from the Tokyo metropolitan area.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara (left) meets with Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki in Naha on Sunday.
JAPAN / Politics
Dec 1, 2025
Central government and Okinawa remain apart over U.S. base relocation
Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara visited Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki at the prefectural office in Naha in Sunday.
Soldiers stand guard at a gate of the Yonaguni military base in October 2021. The Self-Defense Forces plan to deploy Chu-SAM missiles to strengthen the air defenses around the island, which lies just 110 kilometers from Taiwan.
COMMENTARY / Japan
Nov 28, 2025
Koizumi’s significant (and insignificant) Yonaguni visit
The timing of Koizumi’s visit amid the ongoing China-Japan tension made this stop there much more interesting than it otherwise would have been.
A sinkhole has formed in the prefectural road in Ogimi, Okinawa Prefecture, on Monday morning due to a leak caused by the rupture of a water pipe.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2025
Water outages expected in 17 Okinawa municipalities
The leak was caused by the rupture of a water pipe laid in the village of Ogimi in the northern part of Okinawa Island.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi (left) meets Tsuneo Uechi, mayor of Yonaguni in Okinawa Prefecture (second from right) at the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Yonaguni on Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 24, 2025
Takaichi government to ramp up efforts for defense of Japan’s southwest
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi has visited some of the islands in the region, only about a month after taking office.
Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi speaks to reporters after inspecting the Ground Self-Defense Force garrison on Yonaguni Island, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday.
JAPAN
Nov 23, 2025
Japan on track to deploy missiles to island near Taiwan, Koizumi says
Japan is planning to station medium-range surface-to-air missiles on Yonaguni, about 110 kilometers east of Taiwan, as part of a broader military build-up.
Uruguay federation reportedly cancels charter flight after World Cup exit
Uruguay's Jose Maria Gimenez reacts after the team's loss against Spain at the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Friday.
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
India’s gig workers pay the price for exposure to New Delhi’s hazardous air
Rohit Kushwaha waits for a customer as he delivers his last parcel of the day, in New Delhi in January. His work as a delivery driver has helped pay the family’s bills, but has had a significant impact on his health.
Yen hits 40-year low against the dollar, breaking ¥162 level
Japan's currency broke ¥162 to the dollar on Tuesday in Tokyo.
Japan falls in gut-wrenching fashion as Brazil strikes late to win World Cup clash
Brazil's Gabriel Martinelli (right) shoots past Japan defenders Shogo Taniguchi (left) and Takehiro Tomiyasu to score in the second half of a match in the round of 32 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup in Houston on Monday.
Japan’s fertility system offers few safe paths for same-sex couples
A Tokyo Pride parade participant holds a sign that says "we want to be a married couple, not a couple."
Inside Japan’s rigid adoption system, a British family finds a way
James Benstead, his wife, Jesse, and their three children. Their adopted son is in the rear stroller.
A French ship with close ties to Japan combines arts and sciences on the high seas
Romain Troublé, the executive director of Tara Ocean Foundation, speaks to visitors aboard the Tara during a rare port call in Tokyo in April.
In Kyushu’s far south, Senti.U sparks a culinary destination
Chef Yasuhiko Uchida was born in Saga Prefecture but has made his home in Kanoya, Kagoshima Prefecture, since 2012.
‘The colors speak for themselves’: How Japan’s chroma bible went global
“A Dictionary of Color Combinations” is meant to function as a quick-reference guide for artists, designers and anyone with a passing interest in aesthetics as a quantifiable pursuit.

Podcast

One of the many entrances to the Kabukicho neighborhood in Tokyo’s Shinjuku Ward.
Kabukicho: Tokyo’s ‘stadium of desire’

Longform

The Terasaka Rice Terraces are seen with Mount Buko in the background.
What Yokoze can teach Japan about rural revival
By Alex K.T. Martin

SUSTAINABLE JAPAN

TDC Global challenges norms at Japan workplaces
TDC Global challenges norms at Japan workplaces

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTS note

Read more

SUPPLEMENTS BINDER