Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau hosts its own booth at the 15th annual Los Angeles Times Travel Show on Saturday, Feb. 23 and Sunday, Feb. 24 at Los Angeles Convention Center. Travel Show opens from 10:00 am – 5 pm. Regular admission is $10. Los Angeles Convention Center is located at 1201 South Figueroa...
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5th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival Main Event Program The Okinawa Prefectural Government invites overseas Okinawan people to their mother country, Okinawa, every five years. This gathering dubbed as “Worldwide Uchinanchu (Okinawan people) Festival” will take place at Naha, Okinawa, this year, from October 12 through 16. To coincide with the Uchinanchu Festival, big events such...
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Cultural News, 2011 February Issue / Japan Behind News By Motoaki Kamiura in Tokyo Translated by Alan Gleason In December 2010, the Naoto Kan administration announced a new defense policy that redefines Japan’s national defense strategy for the coming decade. The most noteworthy aspect of the new strategy is the priority it gives to...
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Cultural News, 2010 October Issue By Motoaki Kamiura Translated by Alan Gleason The dispute over relocation of a U.S. Marine Corps air station from Futenma, Okinawa grew more complicated on September 12, when candidates opposing the base’s transfer to the Henoko district of Nago City won a majority of seats in the Nago Municipal...
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Cultural News, 2010 August Issue By Motoaki Kamiura Translated by Alan Gleason The Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), which had decided to move the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma to the Henoko area of Okinawa, took a beating in the Upper House elections this past July. The winner of the Okinawa seat,...
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Cultural News, 2010 June Issue By Motoaki Kamiura, Military Analyst Translated by Alan Gleason During the Vietnam War, the U.S. military bases in Okinawa served as the launching pad for the bombardment of North Vietnam, but also for an economic boom fed by “special procurements” for the war. There was a time when local...
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Cultural News, April 2010 Issue By Motoaki Kamiura, Military Analyst Translated by Alan Gleason The controversy over where to move the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station from its current location in central Okinawa continues to rage in Japan. For years Okinawans have been upset about the hazards posed by Futenma, which lies in...
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Cultural News, February 2010 Issue By Motoaki Kamiura, Military Analyst Translated by Alan Gleason The Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is the treaty under which Japan provides bases on its soil for use by the U.S. military. SOFA also stipulates various forms of preferential treatment for the troops and civilian staff stationed on...
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Cultural News, 2009 December Issue By Motoaki Kamiura, Military Analyst Translated by Alan Gleason And indeed, different members of the Hatoyama Cabinet are leaning in different directions as they desperately seek a solution. Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa supports moving the Futenma facilities to a more isolated coastal location at the Marines’ Camp Schwab; this...
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Cultural News, 2009 October Issue By Motoaki Kamiura, Military Analyst Translated by Alan Gleason The odds are growing that the controversial 2006 agreement between the U.S. and Japanese governments to move the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station to another location on the island of Okinawa will be cancelled. Indeed, perhaps it already has...
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