A Japanese translation of the article is also available here.

The Japan Times published the following article concerning two more US veterans who have been awarded government compensation for illnesses caused by their exposure to Agent Orange on Okinawa in the 1960s and ‘70s. Having interviewed over 30 former service members during the past 12 months - all of whom have had their claims refused by a collusion of Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) incompetency and Pentagon deceit - the discovery of these new successful cases struck a rare, positive note. Although the VA repeatedly contends that previous awards are non-precedential, these claims suggest cracks in the government's wall of denial which hopefully other ailing veterans will be able to parlay into long-overdue justice for themselves, too.

While a great deal of attention focuses on the chain of islands dividing the East China Sea from the Pacific Ocean between Japan's Kyushu and Taiwan, it tends to focus heavily on those that are part of Okinawa prefecture and to neglect those in the northern part of he chain that are close to Kyushu and administratively part of Kagoshima rather than Okinawa prefecture. Mage is one such. Mage (literally: Horsehair) island sits well north of the line that separates Kagoshima from Okinawa prefecture. It is not Okinawa but is worthy of attention because it shows the same general trends as does Okinawa - of “remote island” blues (especially depopulation), dependence on whims of the central government, and the insidious workings of a military base mentality (even though not one soldier has yet set foot on it).