I think the man has got it right. This is an excerpt from writer Roger Pulvers' special essay for the Japan Times:
"In Japan, it's customary at the end of each year to choose a word that best describes the esprit of that year. My choice for 2012, hands down, is "musekinin."
Musekinin means "irresponsibility"; but the Japanese word is somewhat stronger in tone than the English one, more akin to "a total absence of responsibility," or "a lack of a sense of liability."
In the general election on Dec. 16, the opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) was elected in a landslide on the pledge to pump a mass of new money into the economy in order to jump-start it out of its stalled misery. But this is precisely what the LDP did when it was in power in the 1990s, pouring tens of billions of yen into public-works projects that left Japan with much often-useless concrete infrastructure and the mother of all national debts. Why, one asks, would such a policy work now, when the debt is already galactic in size and most local governments have no appetite for old-fashion pump-priming?
The LDP answer to anything blocking its way is the same as that given to tank-soldier Shiba, as the mentality has not changed in three-quarters of a century: Run 'em down.
No matter that the Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami on March 11, 2011, was followed by events at the Fukushima No. 1 nuclear power plant leading to three reactor meltdowns, because the LDP government is now poised to okay the restart of most of the country's dozens of idled reactors. And that despite adequate safety checks, which should have been conducted before the plants were built, not having been carried out.
It is ironic, too, that both major parties — the LDP and the then-ruling Democratic Party of Japan — kicked off campaigning in the recent election, which began on Dec. 4, in Fukushima.
The residents of that prefecture have been treated like the unwanted. They have been deprived of information and sufficient compensation. Tokyo Electric Power Co. (Tepco), the owner and operator of the stricken nuclear plant, has simply wished they would go away — which, with time, they will, one way or another.
As with the millions of Asian victims of Japanese aggression prior to the end of World War II in 1945, the policy adopted after the events is to mollify with ambiguous and insincere apologies ... and wait until the last one dies.
The same "run 'em down" attitude is again, basically, not far from being the mindset of the corporate bosses in the nuclear industry — or, if not run 'em down, then "run 'em out" — which is what they did to the people of the radiation-affected districts of Fukushima Prefecture.
In this way, politicians, bureaucrats and the corporate elite are evading responsibility for either the collapse and stagnation of Japan's economy or the contamination of its land, air and water, and what that has meant for people's livelihoods.
They have not apologized in any meaningful way nor have they shown any true sense of responsibility for these two catastrophes of mismanagement and cover-up regarding the real causes of the economy's collapse and the nuclear disaster. Their solution is to return to the status quo ante, dig in their heels, pick up their antiquated weapons — the only tools at their disposal — and carry on fighting.
This is what is meant by musekinin as we approach what may be the point of no return that this country faces in 2013."
(for the full essay, including the reference to Ryotaro Shiba's Manchuria experience of being told "run 'em down", please go to The Japan Times online, 12/12/30)
2012年12月30日日曜日
2012年12月25日火曜日
This scares me. How about you?
Tuesday, Dec. 25, 2012
Fault-linked nuke plants sitting on 800 tons of fuel
Jiji
A combined 800 tons of spent nuclear fuel is being stored at two power stations thought to have active quake faults running underneath them.
Japan Atomic Power Co., operator of the Tsuruga plant in Fukui Prefecture, said Sunday that the storage pool of reactor 2 contains roughly 500 tons of spent fuel and the pool for reactor 1 has about 80 tons.
Beneath both buildings are crush zones that have been judged active faults by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. And another active fault has been found 250 meters away from unit 2.
At the Higashidori plant in Aomori Prefecture, meanwhile, Tohoku Electric Power Co. said Sunday that there are 131 tons of spent fuel inside reactor 1 and another 104 in the building's fuel pool. The building is 200 to 400 meters from two crush zones that have been determined to be active faults.
Ruling out the existence of active faults under the reactors, both Japan Atomic Power and Tohoku Electric said they have no plans to relocate the plants.
But if the crush zones in question actually move, the fuel pools' cooling systems could be damaged, experts warn.
Nuclear fuel generates much less heat once it's spent, but it still must be left to cool in water pools for about five years. The three reactors at the Tsuruga and Higashidori plants were halted last year.
Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi power plant has 262 tons of spent fuel in reactors 3 and 4, the only units operating in Japan, and 1,329 tons in the reactor buildings' pools.
The NRA plans to conduct on-site fault checks at the Oi plant, also in Fukui, from Friday.
Fault-linked nuke plants sitting on 800 tons of fuel
Jiji
A combined 800 tons of spent nuclear fuel is being stored at two power stations thought to have active quake faults running underneath them.
Japan Atomic Power Co., operator of the Tsuruga plant in Fukui Prefecture, said Sunday that the storage pool of reactor 2 contains roughly 500 tons of spent fuel and the pool for reactor 1 has about 80 tons.
Beneath both buildings are crush zones that have been judged active faults by the Nuclear Regulation Authority. And another active fault has been found 250 meters away from unit 2.
At the Higashidori plant in Aomori Prefecture, meanwhile, Tohoku Electric Power Co. said Sunday that there are 131 tons of spent fuel inside reactor 1 and another 104 in the building's fuel pool. The building is 200 to 400 meters from two crush zones that have been determined to be active faults.
Ruling out the existence of active faults under the reactors, both Japan Atomic Power and Tohoku Electric said they have no plans to relocate the plants.
But if the crush zones in question actually move, the fuel pools' cooling systems could be damaged, experts warn.
Nuclear fuel generates much less heat once it's spent, but it still must be left to cool in water pools for about five years. The three reactors at the Tsuruga and Higashidori plants were halted last year.
Kansai Electric Power Co.'s Oi power plant has 262 tons of spent fuel in reactors 3 and 4, the only units operating in Japan, and 1,329 tons in the reactor buildings' pools.
The NRA plans to conduct on-site fault checks at the Oi plant, also in Fukui, from Friday.
2012年12月24日月曜日
How to tell you are not welcome
If that many people in laid-back Okinawa will get up and march, it's a big hint that it's time for the guests to go home.
Here's how Japan Times online reports:
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Here's how Japan Times online reports:
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
Monday, Dec. 24, 2012
3,000 hold anti-Osprey march near U.S. base in Okinawa
Kyodo
NAHA, Okinawa Pref. — A crowd of about 3,000 marched through the streets near a contentious U.S. Marine base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Sunday to protest its use of the Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft.
They also protested the long-stalled plan to keep Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa, and a spate of recent incidents involving U.S. servicemen that has rekindled local anger against U.S. troops there.
Residents and supporters were seen demonstrating near the main gate of the base, with some demanding that the controversial MV-22 Osprey and the U.S. military leave Okinawa.
The Marine Corps started conducting Osprey training flights shortly after a dozen of the helicopter-airplane hybrids were deployed there in October.
Tomoyuki Kobashikawa, who came down from Uruma to protest, recalled when a U.S. F-100 super sabre crashed at Miyamori Elementary School in 1959, killing 17 people. The school was near his home.
"An accident will certainly happen if the Ospreys continue to fly for five or 10 years," the 70-year-old said. "Before that happens, the aircraft must be pulled out."
Eijun Maedomari, a 70-year-old resident of Urasoe, expressed concern about the government being led again by the Liberal Democratic Party, which advocated keeping the Futenma base in the prefecture.
Residents have been clamoring for the base to be kicked out of Okinawa, an island prefecture that hosts about 74 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan in terms of land almost 40 years since it was returned following the U.S. Occupation.
But the central government continues to support the plan to transfer the base from crowded Ginowan to the less-populated coastal area of Henoko in Nago, also in Okinawa, in line with the base accord it signed with the United States several years ago.
2012年12月19日水曜日
Our Elections are not the same as Yours (2)
Why do you need to know how the voting works? In order not to put too much weight on the particular person who happens to occupy the Prime Minister's office, that's why.
Mr. Abe has debts to his peers in office and to the groups who worked to give him a party majority in the lower house. He has to work within the parameters of (a) rule by the elected legislators in both houses, (b) his coalition partners' policies, and (c) public opinion. Add to this pressures exerted by foreign governments.
Therefore, it is not wise for newspapers (I'm thinking of the NY Times on Monday) to announce that because Mr. Abe is Prime Minister, Japan will do thus and so.
Japan has had some wonderful historical experiences with wise and powerful leaders (for instance, the Gentlemen of Japan in the Meiji Era and the shogun from Odawara Hojo Houn before that) and some truly awful ones with the foolish and strong. So, the brilliant leaders test their mettle against heavy checks and balances, and the borderline ones are held on the rails by those same checks and balances.
It works for us.
Mr. Abe has debts to his peers in office and to the groups who worked to give him a party majority in the lower house. He has to work within the parameters of (a) rule by the elected legislators in both houses, (b) his coalition partners' policies, and (c) public opinion. Add to this pressures exerted by foreign governments.
Therefore, it is not wise for newspapers (I'm thinking of the NY Times on Monday) to announce that because Mr. Abe is Prime Minister, Japan will do thus and so.
Japan has had some wonderful historical experiences with wise and powerful leaders (for instance, the Gentlemen of Japan in the Meiji Era and the shogun from Odawara Hojo Houn before that) and some truly awful ones with the foolish and strong. So, the brilliant leaders test their mettle against heavy checks and balances, and the borderline ones are held on the rails by those same checks and balances.
It works for us.
2012年12月18日火曜日
Our Elections are not like Yours
Sunday was election day in Japan. Voters all over Japan chose their representatives to the lower house. In Tokyo, we also chose the prefectural governor and a high court judge. However, it's the election of representatives that is the big news, because it means a change in the majority party--the one that will have the biggest say in Japan's governance.
Before people rush in to say what a landslide victory it was for Mr. Abe, our new Prime Minister, I hope they will take a look at some numbers.
Our elections are not like yours. We do not ever vote for a Prime Minister. We only vote for local representatives. Mr. Abe was elected from the fourth district of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Yamaguchi is so small, it only has four electoral districts. Mr. Abe garnered a little more than 100,000 votes. (118,696 according to the evening newspapers)
So, why is Mr. Abe Prime Minister?
When Mr. Abe's party (Liberal Democratic Party aka LDP) held an in-house election for party president, he was chosen by the LDP members of Japan's lower house. That means he won another two hundred or so votes from his peers. The president of the majority party becomes Prime Minister, and after Sunday's election, the LDP is the majority party. So Mr. Abe will be Prime Minister.
Imagine: To become Prime Minister of a major country like Japan, you only have to be "liked" by 100,000 people, and be "liked" again by only half plus one of your own party members in congress.
Before people rush in to say what a landslide victory it was for Mr. Abe, our new Prime Minister, I hope they will take a look at some numbers.
Our elections are not like yours. We do not ever vote for a Prime Minister. We only vote for local representatives. Mr. Abe was elected from the fourth district of Yamaguchi Prefecture. Yamaguchi is so small, it only has four electoral districts. Mr. Abe garnered a little more than 100,000 votes. (118,696 according to the evening newspapers)
So, why is Mr. Abe Prime Minister?
When Mr. Abe's party (Liberal Democratic Party aka LDP) held an in-house election for party president, he was chosen by the LDP members of Japan's lower house. That means he won another two hundred or so votes from his peers. The president of the majority party becomes Prime Minister, and after Sunday's election, the LDP is the majority party. So Mr. Abe will be Prime Minister.
Imagine: To become Prime Minister of a major country like Japan, you only have to be "liked" by 100,000 people, and be "liked" again by only half plus one of your own party members in congress.
2012年12月9日日曜日
Overheard from Engineers at Dinner
"About those ceiling panels that fell in the tunnel? The concrete ones that weighted a ton and a half? The ones whose only purpose was to create air ducts?"
"What about them?"
"Well, they are just for air ducts. So did they have to be concrete? Couldn't they be styrofoam instead?"
Well... Why not?
"What about them?"
"Well, they are just for air ducts. So did they have to be concrete? Couldn't they be styrofoam instead?"
Well... Why not?
2012年12月4日火曜日
Bolts: Guilty Again
When there is a mechanical disaster, so many times it is a failed bolt at fault. This time, too, the collapse of the roof of the Chuo Expressway's Sasago Tunnel is blamed on aging bolts.
Here is the report from The Japan Times online edition:
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012
Fatal tunnel collapse blamed on aging bolts
Kyodo
KOFU, Yamanashi Pref. — Sunday's expressway tunnel collapse in Yamanashi Prefecture that killed at least nine people may have been caused by aging ceiling bolts that failed, Central Nippon Expressway Co. said Monday.
Facing reporters Monday in Nagoya, where the highway operator is headquartered, Ryoichi Yoshikawa, CNEC executive in charge of maintenance, said failed bolts were found at the site where tons of concrete ceiling panels fell onto vehicles traveling through the Sasago Tunnel.
"Superannuated (bolts) may be" the cause of the tunnel collapse, Yoshikawa said, suggesting the bolts were never replaced. "There is no record that shows repair work was carried out in the past."
The two rows of fallen panels were attached to either wall and suspended from the tunnel's roof by metal rods running down its center. CNEC revealed that the tunnel hadn't undergone any major repairs since it opened in 1977. The company stressed that a routine inspection in September showed no irregularities, but admitted they did not conduct hammer tests on the ceiling section that collapsed Sunday.
Yoshikawa also admitted that hammer tests, used to detect, by sound, irregularities in assembly components not visible or physically reachable, should have been carried out.
"That is something we need to reflect on. I offer a profound apology. We will deal with the victims in a sincere manner," he said.
According to the transport ministry, there are 48 other tunnels similar in design to the Sasago Tunnel, in which the ceiling sections hang under the roof, suspended by metal rods anchored by bolts. The rods are embedded in a vertical panel that extends down from the center of the roof to meet the ceiling panels and runs through the tunnel, providing ventilation shafts on either side of the panel over the roadway.
The ministry has ordered five expressway operators and its regional bureaus to check the safety of those tunnels.
In the accident, about 180 concrete ceiling slabs — each measuring 5 meters by 1.2 meters and 8 cm thick — collapsed along a 110-meter section of the road about 1.7 km from the Tokyo end of the tunnel, the police and highway operator said. Each slab weighs 1.2 tons.
The company began conducting emergency checks Monday on the Enasan Tunnel in Nagano and Gifu Prefectures, and the Tsuburano and Fujikawa tunnels in Kanagawa.
The Sugo Tunnel in Tokyo, the Kyotanabe Tunnel in Kyoto, the Nagao Higashi and Nagaodai tunnels in Osaka, the Shiwa, Takedayama and Aki tunnels in Hiroshima, and the Kanmon Tunnel in Yamaguchi and Fukuoka are also expected to undergo checks.
Police early Monday had confirmed that nine people died in three vehicles trapped inside the 4.7-km Sasago Tunnel.
In a vehicle that was believed carrying six people, police and firefighters found the bodies of three men and two women, all in their 20s and from Tokyo. A 28-year-old female banker from Kanagawa Prefecture who was in the vehicle survived.
They also confirmed the deaths of a man in his 70s, a woman in her 60s and another in her 70s, all in the same vehicle, as well as the death of a trucker, identified as Tatsuya Nakagawa, 50.
The Sasago Tunnel was opened to traffic in 1977.
Discussions on repairing the nation's aging tunnels, most built during the high economic-growth era of the 1970s, have moved at a snail's pace.
Here is the report from The Japan Times online edition:
Tuesday, Dec. 4, 2012
Fatal tunnel collapse blamed on aging bolts
Kyodo
KOFU, Yamanashi Pref. — Sunday's expressway tunnel collapse in Yamanashi Prefecture that killed at least nine people may have been caused by aging ceiling bolts that failed, Central Nippon Expressway Co. said Monday.
Facing reporters Monday in Nagoya, where the highway operator is headquartered, Ryoichi Yoshikawa, CNEC executive in charge of maintenance, said failed bolts were found at the site where tons of concrete ceiling panels fell onto vehicles traveling through the Sasago Tunnel.
"Superannuated (bolts) may be" the cause of the tunnel collapse, Yoshikawa said, suggesting the bolts were never replaced. "There is no record that shows repair work was carried out in the past."
The two rows of fallen panels were attached to either wall and suspended from the tunnel's roof by metal rods running down its center. CNEC revealed that the tunnel hadn't undergone any major repairs since it opened in 1977. The company stressed that a routine inspection in September showed no irregularities, but admitted they did not conduct hammer tests on the ceiling section that collapsed Sunday.
Yoshikawa also admitted that hammer tests, used to detect, by sound, irregularities in assembly components not visible or physically reachable, should have been carried out.
"That is something we need to reflect on. I offer a profound apology. We will deal with the victims in a sincere manner," he said.
According to the transport ministry, there are 48 other tunnels similar in design to the Sasago Tunnel, in which the ceiling sections hang under the roof, suspended by metal rods anchored by bolts. The rods are embedded in a vertical panel that extends down from the center of the roof to meet the ceiling panels and runs through the tunnel, providing ventilation shafts on either side of the panel over the roadway.
The ministry has ordered five expressway operators and its regional bureaus to check the safety of those tunnels.
In the accident, about 180 concrete ceiling slabs — each measuring 5 meters by 1.2 meters and 8 cm thick — collapsed along a 110-meter section of the road about 1.7 km from the Tokyo end of the tunnel, the police and highway operator said. Each slab weighs 1.2 tons.
The company began conducting emergency checks Monday on the Enasan Tunnel in Nagano and Gifu Prefectures, and the Tsuburano and Fujikawa tunnels in Kanagawa.
The Sugo Tunnel in Tokyo, the Kyotanabe Tunnel in Kyoto, the Nagao Higashi and Nagaodai tunnels in Osaka, the Shiwa, Takedayama and Aki tunnels in Hiroshima, and the Kanmon Tunnel in Yamaguchi and Fukuoka are also expected to undergo checks.
Police early Monday had confirmed that nine people died in three vehicles trapped inside the 4.7-km Sasago Tunnel.
In a vehicle that was believed carrying six people, police and firefighters found the bodies of three men and two women, all in their 20s and from Tokyo. A 28-year-old female banker from Kanagawa Prefecture who was in the vehicle survived.
They also confirmed the deaths of a man in his 70s, a woman in her 60s and another in her 70s, all in the same vehicle, as well as the death of a trucker, identified as Tatsuya Nakagawa, 50.
The Sasago Tunnel was opened to traffic in 1977.
Discussions on repairing the nation's aging tunnels, most built during the high economic-growth era of the 1970s, have moved at a snail's pace.
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