A String of 4 US Military helicopters made emergency landings on Okinawa and Yoron Islands due to “smoke emission” or “lack of fuel”. (19jn22)


Splendor of Okinawa: Zinnia, roadside Uruma, 18jn22


(Trans. note: no governor related news today.)

KUNIGAMI - On 18 June at about 2:45 p.m., a US Marine Ch53E large transport helicopter made an emergency landing in a cow pasture at Ginama in the village of Kunigami. According to the US Marines in Okinawa, the aircraft belongs to the First Marine Airborne Group.


On the same afternoon at about 2:35, 3 more aircraft of the same type and from the same flight had made emergency landings at Yoron Airport on Yoron Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.


In response to a query from this newspaper, the Marines in Okinawa explained the cause of the landing at Ginama in Kunigami as, “a bit of smoke was noticed in the cockpit.” For the three helicopters that landed at Yoron Airport, the explanation of the cause was, “The fuel dropped below the level for continuing the flight.” However, there were no injuries to people or damage to property in either case.


The landing spot in Kunigami was near where Route 58 passes Cape Hedo with its wide farmlands. The settlement at Hedo was closest at 1.3 km. with the settlement at Ginama about 2.2 kilometers away.


According to village authorities, the helicopter took off around 4:30 the same afternoon.The Marines in Okinawa explained that the helicopter  returned to Futenma Airfield. As for the smoke emission, “We judged it was emitted from a windshield wiper motor.”


Village Mayor Atsushi Chibana stated, “We’re still investigating the affair. I’m relieved that there were no casualties.” The people living around Ginama raised voices of shock, “We’ve never heard of emergency landing of US Military helicopters around here!”


According to Ginama District Chief Mituso Urazaki, there is a sugarcane field right in front of the place the helicopter landed. He expressed his worry,”I don’t know whether or not it had to come down because of the bad weather, but as luck would have it, there were no injuries among people or damage to farm stuff.”


In the case of Yoron Airport, one civilian plane was 20 minutes late intaking off. According to the US Marines in Okinawa and Kagoshima Prefecture, the 3 helicopters that had made emergency landings there were still parked on the tarmac as of 18 June at 7 p.m. The US Marines in Okinawa promised, “We’ll get them out of the airport as soon as possible, when we get the fuel.”


In response to this paper’s query on the size of the crew and such, Kagoshima Prefecture countered, “Because the matter involves the US Military, we can’t make any clarifications.”


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Sunday 19 June 2022 at 10:15. Byline: Kotaro Nagamine、Shohei Tsukazaki, Miho Iwakiri

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a62b89e1a79498694acb7a7aa84cc43f13a5e661


Denny in the News: news about Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 

  1. This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 

  2. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  3. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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