Category: Japan

I guess we will see if NASA’s budget will continue to be supported to actually put a person on the Moon this decade:

Japan revised the schedule of its space exploration plans on Tuesday, aiming to put a Japanese person on the moon by the latter half of the 2020s.

“Not only is space a frontier that gives people hopes and dreams but it also provides a crucial foundation to our economic society with respect to our economic security,” Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told a meeting to finalize the plan.

According to the draft schedule of the plan, Japan aims to put the first non-American on the moon as part of the Artemis program, a U.S.-led initiative that aims to return astronauts to the moon.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

USFJ is trying to mitigate the repetitional damage done to the command with the Japanese public with these new changes:

U.S. Forces Japan re-imposed a testing requirement for personnel heading to Japan on Thursday after the country’s foreign minister admonished the U.S. military for breaching its border protection measures. 

Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi expressed “deep regret” to USFJ commander Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp that a unit of Marines was not tested for COVID-19 before it arrived on Okinawa aboard a U.S. government flight. The newly arrived Marines were quarantined at Camp Hansen but permitted base access for five days before being tested, Hayashi said at a Wednesday news conference in Tokyo. 

Marine Corps Installations Pacific on Dec. 17 said “multiple” Marines in the group had tested positive for COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease. By Thursday, that cluster had grown to 227, up from 180 on Monday, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said at a news conference that morning.

Matsuno said he would continue to push the U.S. military to “take more thorough measures” to prevent the virus from spreading and hopefully ease locals’ concerns.

USFJ said the Hansen cases have prompted changes, according to a statement emailed to Stars and Stripes by spokeswoman Yukiko Date.

“In light of the current omicron variant, the COVID-19 positive cases at Camp Hansen in Okinawa, and to ensure the health and safety of all SOFA members and the citizens of Japan, USFJ has updated our COVID Health Protection Guidance to require pre-arrival testing for all SOFA members within 72 hours of flights departing for Japan on all forms of transportation,” the statement said. 

USFJ acknowledged Hayashi’s complaint but said it followed guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Defense Department and Indo-Pacific Command when it discontinued pre-departure testing in September.

The Okinawa Department of Public Health and Medical Care believed the U.S. military was testing its personnel before they boarded flights for Japan until it learned otherwise on Wednesday, a spokesman for the department said during an online press conference on Thursday.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Not a good look for USFJ:

U.S. forces in Japan did not test their personnel for COVID-19 prior to their departure from the United States, a move that goes against Tokyo’s request for American military personnel to follow the nation’s border control measures, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Thursday.

A government source said Tokyo was “still checking” if COVID-19 testing was not conducted for military personnel stationed at all U.S. military bases in Japan before their arrival, adding that tests were not conducted for military personnel at U.S. Marine Corps’ Camp Hansen in Okinawa Prefecture. A total of 227 people at the base had been infected as of Thursday morning.

Matsuno’s comments came as the Japanese government on Wednesday urged the U.S. military to adhere to coronavirus testing and quarantine rules.

Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said Wednesday that he had voiced “strong regret” to the commander of U.S. Forces Japan, Lt. Gen. Ricky Rupp, over anti-infection procedures for American military arrivals.

Japan’s borders are closed to almost all foreign nationals except for residents. Incoming travelers must get tested within 72 hours before departure and on arrival, then isolate for two weeks at home or in hotels.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but what I don’t understand is that personnel flying to Japan via Patriot Express flights have to get tested before boarding. Maybe these personnel at Camp Hansen flew in as a complete unit via military aircraft and got around testing that way?

Japan’s low COVID case numbers is finally catching the attention of researchers:

As the omicron variant surges around the world, Japan’s overall coronavirus cases and deaths have been plummeting. And no one seems to know exactly why.

Call it the hunt for a potential “X factor,” such as genetics, that may explain the trend and inform how Japan could deal with the next wave. While the new highly transmissible omicron variant has appeared in the country and experts suspect there is already some community spread, the overall transmission rate of the virus and coronavirus-related deaths in Japan have remained low.

“Honestly, we do not know the exact reason behind the sudden drop in covid deaths in Japan,” said Taro Yamamoto, professor of global health at Nagasaki University’s Institute of Tropical Medicine.

Washington Post

According to the article Japan has ranged from 60-200 daily COVID cases over the past month in a country of 127 million people. Compared to Korea a country of 51 million that over the past month has had daily case counts from 5,000-7000+. The article goes on to discuss why South Korea and Japan are having such different case numbers:

Japan has now vaccinated most of its population and has widespread masking, which may explain the current low numbers. But so does neighboring South Korea, where authorities are rescinding reopening plans because of a spike in infections and record numbers of serious and critical cases. And Japan has barely begun rolling out its booster shots, lagging behind other countries in the region, including South Korea.

“Obviously vaccination, masking and social distancing are surely factors, but those alone cannot explain it, especially when comparing the situation to South Korea,” Yamamoto said. “It is unclear yet whether there is a factor X that exists specific to Japanese or East Asian people, but in determining this we hope it can help us to understand and control the virus.”

You can read more at the link, but lets wait a few months and see how omicron impacts Japan. If Japan is able to escape an omicron wave than I will be very impressed.

Right now U.S. servicemembers still have to quarantine for 10 days upon arrival in Japan, but the government is reviewing a possible drop in this requirement:

The U.S. military population in Japan does not immediately benefit from the shorter coronavirus quarantine period for incoming travelers imposed this week by the Japanese government, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

Japan is opening its borders to business travelers, international students and technical interns from countries considered low risk for the coronavirus and lowering its quarantine period for some foreign travelers to three days, with conditions. 

Eligible travelers are those from countries that Japan considers low risk. Tourists are still banned.

Travelers from the U.S., except those under the status forces agreement, may still be denied entry to Japan, according to the Foreign Ministry website. SOFA sets the rights, limits and responsibilities for service members, Defense Department employees and others affiliated with the U.S. military in Japan.

The spokesman said the government is still considering a three-day quarantine period for the “specific circumstance” of fully vaccinated U.S. military personnel arriving in Japan. 

“The government is still reviewing the matter,” the spokesman said during an hourlong virtual media briefing, “and has not resolved the question yet.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

The Japan based sailor that killed two people after falling asleep at the wheel has received a three year sentence:

A U.S. naval officer charged in a car crash that killed two pedestrians broke down in tears as a Japanese judge found him guilty of negligent driving on Monday. 

Lt. Ridge Hanneman Alkonis, 33, was sentenced to three years in Japanese prison during a hearing at Shizuoka District Court in Numazu, a punishment just short of the 4½-year-sentence requested by prosecutors. Alkonis’ defense attorneys, on the other hand, had asked for a suspended sentence, effectively a term of probation. 

Alkonis was charged with negligent driving causing death and injury after his car crashed into pedestrians and parked vehicles at a soba restaurant parking lot in Fujinomiya on May 29. The city is in Shizuoka prefecture, about two hours from Yokosuka Naval Base, where he’s stationed as a weapons officer aboard the guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but ROK Heads may remember that Lt. Alkonis tried to claim that high-altitude mountain sickness from his visit to Mt. Fuji is what caused him to fall asleep. The judge did not buy that argument and I agree with him. It is probably more likely that Alkonis fell asleep because he was exhausted after getting up very early to hike up and down Mt. Fuji.

Regardless it is a tragic accident that should remind everyone that if you are drowsy you should not drive.

There may be a new Prime Minister in Japan, but he has clearly told Korea that he is not budging on historical issues between the two countries:

President Moon Jae-in and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida have reaffirmed that the two nations are far from narrowing the differences in their views on historical issues such as Japan’s wartime forced labor and sex slavery.

The leaders had their first phone call Friday, which was made 11 days after Kishida took office. During the 30-minute call, the two agreed to develop bilateral ties in a future-oriented manner, according to Cheong Wa Dae and Japanese media report.

They also discussed other issues such as concerns over North Korea, denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula and COVID-19 response.

Although the two U.S. allies share similar security concerns over North Korea and China, their talks again showed disagreement over lingering colonial and wartime issues, signaling these are likely to remain as obstacles for bilateral relations for a while.

Japan insists that the 1965 treaty normalizing bilateral ties settled all war-related compensation, but President Moon explained during the phone call how the two countries have different legal interpretation over the 1965 treaty, saying the two nations must find solutions through diplomacy. 

Regarding the wartime sex slavery issue, he also called for an urgent solution, saying there are only 13 known survivors still alive.

Korea Times

You can read more at the link, but it is ironic that President Moon is saying there needs to be an urgent solution for the comfort women issue when in fact there was one under former President Park Geun-hye. However, when President Moon entered office he scrapped the deal.

The F-35B’s are providing a new capability to convert Japan’s helicopter carriers into bases for strike aircraft:

A pair of Marine Corps F-35B Lightning II stealth aircraft became the first fighters to fly from a Japanese carrier since World War II after landing and taking off from the JS Izumo on Sunday. 

News about the successful test of the newly upgraded warship’s ability to support the short-takeoff, vertical-landing jets was tweeted by the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force on Tuesday. 

The message, which included video footage of the operation, said the JMSDF will continue “to steadily carry out the necessary modifications to the Izumo class to acquire the capability to operate the F-35B.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Here is the latest on the forced labor issue between South Korea and Japan:

Here is the latest from the Imperial Japanese forced labor issue with South Korea:

Japan has protested a South Korean court order on Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to sell assets in order to pay compensation to two women subjected to forced labor for the company during Japan’s occupation of the Korean peninsula during 1910-1945. Foreign minister Toshimitsu Motegi said on Tuesday that the ruling a day earlier by the Daejeon District Court in South Korea was a “clear violation of international law.” “We must avoid serious impacts on Japan-South Korea relations,” Motegi said, describing the court’s decision as “truly regrettable” during a regular news conference in Tokyo.

Relations between the two countries, both important U.S. allies in North Asia, have been dogged by the bitter legacy of Japan’s wartime occupation, and ties soured in 2019 due to a dispute over export controls which has yet to be resolved.

The Daejeon District Court in South Korea ruled on Monday that Mitsubishi Heavy should sell two patents and two trademarks, according to a support group for the women, who are both in their nineties.

Asahi Shimbun

You can read more at the link, but Tokyo believes this issue was resolved with the 1965 pact where $500 million from Japan was given to South Korea.  The ROK government at the time could have compensated everyone back then with that money, however it was instead used for the overall development of the country such as improving infrastructure.  The money ultimately helped with the country’s economic development at the expense of direct compensation to those effected by Japan’s colonial rule.  This is why Japan is so strongly against the court rulings they feel they have already paid compensation.

With that all said when is the ROK government going to launch lawsuits on behalf of victims of North Korea’s kidnappings and provocations in far more recent times than Japan’s colonial rule that began over a century ago?

Good news in Japan with COVID cases steeply dropping and the Japanese have been able to do this without any strict lockdown measures:

 The number of new coronavirus cases in Japan’s capital city fell below 300 Tuesday for the first time since June.

Tokyo reported another 253 newly infected people, the lowest figure in the virus-wracked metropolitan area since 236 on June 21, according to public broadcaster NHK and metro data online. For six consecutive days, the number of new infections has registered below 1,000 as the fifth and most extreme wave of COVID-19 appears to have waned.

Two U.S. military bases in Japan reported seven new cases on Tuesday.

Stars and Stripes

Like South Korea, Japan has been very good at keeping the COVID death rate low compared to other countries:

Japan on Monday reported 2,236 new coronavirus cases, and 23 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. Japan has counted nearly 1.7 million individual cases and 17,427 deaths during the pandemic. 

More than half of its population, 53.23%, or 67.2 million, people are fully vaccinated, according to the Johns Hopkins center.

Japan has weathered the pandemic with a loss in fewer lives than other developed nations.

Argentina, a nation with a population 34% that of Japan’s, has suffered more than 5.2 million cases and 114,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

You can read more at the link.