Okinawa Prefecture on Saturday marked the 67th anniversary of the end of the Battle of Okinawa during World War II. This came after the recent celebration of the 40th anniversary of the prefecture's reversion to Japanese sovereignty.
At a memorial ceremony in Peace Memorial Park in Itoman, southern Okinawa Prefecture, where the last fierce battle was waged, Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima spoke about the burden of hosting U.S. military facilities. He urged the central government and the United States to curtail the burden and consider relocating the U.S. Marine Corp's Futenma Air Station in Ginowan to somewhere outside the prefecture.
"Okinawa still hosts a large concentration of U.S. military facilities, forcing its people to shoulder a heavy burden," he said.
The ceremony was attended by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and about 5,500 people, including the bereaved families of those whose lives were claimed during the battle.
A 24-year-old woman was in a serious condition Friday after being stabbed by a man whom she reported to police for stalking her in Kurashiki, Okayama Prefecture. (Japan Today )
China's television regulator has ordered a crackdown on dramas about the country's battles with Japan during and before World War Two and demanded they be more serious, state media said on Friday, following viewer complaints about ludicrous storylines. (Reuters )
Police said Friday they have found four dead bodies in an apartment in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, in what is believed to have been a family murder-suicide. (Japan Today )
Shukan Post (May 24) conveys the difficulties experienced by other parts of the adult-entertainment biz in servicing customers from the communist nation.
A deri heru (“delivery health”) call-girl tells the tabloid that she is often requested to arrive at major hotels in the Shinjuku and Ikebukuro entertainment areas of Tokyo by Chinese visitors. (Tokyo Reporter)
Six sailors were found dead after a fire on a foreign freighter docked at a port in Hokkaido, northern Japan.
The sailors are presumed to be Russians. (NHK )