Nipponica

Japan’s Defense Ministry on Tuesday began its first full-scale U.S. base relocation work on the Oura Bay side of the Henoko coastal area in the city of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture.

The work, which involves the construction of seawalls on the Oura Bay side with soft ground, is part of the project to build a replacement facility for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan. The ministry plans to fill in the area surrounded by the seawalls with soil.

Japanese government workers will survey an uninhabited southwest Alaskan island from Monday to pave the way for the first recovery in over 70 years of remains of World War II soldiers who died fighting U.S. forces there.

Some 2,600 Japanese soldiers died on Attu Island in May 1943, according to the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare, in a doomed attempt to hold the northern Pacific island, captured in June 1942, from over 10,000 U.S. personnel.

Remains of around 320 soldiers were recovered in 1953, but later inspections in 2007 and 2008 did not culminate in the collection of any remains.

The helicopter did not emit fire or smoke, and no injuries had been reported, according to police. Authorities are investigating details of the incident.

Against the backdrop of the evolving security environment, the statement stipulated that the United States "intends to reconstitute U.S. Forces Japan as a joint force headquarters" to "facilitate deeper interoperability and cooperation on joint bilateral operations (with Japan) in peacetime and during contingencies."

The reconstituted USFJ is expected to serve as an important counterpart of the Japanese Self-Defense Forces' joint operation headquarters that will be launched by March 2025 to unify the command of its ground, maritime and air services, it said.

Minamitorishima is Japan's easternmost island, located about 2,000 kilometers southeast of Honshu. It hosts a Maritime SDF base, and Japan Meteorological Agency staff are stationed on the island.

The GSDF has chosen the island as a site for missile training apparently because the island has no ordinary residents and it is off the routes of ships and aircraft.

The GSDF is set to pave a section of the land for SDF use on the western side of the island to create a firing range where launch vehicles for Type 12 surface-to-ship guided missiles will operate.

If you are going do build something like this, build it as far away as possible from the people that are going to be very angry at you for doing it. Legit strat.

The Brazilian government on Thursday offered its first apology over the persecution of Japanese immigrants in the country during and after World War II.

The apology was made over two cases -- one in which Brazil, as part of the Allies, evicted Japanese immigrants from their houses in Santos during the war, and another involving mistreatment on Anchieta Island of people imprisoned amid postwar unrest in the immigrant community.

U.S. Forces Japan said Monday it will create a "new forum for cooperation" with Okinawa's government and local residents, amid criticism over recent revelations of cases of alleged sexual assault involving U.S. military members in the southern island prefecture.

The forum, to be launched in coordination with Japan's central government, will "serve as a venue for the constructive exchange of ideas in the pursuit of shared goals," U.S. Forces Japan Commander Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp said in a press release.

A memorial marking 79 years since the Nemuro air raid by U.S. military planes near the end of World War II, which claimed the lives of approximately 400 people, was held in this north Japan city on July 15

About 30 people, including bereaved families and others concerned, gathered at Narumi Park in the center of Nemuro, where the largest number of people were killed by the bombardment, to pray for the souls of the victims and to think about the importance of peace.

You rarely hear about how the Second World War affected Hokkaido but citizen did suffer from similar raids than those in the rest of the country.

Two cases of sexual crimes allegedly by people linked to the U.S. military have occurred since 2021 in Kanagawa Prefecture but were not publicly disclosed, prefectural police officials said Thursday.

The police reported both cases to the U.S. military, but the prefectural government was not aware of the incidents.

Turn out that the lack of notification of these crimes expands beyond Okinawa.

Pesek said that the Japanese government had been “pretty certain that Biden had this well in hand.” However, following the recent turmoil in Biden’s party, Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party is now reappraising the odds of a “Trump 2.0 presidency.”

“I think the issue with Trump, he’s very transactional, he’s not very predictable. He’s not very loyal in terms of relationships anywhere. Never mind Asia. If you’re Japan, they’re looking at the future and wondering, ‘this could be a fascinating few years for for us.’” Pesek said.

Carrying on from yesterday, a contrasting view on a second Trump reign from the Japanese perspective. The variable of his unpredictability alone makes this a more realistic scenario for Japan.