Category: Japan

What is ironic about this story is that Arnett did not get in trouble for not taking the COVID vaccine, she got in trouble for refusing to obey orders to board an airplane three times. That is why she was jailed and had nothing to do with the COVID vaccine. Now she is back in Japan getting into more trouble with local authorities:

 A Marine veteran who refused the COVID-19 vaccine while serving in Japan and defied orders to return home was arrested this month at her former duty station.

Japanese police allege that Catherine Arnett, 25, was detained by military police after attempting to enter MCAS Iwakuni around 2:30 a.m. Dec. 1, a city police spokesman told Stars and Stripes on Tuesday. She was turned over to Iwakuni city police around 11:30 a.m. that day and released from custody “last week,” the spokesman said.

Arnett was returned to California in Marine Corps custody earlier this year and spent 113 days in brigs awaiting a court-martial before the Corps dropped all charges against her, set her free and administratively discharged her. 

As a lance corporal at MCAS Iwakuni, Arnett refused at least three times to board aircraft bound for the U.S. and faced discharge for refusing the vaccine. She was charged separately with insubordination, missing a military flight, disobeying an officer and other offenses over her refusal to leave Japan. 

Arnett, who described herself as a staunch Catholic, said the 2021 vaccine mandate from Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin was an unlawful order. Her case drew attention from a foundation critical of vaccines, Children’s Health Defense, founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who interviewed her on his podcast. 

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Another example of Japan’s growing military capabilities to further deter Chinese aggression in the region:

One of Japan’s largest naval vessels took part in sea trials this week, brandishing modifications that bring it closer to embarking fifth-generation, U.S.-made fighter jets, local media reported.

The JS Kaga, a flat deck carrier for helicopters, kicked off the trials Monday after departing Kure Naval Base in Hiroshima prefecture, the Asahi Shimbun reported Tuesday. The Kaga’s bow and flight deck were modified to accommodate F-35B Lightning II fighter jets.

The F-35B variant, employed by the U.S. Marine Corps aboard U.S. Navy amphibious assault ships, is capable of short takeoffs and vertical landings, making them suitable for Japan’s helicopter carriers, provided alterations are made.

Stars & Stripes

You can read more at the link.

Only a high trust society could pull this off. Could you imagine what would happen in parts of the U.S. that had staffless stores?

During the COVID-19 pandemic, unmanned shops drew interest as a way to prevent infection and cater to contact-averse customers. Now such shops are again in the spotlight as a means to help solve serious labor shortages. Research is underway on systems to run unmanned shops safely and efficiently, and such systems have been introduced by a wide range of businesses, including cosmetics companies and a bookstores.

In May, cosmetics company Orbis Inc., based in Shinagawa Ward, Tokyo, opened an unstaffed store in the Granduo Tachikawa shopping mall at JR Tachikawa Station. While the company has 93 directly managed shops across the nation, this is the company’s first unstaffed shop. The shop is small, about 7 square meters, and offers about 90 cosmetics, such as lotions and serums. When a customer picks up a product, several cameras installed in the ceiling and a weight sensor installed in the shelf instantly recognize the product. The customer then pays the amount displayed on a cash register screen, and a gate opens to let the customer out.

Yomiuri Shimbun

You can read more at the link.

Another example of the increasing cooperation between South Korea and Japan. Previously South Korea had flew Japanese citizens out of Israel as well:

This Kyodo News photo, filed Oct. 23, 2023, shows a Japanese Air Self-Defense Force aircraft parked at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo on Oct. 21, after returning from Israel with Japanese nationals, 18 South Koreans and one foreign family member in an evacuation from the war-torn region. (Yonhap)

A Japanese aircraft carrying a group of South Korean nationals, along with its own people, returned from Israel on Friday, Seoul’s foreign ministry said, the second such flight Japan has offered after South Korea brought Japanese citizens home on its plane last month. 

The Air Self-Defense Force aircraft carrying 15 South Koreans and one foreign national family member related to a Korean national landed at Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, at 6:45 p.m., the foreign ministry said.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.