Latest news with #Self-DefenseForce
Yahoo
13 hours ago
- General
- Yahoo
Explosion at Kadena Air Base injures 4 Japanese troops
TOKYO — An explosion at a storage site for unexploded ordnance at a U.S. military base on Japan's southern island of Okinawa injured four Japanese soldiers, though the injuries are not life-threatening, officials said Monday. The four soldiers sustained finger injuries while working at a facility that belongs to Okinawa prefecture and temporarily stores unexploded ordnance, mostly from wartime and found on the island, local officials said. One of the harshest battles of World War II was fought on Okinawa. Prefectural officials said the injuries were not life-threatening, but no other details were immediately known. The U.S. Air Force said in a statement that the explosion occurred at the facility managed by the Okinawa prefectural government at Kadena Air Base's munitions storage area. It said no U.S. service members were involved in the incident. The Self-Defense Force's joint staff said one of the devices suddenly exploded when the soldiers were inspecting it at the facility. The blast occurred when the soldiers were trying to remove rust, NHK television reported. The SDF said they are trying to confirm what caused the accident. Monday's accident was believed to be the first ever since the 1974 launch of the Japanese army's unexploded ordnance disposal unit. Hundreds of tons of unexploded wartime bombs, many of them dropped by the U.S. military, remain buried around Japan and are sometimes dug up at construction sites and elsewhere. Many of them are still found on Okinawa, where about 1,856 tons of unexploded U.S. bombs are believed to remain. In October, an unexploded wartime U.S. bomb exploded at a commercial airport in southern Japan, causing a large crater and suspending dozens of flights.
Asahi Shimbun
21 hours ago
- General
- Asahi Shimbun
4 in Okinawa unexploded bomb disposal unit hurt in explosion
A perimeter fence around the Kadena Ammunition Storage Area in Yomitan, Okinawa Prefecture, on June 9 (Kazufumi Kaneko) Four Self-Defense Force members were slightly injured in an explosion on June 9 while handling unexploded bombs at a storage facility on Okinawa's main island. The injuries were the first for members of the 101st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company of the Ground SDF's 15th Brigade, which deals with at least one request per day for removing unexploded ordnance left from World War II. The explosion occurred around 11:15 a.m. at a temporary depot for unexploded bombs inside the U.S. military's Kadena Ammunition Storage Area, which straddles Yomitan village, Okinawa city, Kadena town and other municipalities, a Defense Ministry official said. The four suffered minor injuries, including burns on their fingers, which were not considered life-threatening. At the time of the explosion, the unit members were scraping rust off unexploded bombs and engaged in other work at the depot, which is managed by the Okinawa prefectural government. The Kadena Ammunition Storage Area, which spans about 2,600 hectares, includes an SDF training area and munitions depot, as well as facilities used by the prefectural government, an electric power company and other parties. The 101st Explosive Ordnance Disposal Company, based in the prefectural capital of Naha, defuses unexploded bombs at the sites when necessary and brings them to the depot. Okinawa, Japan's southwestern island prefecture, was the site of a fierce ground battle against the United States in the closing months of the Pacific War. It is estimated that more than 1,800 tons of unexploded bombs still remain buried at the end of 2023. Okinawa accounted for about 52 percent of all unexploded bombs that were disposed of around the country in fiscal 2023. Unexploded ordnance detonations have continued to plague Okinawans. While Okinawa was under U.S. administration through 1971, 704 people were killed by explosions and other accidents. Four people, including a small child, were killed and 34 others were injured when an unexploded bomb detonated during sewerage work in Naha in 1973. Two elementary school pupils suffered burns from an explosion in the southern part of Okinawa's main island in 1975. In 2009, a construction worker was seriously injured in an accident in Itoman in the prefecture.
The Mainichi
a day ago
- Politics
- The Mainichi
What is the controversy surrounding Japan's Yasukuni shrine?
Amid calls that Self-Defense Force members be honored at Tokyo's Yasukuni Jinja shrine if they die in war, some have questioned the legitimacy of such a move in light of the Japanese Constitution, which stipulates the separation of religion and state. The Mainichi Shimbun answers some common questions readers may have about the controversial shrine where Class-A war criminals are enshrined. Question: What kind of place is Yasukuni shrine? Answer: Located in Kudankita in Tokyo's Chiyoda Ward, Yasukuni shrine's origin goes back to the "Tokyo Shokonsha" (Tokyo soul-inviting shrine) founded in 1869 to honor the pro-imperial loyalists of the Meiji Restoration and government soldiers who died in the Boshin War in the late 19th century. It was renamed Yasukuni Jinja in 1879. Approximately 2,466,000 people who died in conflicts including the First Sino-Japanese War in the 1890s and the 1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War, as well as the Pacific War in the 1940s are collectively enshrined there as "eirei" (heroic spirits of the war dead). Q: What does it mean to collectively enshrine eirei? A: Eirei is an honorific term for the spirits of those who died in war. At Yasukuni shrine, the names of the war dead are written in a registry called a "reijibo" (spirit ledger), and through a formal ritual, the multiple spirits are enshrined collectively. Q: Who are enshrined there? A: The shrine primarily enshrines military personnel and civilian military employees, but it also includes mobilized nurses, student workers killed in air raids on military factories and conscripted Koreans, on the grounds that they "participated in combat under military orders." Because they are enshrined regardless of the wishes of the individuals or their families, some bereaved relatives object. Q: What is the controversy about? A: Before and during World War II, Yasukuni shrine was closely tied to militarism and was used to encourage the public to support the war. Many soldiers died, saying to each other, "I'll see you again at Yasukuni," as their final words before charging into the enemy lines. The major point of controversy is the enshrinement in 1978 of 14 Class-A war criminals, including former Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, who were held responsible for planning and directing the war. Q: Visits by Japanese politicians often make the news too, right? A: Yes. Since then Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone's official visit in 1985, prime ministers' visits to Yasukuni shrine have frequently triggered diplomatic issues. China and South Korea criticize the visits, calling Yasukuni a "symbol of militarism" and accusing Japan of taking a wrong stance on historical issues. In Japan, too, such visits have been brought to court as violations of the separation of religion and state. Q: There was talk about establishing an alternative memorial facility. How's that going? A: Yasukuni shrine became a religious corporation after WWII. It maintains that "once a spirit is enshrined, it cannot be removed," and does not allow the separation of Class-A war criminals. In response to the backlash -- both at home and abroad -- over then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's 2001 visit, a private advisory panel for the chief Cabinet secretary suggested the need to create a "permanent, secular, national memorial facility." Due to opposing views, however, the debate over this matter faded and remains stalled to this day.
16-05-2025
- General
Body Parts Found, Possibly of Missing ASDF Plane Crew Member
News from Japan Society May 16, 2025 22:03 (JST) Tokyo, May 16 (Jiji Press)--Japanese Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Friday that body parts possibly of a missing crew member of a Self-Defense Force trainer jet that crashed into Lake Iruka in central Japan have been found. The discovered body parts were heavily damaged, he told a press conference. Since the Air SDF's T-4 aircraft crashed into the agricultural reservoir in Inuyama, Aichi Prefecture, the SDF has been conducting an around-the-clock mission involving over 600 members to search for missing Capt. Takuji Ioka, 31, and 1st Lt. Shota Amitani, 29, of the 5th Air Wing in the southwestern prefecture of Miyazaki. On Wednesday, the T-4 aircraft took off from the ASDF's Komaki base in the Aichi city of Komaki at 3:06 p.m. for the Nyutabaru base in Miyazaki. The aircraft, however, disappeared from the radar around 3:08 p.m. while flying near Inuyama about 13 kilometers northeast of the Komaki base. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
16-05-2025
- General
Engine Parts of Crashed SDF Jet Found
News from Japan May 16, 2025 14:00 (JST) Tokyo, May 16 (Jiji Press)--Engine parts of a Self-Defense Force trainer jet that crashed into a pond in Aichi Prefecture on Wednesday are believed to have been found, Defense Minister Gen Nakatani said Friday. During its search and rescue work in the large agricultural reservoir called Lake Iruka in the city of Inuyama on Thursday, the Air SDF found what appeared to be parts of the T-4 aircraft's engines and wheel tires, as well as its pilot seats and oxygen cylinders, Nakatani told a press conference. Around-the-clock search for the two crew members of the two-seater trainer continued. The ASDF has also been trying to discover major components of the aircraft, such as the main wing, to identify the cause of the crash. At a separate news conference, ASDF Chief of Staff Hiroaki Uchikura said that operations of all T-4 planes totaling some 200 units being deployed across Japan, including those used by the Blue Impulse aerobatic team, have been suspended for emergency inspections. Uchikura said T-4 flights will be resumed after implementing safety education and training. But he declined to specify how long the suspension will last. [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.] Jiji Press
