Category: Japan

The case of the missing Yokota Airbase substitute teacher just took a dark twist:

The body of a U.S. civilian reported missing more than two weeks ago was discovered Tuesday in the housing tower where he and his wife lived at Yokota, according to the Air Force.

Trevor Balint, 34, of Hubbard, Ohio, the spouse of a Defense Department computer programmer and analyst, disappeared suddenly Feb. 1, prompting a search of the base from the ground and the air. His face appears on fliers, fading now, posted everywhere at Yokota, the headquarters in western Tokyo of U.S. Forces Japan.

His body was found in the east side housing area around 11 a.m. Tuesday, according to a statement on the base website Wednesday. Balint, a former substitute teacher at Defense Department schools, was pronounced dead at the scene by medical personnel, according to the base.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but the authorities claim they searched the building and for some reason did not spot his body. The family is obviously pretty upset about this. Condolences to his family and friends.

This is a pretty strange disappearance case over at Yokota Airbase:

Britni, 31, said she’s posted dozens of fliers with her missing husband’s photograph around Yokota and in nearby areas and appealed, in her Facebook post, for help hanging more. A Facebook group about the search for Trevor has also been created.

Air Force investigators have removed Trevor’s possessions, including his laptops, from the couple’s home, which they share with two cats and a corgi, Britni told Stars and Stripes Sunday while walking through Yokota’s east side housing area. (……..)

That evening, Trevor told his wife he was going out at around 8 p.m. to search for a neighbor’s lost cat, which he’d earlier spotted near the base movie theater.

Gate guards report Trevor coming onto the base through its east gate at 9:09 p.m. while carrying a bag from a convenience store and talking on his cellphone, Britni said.

“We have been unable to track who he was talking to – it is nobody in our joint network, which really is the only network that I knew he had,” she said.

Britni said she last saw Trevor when he returned home at 1:30 a.m. Feb. 1 without his jacket.

The couple slept in separate bedrooms and Britni, who went to work the next morning, didn’t realize her husband was missing until she finished work and saw a message from somebody who had found his wallet near a vacant townhome on base, Britni said.

Stars & Stripes

You can read the rest at the link, but his jacket, shoes, mask, cellphone, keys and empty cans of alcohol were later found as well on base not far from the wallet. It appears he has a secret cellphone that he was talking to someone on and went out late at night to supposedly look for a cat, but doesn’t come back until 1:30 AM. It seems reasonable to conclude he was out meeting someone that night. Finding out who he met could determine where he went. Hopefully he turns up safe.

Besides the changing of restaurant closing times it is also important to point out that nearly everyone in Japan follows the masks rules. That is why such a policy would not work as well in the U.S. where so many people still do not wear masks:

Call it the Zen art of lockdowns. In the fight to suppress Covid-19, Japan has found success by stripping down its policy to one simple measure: closing restaurants and bars at 8 p.m.

When the government declared a state of emergency in Tokyo and other urban areas on Jan. 7, it changed little, except to urge places that serve food and drinks to close by 8 p.m. Most complied in exchange for support that includes payments of about $600 a day. 

Infections since then have fallen by more than two-thirds nationwide, even though other daily activities such as shopping and commuting have continued. The government hopes to lift the state of emergency by March 7.

Wall Street Journal

You can read more at the link.

With tensions increasing between the U.S. and China over Taiwan, the Japanese Times has a long article about what Japan should do in response. Here is an excerpt:

Ben Self, vice president of the Mike and Maureen Mansfield Foundation, counters that “overt steps by Tokyo to defend Taipei will produce a reflexive and even neuralgic response” in Beijing. While he concedes that this may look like appeasement, it is in fact “an acceptance of the reality that this issue is one of critical national importance to the CCP and its regime stability.”

That doesn’t mean abandoning the island. Instead, Self argues, Japan should “significantly increase interoperability with the United States, while maintaining current levels of sub rosa contact with Taiwan’s defense establishment.”

Even that will be difficult. Any effort to strengthen ties with Taiwan must overcome the powerful opposition of political and business forces in Tokyo that prioritize smooth relations with Beijing.

Yoji Koda, former Maritime Self-Defense Force fleet commander, laments that “overdependence on China’s market and too-deep interdependence really impede efforts to promote and improve Japan-Taiwan relations.”

He believes the government is similarly inclined to overweight Beijing’s concerns. Weak leadership “that does not want to create complicated issues with China prevents Japan from taking active actions and maneuvers to help Taiwan.” Nothing will change, he warns, until something serious happens between Japan and China or Taiwan and China. That possibility grows more likely daily.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link, but basically Japan wants to keep the status quo like just about every other country in the region. However, as China grows in military might it appears they are less interested in maintaining the status quo and at some point nations in the region are going to have to make tough decisions.

Some good news on the coronavirus front in Japan:

The daily count of new coronavirus patients in Tokyo fell on Friday, and U.S. military bases in Japan reported 12 new cases as of 6 p.m.

Yokosuka Naval Base, 35 miles south of central Tokyo, reported 10 of those new U.S. cases. The others were at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo.

The Tokyo Metropolitan Government recorded another 577 people infected with the coronavirus, according to public broadcaster NHK. That’s eight consecutive days below 1,000 new cases in the city, according to metro government data. (…….)

Back in Japan, the Army and Marine Corps on Okinawa lifted a two-week-old ban on off-base liberty, effective immediately for the Army and at 4 p.m. Saturday for the Marines, according to Facebook posts.

The bans extended to service members, Defense Department civilian employees, contractors and family members.

Some activities are still prohibited, including indoor dining at off-base restaurants, and patronizing bars, clubs, bowling alleys, gyms and other indoor activities that involve large groups “that impede social distancing.”

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

It will be interesting to see what Japan decides to do with the Olympic Games, but I wonder if an NBA like “bubble” for the athletes would be doable in Japan:

 Japan’s government has privately concluded the Tokyo Olympics will have to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, The Times reported, citing an unnamed senior member of the ruling coalition.

The government’s focus is now on securing the Games for Tokyo in the next available year, 2032, the newspaper said. Japan has been hit less severely by the pandemic than many other advanced economies, but a recent surge in cases has spurred it to close its borders to non-resident foreigners and declare a state of emergency in Tokyo and major cities.

About 80 percent of people in Japan do not want the Games to be held this summer, recent opinion polls show, over fears the influx of athletes will spread the virus further.

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.

So much for the boycott of Uniqlo that South Korean activists were advocating for:

Fast Retailing Co.’s lineup of functional and casual attire continued to lure value-conscious shoppers whose preferences are changing in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, helping to push the Uniqlo operator’s first-quarter earnings close to an all-time high.

Operating profit rose 23% to ¥113.1 billion ($1.1 billion) in the three months ended Nov. 30, according to a company statement Thursday. That beat analysts’ average estimate of ¥101.5 billion, and comes just below Fast Retailing’s record quarterly results of ¥113.9 billion two years earlier. Sales for the quarter, however, fell 0.6% to ¥619.8 billion.

Japan Times

You can read more at the link.

It appears coronavirus infection levels are getting better in South Korea while in the Tokyo area it is getting worse:

The third wave of coronavirus infections in Japan’s capital city worsened Friday, as the number of new cases there exceeded 2,000 individuals for a second consecutive day.

The U.S. military in Japan as of 6 p.m. Friday reported 67 people newly infected with virus, the majority of them at Yokosuka Naval Base, where a cluster emerged in December. U.S. Forces Korea reported a contractor at Yongsan Garrison, Seoul, tested positive Thursday, according to a news release.

U.S. bases in the greater Tokyo metro area imposed curfews and new limits on travel and other activities after Japan declared a state of emergency Thursday in the city and three surrounding prefectures. (……….)

Yokosuka, the home 35 miles south of Tokyo of the 7th Fleet, reported 44 individuals had tested positive for the coronavirus since Tuesday, according to a Facebook post. The naval base has 111 people with the virus under observation.

Of the new cases, 14 fell ill with symptoms of COVID-19, the coronavirus respiratory disease; 16 were discovered during contact tracing; five tested positive during medical screening; and five are new arrivals to Japan, according to the base. A base employee tested positive during contact tracing.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link, but other U.S. bases in the Tokyo area are also reporting increased coronavirus cases and implemented 8PM to 5AM curfews to help mitigate the infection risk.

So much for the Korean government wanting to supposedly improve relations with the Japanese:

South Korean victims of wartime sexual enslavement won their first legal victory Friday against the Japanese government in a landmark ruling.

The Seoul Central District Court ordered Tokyo to make financial reparations of 100 million won (US$91,300) each to 12 “comfort women” who were dragged away from their homes and forced to work in front-line military brothels for Japanese soldiers during World War II.

“Evidence, relevant materials and testimonies show that the victims suffered from extreme, unimaginable mental and physical pain due to the illegal acts by the accused. But no compensation has been made for their suffering” the court said in a verdict.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but the Japanese government says they are ignoring this ruling because all the comfort women issues were resolved by the agreement they signed with the ROK government in 2015. The Moon administration scrapped the agreement when they came to power.

Here is the latest boycott Japan initiative to come out of Korea:

Retailers around the world including Target and Superdrug face pressure to cut ties with DHC as the Japanese cosmetics company refuses to apologize for its CEO’s racially discriminatory remarks against Koreans.

Activists have launched a campaign to boycott DHC products after CEO Yoshiaki Yoshida’s use of the term “Chon” — a racial slur for Koreans — came to light earlier this month.

“By selling DHC products, they are supporting the business of an openly racist company,” Tommy Hasegawa, the leader of student-led anti-discrimination group Moving Beyond Hate, told The Korea Herald.

Moving Beyond Hate is among the activists urging corporations to cut ties with the cosmetics brand. 

Korea Herald

You can read more at the link.