Page 4 - Robertd Eldridge News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Mar 8, 2021 The Great East Japan Earthquake was like yesterday for me. I was privileged at the time ten years ago to have been a part of the U.S. military response to the disaster known as Operation Tomodachi. I have also been lucky enough to continue to be involved with the affected area ever since, recently completing my 15th trip there. These trips have been to both assist in the recovery process ( fukkō) as well as to help prevent the fading away ( fūka) of the lessons learned in that tragedy. It is important for each and every person to learn what they can about preparing for ...

Feb 8, 2021 Have you ever met a group of people, either in an informal gathering or at a more official function, and greatly enjoyed the interaction with them so much you wanted to meet up again and spend more time with them? That’s the feeling I had when I participated as an observer in the Fourth U.S.-Japan Subnational Global Young Professionals Forum organized by the Koyamada International Foundation (KIF) Japan, KIF America, the Junior Chamber International (JCI) Japan and its subnational hosts from Omaha and Shizuoka in late January this year. What made it all the more remarka...

Jan 27, 2021 January 1951 was a busy time for Japan, or more specifically, a busy time for the office of the Supreme Commander of Allied Forces Gen. Douglas MacArthur. General headquarters or GHQ, as it was commonly called, was getting ready to host the influential American diplomat John Foster Dulles, who was preparing the draft for the future Allied Treaty of Peace with Japan on behalf of the U.S. government, for his second trip to Japan. But another important visitor had come just before then. Not yet as famous as Dulles at this point, he would nevertheless play a very important r...

Dec 17, 2020 Earlier this fall, the Yaeyama Defense Association (YDA) petitioned the central government to request the Maritime Self-Defense Force establish a presence in the southernmost part of the Nansei Islands. The YDA is an active and influential group of 140 business and political leaders in Ishigaki and nearby islands formed in the 1970s following Okinawa Prefecture’s reversion to Japan. It includes former personnel from the SDF and has played a key role in facilitating the establishment of a Ground Self-Defense Force missile base, currently under construction, on Ishigaki ...