August 30, 2010:  This warden message is being issued to alert U.S. citizens residing or traveling in Okinawa, Japan that the Japan Meteorological Agency has issued alerts for a Category 1 storm, Typhoon Kompasu. The U.S. Consulate General in Naha, Okinawa, and all U.S. military bases on Okinawa are expected to be closed to the public on Tuesday, August 31.
Typhoon Kompasu as of 1250 (local time) on Monday, August 30 was located approximately 577 kilometers or 358 miles to the southeast at 23 degrees north latitude, 132.2 degrees east longitude, …

Yokota Air Force Base Friendship Festival 2010
Posted Printable Fact Sheet

Yokota Air Base
Japanese – American Friendship Festival 2010
横 田基地日米友好祭２０１０
障 害者手帳をお持ちの方の車両入場手続きについて
DATE: Saturday, 21 August and Sunday, 22 August 2010
Gate Open Hours: 0900-2000
Entertainment schedule
エンターテイメント　スケジュール

Date:  Saturday, July 10, 2010
Time:  11:00am – 8:00pm
Location:  TAMA HILLS
What is a BBQ? Well it’s not a few hamburgers and hot dogs with a bag of chips! Where the Ribs, Chicken, Hot links, Collard Greens, Corn, Cabbage, Mac & Cheese, Baked beans & potato salad at? Get ur water guns, balloons, your 2 piece sets ready!! We about to do it the old fashioned way.. If u neva been to a …REAL BBQ 10 JULY @ TAMA HILLS(BASE) IT’S GOIN DOWN TO DA BONE!
7.10.2010 Saturday
price:1500YEN FOR FOOD/DRINK/CHARITY DONATIONS
DJs play allday
DJ’s …

Wow! It seems that fuzzy logic, new math, a broken calculator or maybe even smoke and mirrors are used to push a different agenda, and it has nothing to do with crime!
According to the data compiled by the ministry and its Defense Facilities Administration Agency, obtained by a group linked to victims of such incidents, 1,059 crimes and accidents involving U.S. service personnel in Okinawa, or 54 percent of the nationwide total linked to members of the U.S. military, were recorded in fiscal 2002, 1,159 cases, or about 55 percent, …

The Japan Times reports:
A draft obtained Tuesday of Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama’s plan for the Futenma air base specifies the Henoko district in Nago,Okinawa Prefecture, as the relocation site — in line with the existing deal signed by Tokyo and Washington fours years ago.
The draft states that the government will construct a 1,600- to 1,800-meter runway around “Henoko in the city of Nago where the coast of (the U.S. Marines’) Camp Schwab is located” and that experts from both Japan and the U.S. should study the technical feasibility of construction methods …

(Kyodo Photo).
As discussions continue regarding the fate of U.S. bases in Okinawa dominate the headlines in Japan, some may wonder whether or not the presence of the US in Japan hinders or helps the people of this Island nation. Some may debate if Japan’s Prime Minister Hatoyama is handling the situation properly, while other may wonder if the U.S. is simply bulling Japan to continue to allow the U.S. presence in Okinawa. A new documentary may give a bit more incite into the training and day to day life …

As I sit here sipping on my mocha, I see that the Japanese media continues to run the Okinawa-mondai stories. Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama on Wednesday revealed his plan to move as many as 1,000 of the 2,500 U.S. Marines based at the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma located in Ginowan on the island of Okinawa to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture was met with protest. As a former-US Marine that served 4-years in Okinawa, this mondai or so-called problem is of interest to me.
However (comma) I am waiting for the Japanese …

The Japanese Government has until the end of May 2010 to decide where to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futemma. Under an existing agreement with the United States signed in 2006 the U. S. military air station would be moved from the highly populated area of Ginowan in Okinawa to the northern Okinawan US Marine Camp Schwab in Nago.

The existing agreement is estimated to cost approximately 10.3 billion US dollars and would see 8,000 of the 20,000 US troops currently stationed in Japan’s southernmost prefecture relocated from Okinawa to …

With my recent and past posts on the Japanese Self Defense Force, here is an interesting story, “Japan’s About Face,” that looks at the slow but ever changing role of Japan’s Self Defense Force. The PBS program, Wide Angle reports:
Japan’s About-Face is a remarkable window into the shifting role of the military in post-war Japanese society. WIDE ANGLE acquired unprecedented access to the National Defense Academy, Japan’s “West Point.” We follow cadets preparing for a future that may involve overseas deployment, and meet with a group of peace activists on …

I knew it! I saw this coming when I previously blogged about the Chinese establishing a bigger foothold in various parts Africa. Here is a report via the AFP:
In an attempt to stop the on going problem of piracy in the Gulf of Aden, Japan will be opening its first overseas military base in Africa. Located in Djibouti, at a cost of about 40 million dollars the base will be strategically located at the southern end of the Red Sea on the Gulf of Aden.
The base is expected to be …