Jon Mitchell 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 ジョン・ミッチェル

Today, Okinawa Times is running my report on 4 French military cadets under investigation by Paris prosecutors for multiple offenses in Okinawa. The men have already left the country - and it remains to be seen if the Japanese gvt. will seek extradition.
Okinawa's military burden takes many forms.

‘In this well-documented, well-written account of Okinawan activism, Shinnosuke Takahashi offers readers a view of localism, historical representation of identity, and dislocation.’

The Translocal Island of Okinawa is now available in paperback https://bit.ly/4psRkBV

In the lower half of the image, there is a pale blue obi belt featuring flowers, a dugong, swallows and fighter jet. Titled “The Ryukyu Beltway” and designed by Yuken Teruya in 2025. There is information about the book’s launch at SOAS University of London on 4 March 2026 and the times 17:00 to 19:00.

A pale blue obi belt featuring flowers, a dugong, swallows and fighter jets wraps into a book with the title ”Why are we in Okinawa? A History for Violence” with the author and publisher names, Jon Mitchell and Bloomsbury.

On 4 March, @soasuni.bsky.social will hold a launch event for my book, "Why are We in Okinawa? A History of Violence." I'll talk about how Okinawans' resistance via protest, music, comedy and art offers an inspirational model of grassroots democracy / civic engagement.
www.soas.ac.uk/about/event/...

良(ゐー) 大和(やまとぅ)正月でーびる。

(新暦あけましておめでとうございます)。

Happy New Year in the Yamatu (Japanese) New Year.

うちなー正月や2月17日やいびーん(です)。

The Uchinaa New Year is on February 17.

うちなー正月ん忘らんてぃ呉みそーり。

(旧正月も忘れないで下さい)。

Please do not forget the Uchinaa New Year (the lunar New Year).

Order the vegan kara-age bowl :)

Okinawa means “big or long rope” and Commodore Perry “landed in Naha in 1851” – US military histories rife with errors and omissions | Jon Mitchell Investigates | 沖縄タイムス＋プラス Online explanations of Okinawa’s history, produced by the US military to teach service members about the islands, are riddled with factual errors, exaggerate the benefits of US administration (1945–72...

My latest article for @okinawatimes.co.jp explores how US military histories of Okinawa are riddled with serious errors and omissions - and how these might be amplified by AI-generated search overviews.
www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/1...

Help Save Your Children | Johanna Fernández On the Young Lords’ battle against lead poisoning in New York.

I was in my 30s before I found out that the Young Lords also did this kind of activism, including addressing lead poisoning issues in children at a time when officials were failing to act: www.laphamsquarterly.org/roundtable/h...

US Army: 2017 helicopter crash at northern Okinawa farm contaminated soil with radioactive, other hazardous substances | Jon Mitchell Investigates | 沖縄タイムス＋プラス On 11 October 2017, a US Marine Corps CH-53E helicopter made an emergency landing and caught fire at a farm in Higashi Village, Okinawa Prefecture. Three days later, the US military announced “radioac...

"I have the right to know the contamination status of my own land."
The English version of my latest article about the environmental impact of military operations in Okinawa is now online at @okinawatimes.co.jp.
Please take a look.
www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/1...

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share - I hope folk find the materials useful!

How is US activity in Okinawa documented & can it be accessed? Okinawa Times Correspondent Jon Mitchell shares his experiences/methods in "Documenting US Operations in Okinawa: The Jon Mitchell Collection at Okinawa International University & Beyond" #NCCSpotlight guides.nccjapan.org/homepage/new...

Thrilled to announce the publication of my article "The Invention of the Kamikaze: Dissent and Resistance in the Japanese Military" in the October issue of the Journal of Military History!

Book cover featuring the text, Jon Mitchell - Why are we in Okinawa? A History of Violence and Bloomsbury. The off-white cover features a sky blue obi belt which includes a swallow, red hibiscus and two jet fighters.

Yesterday, my publisher @bloomsburyacad.bsky.social revealed the cover for my new book, "Why are we in Okinawa? A History of Violence." Feeling super honoured that artist, Yuken Teruya, designed an obi wrap for it. Release date set for February 2026!

www.bloomsbury.com/us/why-are-w...

Thanks for the recommendation - I hadn't heard of it so ordered it!

2/2

よそ3〜8世紀頃に分岐という学説が、世界では定説です。

It is the established view worldwide that Japanese and the Ryukyuan languages diverged from a parent language around the 3rd to 8th centuries.

1/2

うちなーぐち(おきなわ語)は方言ではなく「言語」やいびーん(です)！

Uchinaaguchi (Okinawan) is not a dialect but a language!

うちなーぐちを含む琉球諸島の言葉「琉球諸語」は日本語の方言ではなく、日本語とは姉妹言語です。

The languages of the Ryukyu Islands, including Uchinaaguchi, are not dialects of Japanese but sister languages of Japanese.

日本語と琉球諸語は元は一つの「祖語」から、お

→

For sure!

Looks great - can't wait to read the interview!

Orange skies over Tamagawa, Tokyo. On the left, three apartment blocks (and Mt Fuji) then a long roaded bridge. The foreground reflects the above.

Much-needed break from book editing = sunset run along Tokyo’s Tama River. (Finally sounds/smells of an end to summer’s heat).

Pre-reversion Okinawa was major hub for CIA airlines’ anti-communist – and commercial – operations 2025年09月05日　17時08分

Pre-reversion Okinawa was major hub for CIA airlines’ anti-communist – and commercial – operations

うちなーんちゅの皆様、もうすぐ御精霊(うそーろー。旧盆)やいびーん(です)。

心から手を合わせれば言葉は関係ないと思います。

しかし、うちなーぐち(おきなわ語)で仏壇などへ「我達(私達)家内(ちねー。家族)見守(みーまん)てぃ呉みそーち、御拝(にふぇー)でーびる」と言えると、もっと先祖の方々と繋がることができるかも知れません。

うちなーぐち習てぃ見(んー)じゃびらに(おきなわ語を学んで見ませんか)。

【速報】沖縄尚学、夏の甲子園V　日大三に3―1 県勢15年ぶり | 沖縄タイムス＋プラス 【甲子園取材班】第１０７回全国高校野球選手権大会最終日は２３日、甲子園球場で決勝を行い、沖縄尚学は日大三（西東京）を３―１で退け、夏の大会初の優勝を果たした。

Huge congratulations to Okinawa Shogaku for taking first place in the summer high school baseball tournament!!!

www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/1...

The calm pace of our livestreamed microfiche scanning may not show the scope of the work, so here’s a time-lapse revealing how many pages we can digitize in just one hour.

📡 Watch the real-time stream ⤵️
www.youtube.com/live/aPg2V5R...

#Preservation #Digitization #InternetArchive

A teardrop shaped stone memorial in an Okinawan park engraved with the names of journalists who died in the Battle of Okinawa.

The Memorial to Fallen Journalists (戦没新聞人の碑) in Naha.
Around the anniversary of WW2’s end, Okinawan media workers gather here to pledge not to glorify militarism or romanticize state violence.

「戦争のために二度とペンは取らない」

Surfers beneath the flight path to Kadena Air Base, Okinawa.

YouTube video by 日本外国特派員協会 オフィシャルサイトFCCJchannel FCCJ & A+E Networks Collaboration: 2nd Lt. Hiroo Onoda (2/171975) - English Subtitles

Here's one of the first: the February 1975 press conference given by Hiroo Onoda, the Japanese army lieutenant who hid in the jungles of the Philippines for thirty years without knowing World War II was over.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=fo2U...

YouTube video by 日本外国特派員協会 オフィシャルサイトFCCJchannel FCCJ & A+E Networks Collaboration: 2nd Lt. Hiroo Onoda (2/171975) - English Subtitles

The Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan is working with the History Channel to make available recordings of historic press conferences from the Club's archive.

映画『ウナイ 透明な闇 PFAS汚染に立ち向かう』公式サイト 水が、あぶない――　PFAS汚染に立ち向かう女性たちによる未来のための物語

Super stoked to be featured in this forthcoming documentary, Unai, about PFAS contamination in Okinawa and around the world.

It will debut in cinemas in Naha on 26 July then in Tokyo from 16 August. Hopefully an international release in the near future, too.

#ウナイ　

unai-pfas.jp

A red porcelain bowl filled with vegan tantan noodles topped with moyashi, chingensai and soy mince.

After giving a two-hour lecture at Waseda Uni about investigative journalism, the only thing to recharge my batteries was a bowl of spicy vegan tantan noodles from the legendary Sora no Iro. Highly recommended!

What a stunning photo!

Absolutely beautiful!