Nipponica

Uechi, 61, who was elected mayor of the westernmost Japan town for the first time in Sunday's election, has shown understanding of the deployment of Self-Defense Forces in the town but takes a cautious stance on expanding defense capabilities further.

In 2016, the government opened the Ground SDF's Camp Yonaguni in the town to enhance the defense system for the Nansei island chain in southwestern Japan. A missile unit is planned for future deployment.

Going to both sides this one as Yonaguni is literally on the front line of a future China-Taiwan conflict and increasing national defense there is an obvious goal. But it is the same old story in Okinawa, more guns and no peace.

Okinawa resident Hiromasa Iha can still recall the screams of his classmates and teachers after a U.S. military jet crashed into his elementary school, killing 18 people, more than six decades ago.

As people globally commemorate the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, the 72-year-old retired businessman is among many residents who oppose the American troops stationed on their island ever since.

He joins dozens of islanders in near-daily protests against the U.S. military.

The United States has around 54,000 military personnel stationed in Japan, mostly on Okinawa, and a string of incidents over the years, including sexual assault cases, have angered residents.

"For us, these crimes and accidents are not someone else's business, and we feel a pressing unease that we can't predict when these things may happen again," he said, recalling the 1959 school incident.

"We want the bases to go."

I lived across the street from where this US jet crashed into an elementary school in the 1950s. The signs of the American occupation are everywhere and can be easy to tune out once you get used to them. But it is still something that impacts the daily lives of Okinawan people, in both big and small ways. They deserve to be able to live on their land without foreign powers in Washington and Tokyo using them as a pawn.

Firefighting efforts on the ship, anchored near White Beach Naval Facility in the city of Uruma in Japan's southern island prefecture, involved U.S. Navy personnel as well as support from the Japan Coast Guard and the Maritime Self-Defense Force.

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki expressed his deep frustration over the incident, warning at a press conference that it could have led to "a major disaster involving residents."

Americans making messes overseas. Just another day.

The “Joint Sea-2025” exercises kicked off in waters near the Russian port of Vladivostok and would last for three days, China’s defence ministry said in a statement on Sunday.

The two sides will hold “submarine rescue, joint anti-submarine, air defence and anti-missile operations, and maritime combat”.

Just noting what the neighbors are doing in our shared pool to the west.

The Kyoto Prefecture city of Kyotango on July 31 called for confirmation of the facts surrounding a joint Japan-U.S. military exercise that went ahead at a U.S. base in the city without prior notification to local officials.

One resident near the communications site expressed their concerns, stating, "The most serious issue is that the joint Japan-U.S. exercise was conducted on the front lines without (Japanese) defense authorities being informed. This is a grave situation. Conducting drills without defense authorities' knowledge is unacceptable under civilian control. I want the facts to be thoroughly investigated and publicly released."

While the local civilian government should have definitely been notified about such an exercise, I can't help but smile at the mainland Japanese getting a taste of what Okinawa has had to endure for almost a century of de jure and de facto US rule.

Over 70 percent of foreigners visiting the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum feel that the 1945 U.S. atomic bombings of the western Japan city and Nagasaki cannot be justified, a recent Kyodo News survey showed.

Of the 74.6 percent who said the bombings were unjustified, 6.2 percent said they had changed their view after seeing the exhibits, according to the survey of around 1,000 foreign visitors conducted this summer. Meanwhile, 7.2 percent said the bombings were justified, and 12.8 percent were unsure.

A very stat-heavy article, but I am still amazed that someone could come out of the Peace Museum in Hiroshima and still support what happened there in 1945.

“I am the last one left,” Mr. Kiyozumi said in his home, showing fading photographs of the sub and himself as a young sailor.

As the 80th anniversary of the war’s end approaches, the number of veterans still alive is rapidly dwindling. There were only 792 Japanese war veterans still collecting government pensions as of March, half the number of a year earlier.

Now in their upper 90s and 100s, they will take with them the last living memories of horrors and ordeals, but also of bravery and sacrifice — powerful accounts that hold extra meaning now, as Japan builds up its military after decades of pacifism. Here are some of their stories.

A somber article well worth a read. The last Japanese soldiers from the Second World War speak about their experiences and the inhuman brutality of the war.

According to Moji Police Station, the hand grenade was American-made, measuring about 11 centimeters in length with a diameter of 5.5 cm. At the instruction of the Fukuoka Prefectural Police, 25 residents in 19 households within a 30-meter radius of the grenade were temporarily evacuated.

Kyushu people always have to be special and evacuate in their own unique way.

Americans expressed mixed views on whether the atomic bombings of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified, a survey by a U.S. research group showed Monday, signaling a possible change in the country's prevailing view that the attacks were necessary to bring a quick end to World War II.

The nationwide survey, conducted by Pew Research Center, revealed that 35 percent of American adults think using nuclear weapons in 1945 was justified, while 31 percent thought otherwise. A third said they are not sure.

The troubling thing here is that if you combine the 'pro-nuke' cohort with the 'dunno' one, it is still a clear majority that are either clueless or in support of mass civilian death.

As part of the extended deterrence talks in recent years, Tokyo and Washington have held multiple tabletop exercises to strategize a scenario in which a conflict broke out in East Asia and the United States is pressured to use nuclear weapons, according to the sources.

With that in mind, Japan and the United States reviewed how to coordinate and how to deal with issues stemming from the possible use of nuclear weapons, such as managing public opinion. Discussions also broached how much information the United States can share with Japan, the sources said.

A totally normal thing to do and publicly report I'm sure.