Earlier this year, journalists from the Okinawa Times and the Ryukyu Shimpo were stunned to learn that they would not be allowed to cover the return of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit from Iraq.
The decision to snub the papers' representatives helped expose a growing rift between U.S. officials in Okinawa and the local press that covers their affairs.
With a combined circulation of over 400,000 catering to a population of 1.3 million people, the newspapers believed they had the right to cover important U.S. military ceremonies in a prefecture where the American presence is overwhelming.