A high court on Thursday upheld a lower court ruling that found a prominent anti-U.S. military base activist in Okinawa guilty of several criminal offenses committed during protests in the island prefecture. Hiroji Yamashiro, 66, a key figure in the movement against the relocation of ...
Okinawa base activist describes five months of alleged Japanese oppression to U.N. rights council
A prominent Okinawan activist told the U.N. Human Rights Council on Thursday that the Japanese government has committed "clear human rights violations" against those opposed to the relocation plan for U.S. Marine Corps Air Base Futenma. "Civilians are protesting the militarization every day. The government ...
Okinawa 'prisoner of conscience' to address U.N. about perceived abuses
Hiroji Yamashiro recounts six harsh months of POW-like detention he survived after being singled out for simple acts of civil disobedience recently in Okinawa.
Okinawan anti-base protest leader pleads not guilty to obstruction and assault charges
A prominent activist in Okinawa pleaded not guilty on Friday to charges of forcible obstruction of a business and assault in connection with his opposition to U.S. bases in the prefecture. During his first hearing before the Naha District Court, 64-year-old Hiroji Yamashiro, head of ...
Japan rights group, at U.N. meeting in Geneva, calls for release of Okinawa activist
A Japanese human rights group Friday called for the immediate release of an activist detained for nearly five months in connection with his opposition to U.S. bases in Okinawa Prefecture. Akira Maeda of the Japanese Workers' Committee for Human Rights, slammed the government for continuing ...
Supreme Court denies bail to leading anti-base activist in Okinawa; government accused of oppression
The Supreme Court has denied bail to a prominent anti-U.S. base activist in Okinawa despite repeated calls for his release from human rights organizations and civic groups who deem his arrest political oppression. In a decision dated Monday, the court rejected an appeal filed against ...
Sixty years ago this week, the U.S. government released the controversial Price Report, triggering mass protests on Okinawa that gave birth to leaders who, while renowned in the prefecture, remain little known outside it
Okinawa's story told differently in Tokyo
Last week, at the end of a report on the TBS newsmagazine show "Hodo Tokushu" about protests against the proposed U.S. Marine Corps base at Henoko in Okinawa, the show's host mentioned that in response to charges from local press that it had violently ...
