Jon Mitchell - The Japan Times

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Jon Mitchell

Jon Mitchell writes about human rights issues on Okinawa. In 2015, he received the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan Freedom of the Press Award for Lifetime Achievement for his investigations into U.S. military contamination on Okinawa and other base-related problems.

For Jon Mitchell's latest contributions to The Japan Times, see below:

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES

Feb 24, 2016

NGO's Japanese founder foments organic revolution in Vietnam

Seed to Table helps locals rediscover lost agricultural wisdom and pull themselves out of poverty with duck and cow 'banks.'

Japan Times

JAPAN

Feb 9, 2016

Documents indicate chemical leaks at U.S. base have polluted Okinawa water supply

U.S. documents released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that lax safety standards at Kadena Air Base in Okinawa may be to blame for the recent contamination of local drinking water sources.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jan 13, 2016

As Okinawa confronts dioxin, Vietnam offers lessons

Health monitoring and safety measures are urged as U.S. military denials fly in the face of mounting evidence of contamination on the island.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Sep 29, 2015

FOIA documents reveal hot spots, fish kills and toxic dumps on Okinawa military base

Following an 18-month battle, the Pentagon has released records detailing serious contamination on Okinawa base land slated soon for return to civilian use.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Sep 16, 2015

Pentagon blocks report on 'toxic contamination' at base outside Okinawa capital

Excerpts cite buried chemicals and 'evidence of contamination by heavy metals and pesticides' at military site on prime real estate near Naha.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Aug 17, 2015

U.S. marine wins compensation for Okinawa toxin exposure and calls for tests on residents near Futenma

The U.S. government has awarded compensation to the ailing former marine at the center of allegations that Agent Orange was dumped on Futenma Air Base in Okinawa.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES

Jul 8, 2015

Late marine's message lives on in Okinawa and Vietnam

U.S. Marine Allen Nelson first visited Okinawa in 1966 when the entire island was under American control and functioned as its springboard for the war in Vietnam. For two weeks, Nelson and his fellow new recruits spent their days practising guerilla warfare at Camp Hansen, central Okinawa, then in the nights, they headed into civilian areas to drink, fight and look for women. In later interviews, Nelson recalled drunken U.S. Marines beating taxi drivers and bar workers unconscious: "When we are coming to town, we don't leave our violence on military bases. We bring our violence into towns with us."

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET

Mar 31, 2015

Nago: What should the world learn from the Battle of Okinawa?

Jon Mitchell speaks to locals and visitors in Nago, the proposed site of a new base to replace the U.S. Marines' Futenma facility.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Mar 30, 2015

The Battle of Okinawa: America's good war gone bad

Seventy years after the final epic clash of World War II, has the U.S. betrayed the ideals its service members died fighting for?

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Mar 23, 2015

U.S. Marines official dismissed over Okinawa protest video leak

The Pentagon has reportedly dismissed a senior U.S. Marine Corps official in Okinawa following the leak of on-base surveillance video to a Japanese neo-nationalist group.

Japan Times

JAPAN / History

Mar 7, 2015

Battle scars: Okinawa and the Vietnam War

On March 8, 1965, the first U.S. combat troops landed in Da Nang, South Vietnam. Their arrival significantly escalated American intervention in the war which, by its end a decade later, left more than 1 million dead and countless others suffering from the legacy of post-traumatic stress disorder, unexploded ordnance and Agent Orange.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Feb 16, 2015

In appearance on far-right TV, U.S. official calls Okinawa base protests 'hate speech'

A senior official for the U.S. military has branded anti-base demonstrations in Okinawa as 'hate speech' in an appearance on a rightist TV network in Japan.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Feb 9, 2015

Injuries to Okinawa anti-base protesters 'laughable,' says U.S. military spokesman

In an email, a top marine official likens protesters hurt in demonstrations to diving soccer players.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jan 5, 2015

Think tank gives Japan-U.S. diplomacy an Okinawan voice

Shocked by indifference in Japanese and U.S. government circles toward the island's interests, a lawyer has taken matters into her own hands.

Japan Times

JAPAN / Politics

Aug 23, 2014

Thousands march on Henoko base site

More than 3,500 demonstrators marched to U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Saturday in the largest show of anger to date against the new American base being built off Henoko Bay to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in crowded Ginowan further southwest.

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

Aug 9, 2014

Okinawa: pocket of resistance

The battle over Henoko Bay looks set to challenge the power of the archipelago's protest movement.

Japan Times

LIFE / Lifestyle

Aug 9, 2014

Monuments to peace reveal island's violent history

With its perpetual flame for peace and slabs of granite inscribed with the names of the more than 241,000 people who died on all sides during the Battle of Okinawa, the Okinawa Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni is the island's most famous monument — but also one of its most controversial. Critics argue that it whitewashes responsibility for the war by listing the innocent dead alongside the soldiers who killed them; moreover, prefectural officials altered displays at the park's museum in 1999 to downplay atrocities committed against islanders by the Japanese military.

Japan Times

JAPAN

Jul 11, 2014

Agent Orange ingredients found at Okinawa military dumpsite

Rusting barrels unearthed on former U.S. military land in the city of Okinawa are confirmed as containing chemical precursors to the toxic defoliant Agent Orange.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

Jun 9, 2014

ASIJ announces investigation into sex abuse

An independent investigation will examine late teacher Jack Moyer's suspected sexual abuse of scores of female students and why American School in Japan officials apparently allowed his attacks to continue unabated despite students' warnings.

Japan Times

COMMUNITY / Issues / THE FOREIGN ELEMENT

May 12, 2014

After ASIJ admission that teacher abused kids, ex-students demand inquiry

Alumni from the American School in Japan are demanding an independent inquiry into whether school officials covered up knowledge of sexual abuse committed by teacher Jack Moyer.

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