Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera seeks to persuade the Okinawa Prefectural Government to permit Osprey flights despite strong local concern about the aircraft’s safety.
While a secret deal on nuclear arms had been previously acknowledged, the new document shows that Japan expressed its stance using an official diplomatic channel.
Okinawa residents on Saturday demanded that all of the U.S. military's Ospreys in Japan be grounded in the wake of last week's fatal crash involving one of the tilt-rotor transports off Australia. "It is clear that the Osprey is an extremely dangerous and defective aircraft," ...
Okinawa plans to export more used cars, making use of vehicles retired from the prefecture's prospering car rental businesses. According to the prefectural government, the number of automobiles registered for rental in Okinawa reached 30,000 as of March 2016, the largest figure among the 47 ...
The new minister in charge of issues related to Okinawa said Tuesday that the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) should be "re-examined" in light of the fatal crash off Australia of an Okinawa-based U.S. Marine Corps Osprey aircraft, likely overstepping Tokyo's official line ...
Possible safety review would ground entire air fleet as Japanese officials step up calls for the suspension of the aircraft’s use in Japan.
The Democratic Party called Monday for the new minister in charge of issues related to Okinawa to be sacked after he made a gaffe just two days after being assigned the post in the latest Cabinet reshuffle. Tetsuma Esaki told reporters Saturday that he would ...
The Australian Navy has recovered the submerged remains of a U.S. Marine Corps Osprey that crashed off the east coast of Australia over the weekend, the Australian defense minister said Monday. Marise Payne said in a statement that the HMAS Melville located the Okinawa-based MV-22 ...
The Australian government said on Sunday it would deploy its armed forces to assist in recovery efforts after the U.S. Marine Corps suspended its search for three Marines missing since their aircraft crashed off Australia's northeast coast a day earlier. The Marine Corps said earlier ...
The United States on Monday returned a small part of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Japan. The return of the roughly 4-hectare strip of land from the 481-hectare base is apparently aimed at showing residents the central government is making progress in reducing ...
Every year, toward the beginning of July, the waters of Zamami Island — so blue as to seem synthetic — are disturbed by a fleet of yachts. Almost 60 in number, the yachts cut elegant figures across the ocean, their hulls heeling and sails ...
The Okinawa Prefectural Government filed a fresh lawsuit against the central government Monday, seeking a halt in work at the relocation site for the U.S. Futenma air base. It was the latest shot in Okinawa's long-running fight against the plan to relocate the functions currently ...
