Onaga was the very embodiment of a politician and every negative connotation that goes with that word. He never put Okinawa or its people first; it was always about him, his backers and getting reelected. Through the years he changed his stripes so many times he could have painted a whole heard of zebras. These changes were not about a maturing philosophy, he just flip-flopped to suit whatever got him in front of the media, money and elected to office. The man’s ego always proceeded him and he preened in media attention, which the Okinawa “bought and paid for” TV stations, such as RBC were willing to provide. A good example of his conceit and arrogance was his wearing of that monstrosity helmet wig. He continued to refuse to admit he was bald when he became ill, he insisted on wearing a hat to cover his baldness. When he found the golden goose in opposing the US military bases, Okinawa’s bigger and more pressing problems were pushed so far down the list to be ignored while he railed on getting rid of the US military. I only hope the People of Okinawa will wake up and elect a governor who has the integrity and courage to have a balanced administration and actually govern for the benefit of all the people and their needs and not just the special interest group that has been buying the governors’ office for several years.
The rules don't apply to celebrities, everyone knows that. When you get caught with your hand in the cookie jar, just blame someone else........ kinda like I was drunk at the time.
If the Okinawa people want the bases out, that is their call. But it should be the choice of the OKINAWA people, not the faction that has hijacked Okinawa politics. People are starting to wake up and realize that the steady diet of anti-base propaganda is not reality. I agree that Okinawa has an unbalanced percentage of US troops, but a reduction and compromise should be worked out with the central government based on mutual respect and the wishes of the majority of the Okinawa people. Onaga and the other puppet government officials have thrown Okinawa under the bus to achieve their political agenda, which has absolutely nothing to do with the welfare of the Okinawan people. When you have all the radio, TV and newspapers on Okinawa in the political regime's pocket and in full propaganda mode, you know something is rotten and stinks on high.
When the grid fails and you are standing in a pile of rubble, a coin in your pocket will still spend.
Back to the helicopter problem........ The Marines are suffering from the same infliction that their parent DOD branch is undergoing. When the Navy had several major ship accidents in less than a year, they were in a state of denial until the accident reports came out. Seasoned military aircraft mechanics will tell you there is no such thing as an old aircraft but there is such a thing as a poorly maintained aircraft. The military has a lot of old aircraft the are better than they were when they rolled off the assembly line. The MC has a maintenance problem, the sooner they come to grips with that fact the better for them and everyone around them. The Navy moved to fire and prosecute personnel from admirals on down, its time for the MC to do the same. Maybe start with the MC general on Okinawa?
The Japanese Government pays the land owners far more than fair market value for rent. The land owner of a 200 tsubo plot, which is about the size of a standard US city lot, gets $90,000 a year rent. If you live in a noise zone around an air base you get noise canx windows installed and upgraded every 10 years, you get air conditioners and ventilation installed and replaced for free. The children of residents of Kadena town go to school free. Every Japanese worker that works on base in a GOJ supported position, gets hardship pay and language pay on top of location pay and their regular salary. There is a lot of very upset Okinawan people who owned worthless mountain land that was being used as the Northern Training Area, about 10,000 acres, that was returned to them. Onaga and his agenda made them loose millions of yen. What does Japan get in return? It rents the worlds most powerful military at a fraction of the cost it would cost to field it.
Its amazing how anything you feed your pet that does not come out of a can or package labeled dog/cat food is bad for your pet! I suspect a bit of fear mongering by the pet food industry.
"All our weapons, including atomic bombs, hydrogen bombs and ballistic missiles are only aimed at the United States, not our brethren, nor China and Russia," Pyongyang's chief negotiator, Ri Son Gwon, said.
.........and what do these US and ROK troops do when lil' Dumplin starts chucking missiles at the US? Wave?... don't think so. If NK goes hostile toward anyone, it will have to include SK.
If she didn't know anything then why doesn't she just shut up now?
Streep says in a statement Monday that Weinstein "needed me much more than I needed him and he made sure I didn't know." The Oscar winner says her association with him brought him credibility, which she says he used "to lure young, aspiring women into circumstances where they would be hurt."
Yeah Meryl, we believe you! I had to read this paragraph twice to believe my eyes. Talk about a conceded statement! With the voracious gossip and rumor machine in Hollywood, how could anyone on the inside not know? The hypocrisy of these people totally destroys any credibility they pretend to have.
In 1996 the Japanese Government and US Government agreed on relocating MCAS Futenma from the densely populated area in Ginowan to Camp Schawb which is located in the far north of Okinawa. The move entailed building a V shaped runway into the bay that forms one side of Camp Schwab. Initially this move was hailed as a good solution by both the Okinawa government and Japan, but then a political faction, with one paramount agenda to oust all American Forces came to power, fueled with outside money. This faction has used continuous delaying tactics to drag the move out for over 20 years, with no regard to the wishes of the people of Okinawa. The influx of millions of outside political money has ensured this faction remains in power. The newspapers and TV on Okinawa are controlled by this faction and report a continuous diet of fake or distorted news and disinformation, while the Okinawa people continue to suffer from a government that that does address it's real problems and needs.
I don't think so. The bases have substantially retarded Okinawa's growth as a tourist destination. It's ideally located to become the Hawaii of East Asia, especially with the new casino legislation having been passed and hundreds of millions of Chinese tourists just an hour or two away by plane.
The economy would not collapse, but there would be a significant impact that would take several years to recover from. Tourists are great, but what is not being said is the overcrowding, crime, and inflated prices that comes from them. Tourism has been around for many years on Okinawa and the average Okinawan has not benefited. All the construction, hotels and tourist destinations are owned/operated by mainland Japanese companies, the money goes back to Japan. Okinawa still has the highest unemployment of any prefecture, along with the highest rate of alcoholism, lowest school test scores, highest divorce rate, AND food prices here are higher than mainland Japan. What is the cause?..... Corrupt government from the prefecture level on down.
Add in where do those troops go on US soil, current bases got space to accommodate them all, or new bases would need to be build prior to moving them.
Not true, there are many military bases in the US that have been downsized and with very little effort and expense, could be reactivated to capacity. When the US government considers closing a base in the US, the city and state where it is located, protests the CLOSING of the base. They recognize the economic impact. You would be very hard pressed to find any city that would turn down having a base located nearby.
The solution is simple, have a referendum vote and let the people decide. But this is something else that will not happen. The political machine that has Okinawa in its grip will see to that. There is so much outside money that is poured into Okinawa politics, it is impossible for a pro people candidate to win. This machine has an agenda of it's own and cares not the least for the people of Okinawa. There are regular posters on JT who are drinking the Kool-Aid and aiding and abetting the machine either knowingly or thinking they are noble by howling for the ouster of the US Military. If the Okinawa people want the US gone, then it should be made so. Up to this point, all the rancor and indignation is a product of the Japanese Communist Party and the Far Right Ultra-nationalists........ get the pitch forks and get rid of the round eye devils!
Any discussion of Micky Ds always brings out a lot of people who rant on how bad their food is, I can't understand why they have to express an opinion on it, if you don't like it just don't go there. I like it sometimes, I like sushi, would not eat either one every day. I strongly dislike tofu, but would not disparage anyone who does................and YES, bring back the quarter pounder!
Seen this room before in other photos and interviews with audio. It is a "set" and the pegboard wall is acoustic dampening. Not sure why they chose it for a photo op though.
Agree... I once found a boat adrift about three miles off the coast, it was a japanese registered fishing boat. I called the J/coast guard and reported it. The next day I was "requested" to come to the local office for an "interview". It lasted just over 3 hours. They then hounded me for a couple of more months with the same questions........how many ways can you say you saw the boat floating, investigated, no one was on board and then you called the Coast Guard.
turning the home into a corporate store front," the McAfee report said.
This coming from a company that will constantly pilfer use data from your computer and spam you to death if your use their software.
I suspect she will marry early to a commoner to get out of the Imperial Prison and its inflexible littleny of keepers.
The government should just let the man retire while he still has time to enjoy it. I think the date has been pushed into 2019 instead of the original 2018.
I thought the Queen's duties came before her personal life. Maybe it's just a royal thing...... let them eat cake!
US sanctions are inhumane and drive ordinary citizens to desperation.
Little Dumplin' is taking food from his peoples mouth to build a nuke or more likely several nukes and you blame it on the US? Posts like yours are just troll poop.
I think they do it to flavor it up as there's less fat than the US burgers.
The meat is from Aust. or NZ and the chicken nuggets from either Thailand or Viet Nam.
Lauer just got his ticket punched on the Karma Train and Ann Curry was the conductor.
The thing is this: Takanoiwa was photographed smiling at training the following day and them making a courtesy visit to a local city hall in Fukuoka.
I did not really catch all of the piece, but I saw what i thought was a news piece about the gash and stitches on Takanoiwa's head, I believe it was yesterday, did anyone else see this? There was a picture of his scalp.
There has been something "fishy" going on in Sumo for a couple of years now. The wins and losses are not consistent. When one Yokozuna's get too far ahead in wins, they mysteriously lose a couple of matches. I suspect they are pressured to do this to keep the customers attention. In the last tournament, everyone heard the referee shout stop, that is why Hakuho stopped fighting and got pushed out of the match for his only loss. The judges let it stand. Hakuho protested and now is being reprimanded for his actions.
Get real that is so out of topic and way off target. The various aisles and different drinks is not about being supportive of drinking irresponsibly, but rather sales.
Sure it is about sales and more sales and then more sales. It constitutes enabling and just reinforces how important alcohol is in military culture. When a person walks into a military convenience store and the ratio of alcohol products to food products is 3 to 1, it just reinforces and normalizes the use of alcohol. I drink, sometimes I get a bit drunk. I don't advocate getting rid of alcohol, but when you have excessive access, its use and consumption becomes trivialized,and not something that needs to be treated with respect and care.
I'm not so sure it is BS. Harumafuji has shown himself willing to do things the easy way in a number of his matches when he needed to win. His performance as a Grand Champion has been mediocre at best. The reports say Takanohana was being "counseled" by the other Mongolian wrestlers or was it bullying? There has been a lot of suspicious wins, matches, and "injuries" lately in MHO.
The military wonders why it has a drinking problem, all you have to do is walk into one of the AAFES stores on base and the reason will be clear. Let's take the most mind boggling of these; the Kadena on base service station. It has exactly two and a half center shelves with automobile related merchandise. The other three double sided aisles are alcohol. Everything from hard liquor to wine and beer. Between the aisles and on the ends are cases of craft beers and ciders stacked 3 or 4 high. The AAFES run convenience stores are the same. One or two aisles of junk food and the rest alcohol.
I guess a slight bonus is, I don't ever see seniors using smart phones and driving.
Your are correct.... they slam on the brakes and swerve off to the side while fishing for the ringing phone. Then they carry on with the conversation with the rear of the car sticking out in traffic or if the road is narrow, completely blocking the lane.