Hermit crabs, turtles and other species found only in Okinawa are vanishing from its beaches, as smugglers and souvenir-hunting tourists strip Japan’s southernmost islands of their unique wildlife.

Okinawa, an archipelago that stretches from just below Japan’s main islands almost to Taiwan, means different things to different people. For many Japanese visitors, Okinawa, with its white stretches ...

OKINAWA – When Japan’s famed Golden Route, spanning major cities Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto, has been done and dusted, the sunny shores of its southernmost prefecture await. Comprising more than 160 ...

This is part of a collection of stories spotlighting deeply rooted—yet sometimes less exposed—crafts hubs around the world and how to experience them. Read more here. At Chinen Bingata laboratory on ...

While Okinawa Prefecture marks 80 years since the end of the intense fighting there in the late stage of World War II, Japan is boosting its Self-Defense Forces' presence in the prefecture amid ...

Mutsumi Nakasone and her family members put their hands together in prayer in front of the Cornerstone of Peace in Itoman, Okinawa Prefecture, on June 23, 2025. Mutsumi's grandmother, Ushi Higa, and ...

On April 1, 1945, thousands of American troops landed on the beaches of Okinawa, a heavily fortified Pacific island to the south of Japan. Nearly three months later, the United States claimed victory ...

At least four people have been injured following an explosion near a U.S. military air base in Japan. Local and defense ministry officials said that four Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (SFD) members ...

Two U.S. Marines in Okinawa, Japan, are under investigation for alleged rapes, police said Thursday, the latest in a string of assault cases that have angered residents. The United States has around ...

Shinichi Gibo survived the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 at the age of 6, but he has lived with a persistent trauma ever since. As a war orphan, he felt a deep sense of loneliness and inferiority. "There ...