More than 800 people were evacuated Thursday from a city in central Okinawa while the Japanese army removed an American-made bomb believed to be left over from World War II.

A U.S. Marine accused of sexually assaulting a Japanese woman and injuring another will rely on a defense of insanity due to a sleep disorder when his case comes to trial in June, his attorney said Wednesday.

Marines took their first steps toward using drones in combat and relief missions as they practiced maneuvering the unmanned aircraft through obstacles at Camp Schwab in northern Okinawa on Wednesday.

The Marine Corps has left a gap “unfilled” in the Indo-Pacific by moving an expeditionary unit from Okinawa to the Middle East to support operations against Iran, the service’s top leader told lawmakers.

A Marine Corps investigation found that “ignorance” and procedure failures led to a helicopter dropping a 40-pound bag of emergency equipment over northern Okinawa last year.

Ten Russian ships, including four naval vessels, sailed between Japan’s southwestern islands this week, an event a Joint Staff spokesman called “rare to see.”

Marines on Okinawa are learning to build and fly surveillance and attack drones in new courses designed to help the service scale up its use of unmanned aircraft as the technology revolutionizes warfare.

U.S. service members who live off-base on Okinawa will soon receive $400 to $500 more per month from the U.S. government to pay their rent, according to the commander of the Air Force’s 18th Wing.

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, Okinawa — Rainy season failed to dampen the spirits of thousands of Japanese and Americans who turned up for the annual Flight Line Fair at this air base over the weekend.

Chinese pilots last year dramatically scaled back their approaches toward Japanese airspace, reducing Japan’s air force response to its lowest level in more than a decade, according to Japan’s Joint Staff.

Two squadrons of F-22 Raptors recently arrived at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa for rotational duty with the 18th Wing, while a permanent fleet of replacement F-15EX Eagle IIs remains delayed.

The Defense Department high school at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa, Japan, is warning parents about a viral social media game in which seniors target each other with water guns.

The Japanese army’s highest operational command will focus on remote southwestern islands near Taiwan for the first time in training that includes command-and-control drills with U.S. Marines.

A Chinese research vessel operating in waters near Japan’s southwestern islands for nearly two weeks left the area early Wednesday, the third such incident in a month, according to Japan’s coast guard.

Two student teams on Okinawa were among winners from nine Defense Department schools who used artificial intelligence to solve problems in a first-ever national competition.

A Marine corporal died over the weekend after his motorcycle collided with a taxi outside a U.S. base in central Okinawa, according to the Marine Corps and police.

Lt. Gen. Roger Turner was nominated by President Donald Trump to command Marine Corps Forces Pacific and Fleet Marine Force Pacific, both based at Camp H.M. Smith in Hawaii, the Pentagon announced.

Two Chinese naval vessels sailed between Japan’s southwestern islands this week, Japan’s military said, in a passage that follows training in the Western Pacific and comes amid heightened tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Okinawa prefecture’s latest groundwater survey pinpoints a Marine Corps airfield as the likely source of toxic “forever chemicals” measured as much as 60 times higher than Japan’s legal limit.

A housing area on this Marine Corps base may be returned to Okinawa by fall to help alleviate traffic congestion on a major highway, according to U.S. and Japanese authorities.

An Okinawa newspaper and two Japanese press unions have accused the U.S. Air Force’s 18th Wing of violating press freedoms after barring reporters from a recent on-base news conference over a disputed headline.

More than 30 military spouses on Okinawa have graduated from a leadership seminar designed to build professional skills and strengthen community ties across the services.

The Marine Corps has rejected a request to meet with Okinawa government officials over a precautionary landing by a helicopter that disrupted a youth baseball practice last month.

U.S. military officials are considering changes to the mandatory newcomers briefing for personnel arriving on Okinawa as part of a broader response to sexual assault cases involving service members on the island.

Japanese fighter pilots recently encountered for the first time an apparently improved version of China’s anti-submarine warfare aircraft, according to an aviation expert.

Japan’s coast guard is monitoring a Chinese research vessel that has been conducting a survey in waters near the disputed Senkaku Islands since at least Monday afternoon.

Okinawa’s government plans a formal protest to the U.S. military and Japanese government over a Marine Corps helicopter’s precautionary landing that forced a youth baseball team to flee a practice field earlier this month.

Two U.S. airfields on Okinawa are the likely sources of the highest levels of toxic “forever chemicals” discovered in nearby groundwater in a decade, according to the Okinawa government.

Japan this summer will deploy equipment to support surface-to-ship missile exercises from its easternmost island that are slated to begin as soon as next year, according to the Ministry of Defense.

The Air Force has recovered 575 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled at Kadena Air Base on Okinawa and “affected” its stormwater system, according to the 18th Wing.

A town in southern Japan will pay its residents about $500 over four years to help offset noise from the Japan Air Self-Defense Force’s new F-35B fighters at a nearby air base.

A Japanese court handed a U.S. sailor a two-year, suspended sentence Tuesday after convicting him of attempting to smuggle magic truffles onto Okinawa through the Japanese mail system.

A veteran Marine fighter pilot and former instructor at the Navy’s elite Top Gun school has taken command of a key U.S. air unit in the Indo-Pacific, as regional tensions continue to shape the military’s posture in Asia.

Chinese coast guard vessels entered waters Japan claim’s around the disputed Senkaku Islands while chasing a Japanese fishing boat this week amid heightened tensions between Tokyo and Beijing.

Sending a Marine expeditionary unit from Okinawa to stand by in the Middle East leaves a gap in U.S. power in the Indo-Pacific while increasing the defense burden on its Asian allies, according to analysts.

A teenage girl and a boat captain died Monday after two vessels carrying Japanese students on a school trip overturned near the site of a planned Marine Corps airfield, according to Japan’s coast guard.

Two Marines out for an evening run last month provided aid to a Japanese woman who suffered chest trauma in a car accident on a busy thoroughfare in central Okinawa.

A U.S. Marine convicted of strangling and attempting to sexually assault a woman at her Okinawa home in May 2024 will forgo a final appeal and serve the remainder of his seven-year sentence in a Japanese prison.

Japan will deploy upgraded long-range antiship missiles to its southernmost main island this month, a move analysts say underscores Tokyo’s growing effort to strengthen defenses against threats from China and North Korea.

Nago city in northern Okinawa has lodged a formal protest after a U.S. Marine Corps helicopter made a precautionary landing near a youth baseball practice last week, prompting players to evacuate the field.

Eight crew members were rescued unharmed over the weekend after a work boat capsized at the construction site of a new U.S. Marine Corps airfield in northern Okinawa, Japan’s coast guard said.

Three military exercises beginning this week in the Indo-Pacific region show the United States is serious about defending its interests against increasing aggression from China and North Korea, according to a defense analyst.

U.S. Marines and their Japanese counterparts practiced seizing an enemy-held town during the culmination of a three-week exercise aimed at strengthening the allies’ defense of remote islands.

A Japanese court on Thursday upheld a U.S. Marine’s conviction for strangling and attempting to sexually assault a woman at her Okinawa home in May 2024.

The U.S. military will not resume solo police patrols in Okinawa’s nightlife districts until investigators complete their review of an incident in which a military police officer slammed an American civilian to the ground outside a bar last year, a senior Marine commander said.

Stormy weather reshapes US-Japan island defense training in East China Sea

Elementary school students on this Marine Corps base were asked to bring their own water to class Tuesday after a pipe break rendered taps undrinkable.

The Coast Guard’s newest fast-response cutter, named for a reserve petty officer who died on 9/11, is expected to join three others on Guam this summer, the service announced Friday.

Twelve Vietnam War veterans will return to the country March 1-8 to tour key battle sites in Hanoi, Da Nang, Hue and Ho Chi Minh City.

A U.S. Air Force CV-22 Osprey remained parked Wednesday at a civilian airport in northern Japan after making a precautionary landing earlier this week, Japanese defense officials said.