Sailors in Japan are beginning to experience the restrictions that were at one time common place for servicemembers stationed in South Korea:
U.S. Navy sailors have one less hour of revelry in Japan’s bars and nightclubs after Navy Region Japan tightened up liberty restrictions recently imposed on all service members in the country. U.S. sailors in Japan must adhere to a midnight-to-5 a.m. ban on drinking in public establishments off base, according to the order from Rear Adm. Ian Johnson. They may not even be in those places during those hours. The order, which took effect Wednesday, was coordinated with U.S. 7th Fleet, Navy Region Command spokesman Cmdr. Paul Macapagal told Stars and Stripes by email Wednesday.
It has been a while since GI crime has been an issue on Okinawa, but the disclosure of these two sexual assault cases has given the island’s left wing government plenty to complain to USFJ about:
The U.S. military has yet to announce new restrictions on troops stationed in Japan despite calls from local authorities after two service members were indicted for alleged sexual crimes on Okinawa. “There is currently no update right now in terms of any changes to liberty policy at the moment,” Gunnery Sgt. Jonathan Wright, spokesman for U.S. Forces Japan, told Stars and Stripes by phone Monday.
Tensions have escalated on Okinawa, where the U.S. military stations approximately 30,000 service members, more than 50% of its troops in Japan, following disclosures in late June of the two indictments by the Naha Public Prosecutors Office. The commanding generals of Okinawa-based III Marine Expeditionary Force and Marine Corps Installations Pacific directed their commanders to “reinforce their expectations of standards and conduct across the force,” III MEF spokesman 1st Lt. Owen Hitchcock said by email Monday.
You can read more at the link, but as I have said before, the expectation of zero crime from US servicemembers is unrealisitic. There is always going to be some crime that happens, what matters is how low is the crime rate and is it being properly prosecuted? I have seen no indications of a high crime rate on Okinawa from US troops and clearly cases are being prosecuted as these latest incidents show.
It will be interesting to see if Japan and the U.S. militaries created a combined forces command similar to what USFK currently operates with the ROK military with:
Japanese troops from 1st Amphibious Rapid Deployment Regiment secure a space for a U.S. Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey to land during a combined exercise in Japan on March 15, 2022. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will reveal a plan to restructure the U.S. military command in Japan next month in light of concerns over China, The Financial Times reported Sunday. The aim is to boost military planning and drills involving the allies, according to the newspaper, which did not reveal its sources.
The two leaders will announce the plan during a meeting April 10 at the White House, the newspaper said. U.S. Forces Japan, headquartered at Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, referred queries Monday to the Office of the Secretary of Defense. A spokesman for the office, John Supple, by email to Stars and Stripes declined to comment on the newspaper’s report.
I have been very critical about the claim of altitude sickness being the cause of the crash that killed two Japanese civilians by a U.S. naval officer. After reading this really good article from Military.com about the accident, I am more convinced then ever he just simply fell asleep at wheel:
Navy Lt. Ridge Alkonis was driving his car, filled with his wife and their three children, down from the heights of Mount Fuji on May 29, 2021. It’s an iconic destination for both Japanese and foreign tourists alike, a peak that serves as a sentry over much of central Japan.
Alkonis and his family had taken the trip at the request of his second daughter, spending an hour near the summit before planning to go to a dairy farm in the foothills that sells pizza and ice cream.
As they descended the mountain, Alkonis felt something was wrong but chose to keep going because they were very close to the next town, he would later testify at his trial.
He lost consciousness right as the vehicle approached a roadside noodle restaurant, swerving into the parking lot and hitting three parked cars, pushing one into a fourth vehicle, before crashing into a fifth and final car. Between the layers of metal, two Japanese nationals, an 85-year-old woman and her 54-year-old son-in-law, were crushed. They both died.
Two members of the Alkonis family were taken to a local hospital, but the sailor himself did not receive medical attention. All have made a full recovery. Today, Alkonis sits in a Japanese prison, serving a three-year sentence after being convicted of negligent driving.
That’s the part of the story that no one disputes. It’s the other parts — why Alkonis lost consciousness, how he’s been treated in Japanese custody — that have drawn in lawmakers, led to accusations of a “false” conviction, and even put pressure on the legal agreement that governs U.S. service members’ presence in Japan.
The big thing to take from this passage is that he did not even go to the summit of Mt. Fuji which has an altitude of over 12,600 feet. Instead he just drove to one of the stations where hikes begin at about 7,000 feet. People travel to cities like Colorado Springs in the U.S. that is near 7,000 feet every day and you don’t see them crashing vehicles due to altitude sickness.
Additionally the accident happened in Fujinomiya which is almost near sea level. Altitude sickness gets better when losing altitude not worse. I think he got up early to drive to Mt. Fuji from his home in Yokosuka and simply feel asleep at the wheel after a long day of driving.
I highly recommend reading the rest of the article because the claims made by his wife and her Congressional supporters conflict with the facts of the case. The Japanese put a big emphasis on self responsibility and all the excuses is probably why he will not be released early.
I just don’t understand how idiots like this guy think they are going to get away with doing dumb things like this:
This screenshot from an All Nippon News report shows security camera footage from a car dealer in Iwakuni, Japan, Dec. 3, 2022. (ANN)
A U.S. Marine has met with and apologized to the owner of a vehicle that was stolen and then crashed last month outside this base near Hiroshima, according to a local media report.
The Marine, who has not been identified by local authorities or the Marine Corps, spent nearly two hours with the victim on Thursday, the local Chugoku newspaper reported the next day. In addition to apologizing, he promised to pay for any damages, the report said.
I have hard time believing that Russia was ever going to “attack” Japan like this Newsweek report is claiming. An attack on Japan would trigger the US-Japan alliance which would lead to an overwhelming military response that would crush whatever attack Russia launched. With that all said, after what we have seen of the Russian performance in Ukraine, the Japanese military could probably defeat any Russian attack without American assistance:
Russia was preparing to attack Japan in the summer of 2021, months before President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an email featuring a letter from a whistleblower at Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), shared with Newsweek, reveals.
The email, dated March 17, was sent by the agent, dubbed the Wind of Change, to Vladimir Osechkin, a Russian human-rights activist who runs the anti-corruption website Gulagu.net, and is now exiled in France.
The FSB agent writes regular dispatches to Osechkin, revealing the anger and discontent inside the service over the war that began when Putin invaded neighboring Ukraine on February 24.
You can read more at the link, but what I can believe is that Russia may have been determining the likelihood of succeeding with a provocation against Japan such as sinking one of its naval ships. This would put Japan in tough spot because their constitution would not allow them to undertake offensive operations and thus the Japanese government would turn to the U.S. for support.
This would also put the U.S. in a tough spot because the Biden administration would have to determine if taking offensive action against Russia is worth it in response to a sunken Japanese ship. Putin would likely bet no offensive military action would be taken and instead toothless sanctions and sternly worded letters would be issued. The lack of a response from the U.S. would have put a strain on the U.S.-Japan alliance which is what their ultimate goal may have been. Additionally sinking a Japanese ship would be a morale boost for the Russian Pacific Fleet. I wonder if Putin wishes he would have initiated a provocation against Japan instead of his current disastrous war in Ukraine?
USFJ has changed their curfew policy to be age based instead of rank based:
Liberty policies for U.S. service members in Japan ages 20 and older are about to become a little more generous, according to changes announced Thursday by U.S. Forces Japan.
New policies that take effect Monday will permit individual commands to shift their curfews from rank-based to age-based, USFJ spokesman Maj. Thomas Barger told Stars and Stripes by email Thursday. The standard 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. curfew in place since March 2020 that applies to enlisted service members of E-5 and below will apply instead to members ages 19 and younger, he said.
Eligible service members may have another drink in that extra hour. The changes move the deadline for consuming alcohol off-base from midnight to 1 a.m., according to Barger.
Service members in Japan are currently prohibited from consuming alcohol anywhere but their residence, hotel or other quarters between midnight and 5 a.m. The same conditions will apply under the 1 a.m. deadline.
North Korea gets all the media attention with their ballistic missile tests, but China quietly over the past decade has developed far more advanced ballistic missiles than anything the Kim regime has. This movement of aircraft at Kadena Airbase is evidence of that reality:
An F-15C Eagle taxis on Kadena Air Base, Japan, April 3, 2020.
The Air Force move to replace F-15 Eagle fighters with rotating units of more advanced fighters signals awareness that Okinawan bases won’t survive a conflict with China, according to a former Marine fighter pilot and diplomat.
A two-year phased withdrawal of two squadrons flying the supersonic aircraft from Kadena Air Base, Okinawa, began Nov. 1, soon after the release of the new U.S. National Defense Strategy highlighting China as the American military’s “pacing” challenge.
“You can look at it (removal of the F-15s) as the USAF coming to grips with the reality that nothing on the first island chain, especially not Kadena, will be survivable in a conflict with China,” Steve Ganyard, a former deputy assistant secretary of state, told Stars and Stripes in an email Friday.
China’s massive military build-up includes an expanding arsenal of missiles with many of the weapons presumed to be aimed at U.S. bases in Japan. A 2017 report by Navy Cmdr. Thomas Shugart, a senior fellow at the Center for a New American Security, for example, includes satellite imagery of Chinese missile test sites that appear to mimic Yokota, Kadena and Misawa air bases.
Around a dozen F-22 Raptor jets arrived on Okinawa Nov. 4 from the 3rd Wing at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska, to start a six-month rotation while the F-15s head home. The Air Force described the Raptors as “backfill” for the retiring F-15s while the Defense Department decides on a long-term plan to fulfill its obligations to Japan.
Many personnel in USFJ lost their cost of living allowance (COLA) and the falling yen is helping to soften the financial blow for these service members:
The yen has dropped 23% against the dollar this year as Japan continues to keep interest rates near zero. (Akifumi Ishikawa/Stars and Stripes)
Japan’s plunging currency is softening the impact of inflation on American military personnel stationed in the country, even as the government cuts their allowances.
A dollar bought just over 149 yen on Monday for the first time in 32 years and was hovering around that level Tuesday evening. The yen has dropped 23% against the dollar this year as Japan continues to keep interest rates near zero.
In contrast, the U.S. Federal Reserve has raised its benchmark interest rate at each of its past three meetings, most recently in September, bringing the rate to between 3% and 3.25%, the Wall Street Journal reported Thursday.
A higher interest rate is expected to slow inflation, but by promising higher yields it also attracts investment to the United States, which strengthens the dollar compared to other nations’ currencies.
Most are no longer receiving COLA — tax-free money to help offset the costs of living in expensive areas overseas — following changes announced by the State Department on Oct. 1.
A big pay cut is coming to U.S. troops stationed in Japan at the same time prices are rising on just about everything:
Cost-of-living allowance cuts have left U.S. service members stationed in Japan with hundreds of dollars less to spend each pay period, amid a weak yen and rising prices for off-base goods and services.
Most service members in the country are no longer receiving COLA — a tax-free allowance to help offset the costs of living in expensive areas overseas — following changes announced by the State Department on Oct. 1.
COLA fell to zero this month for troops on Okinawa, home to more than a dozen U.S. bases and the lion’s share of the 55,000 service members in Japan; at Yokosuka Naval Base, homeport of the U.S. 7th Fleet about 35 miles south of Tokyo; and at Yokota Air Base, an airlift hub that serves as headquarters for U.S. Forces Japan.
An online COLA calculator provided by the Defense Department shows that a sergeant stationed at Yokota with six years’ service and two dependents would have received more than $600 in COLA last October. A captain with the same family size and length of service would have gotten more than $800.
