More info on the Okinawa International University website

 About the No Fly Zone:

   The terrifying crash on 13 August 2004 of a U.S. Marine helicopter into the Okinawa International University Administration Building came as a shock to all university personnel and students. Eyewitness testimony, statements of protest and support, and various other types of information pertaining to the helicopter crash have been pouring in to the university. We have also been flooded with requests for accurate information about this incident.
   The purposes of this website include the sharing of information about this crash, and the exchange of views and opinions with the general public. Our ultimate goals are to achieve a permanent end to military training flights over residential areas leading to a return of all military bases in Okinawa. These first steps lead to our ultimate goal of building a democratic society based on tolerance, mutual respect, and peaceful coexistence. This site is organized and supported by faculty of the OIU College Global and Regional Culture, and friends of Okinawa International University.
   We have declared the university a military No Fly Zone as a symbolic act of protest against the callous endangerment of civilian lives posed by U.S. military helicopters flying training missions over urban residential areas.

 About the English Site:

   This is a bilingual site. Most of our pages are available in both Japanese and English. Although much of the information on the English pages is translated from the Japanese, much of it has been revised and rewritten to make it more accessible to English speaking readers not familiar with conditions in Okinawa. Some pages have been extensively rewritten, and a number of pages appear in only one language or the other.
   The purpose of the English side differs somewhat from the Japanese side because many of our readers do not live in Okinawa or Japan. Our focus is, therefore, somewhat different. Okinawa No Fly Zone feels that U.S. military base problems in Japan, particularly in Okinawa, do not get the attention they deserve in the English language media. Most English language news outlets cannot afford to assign a reporter to a place as small as Okinawa. The lack of sufficient English language reporting thus creates a situation in which the U.S. military itself becomes the major source of English language information about Okinawa, often resulting in what we believe is one-sided coverage. Accordingly, one of the major purposes of our English pages is remedy this situation by providing an alternate source of factual information, as well as opinion and commentary on U.S. military base issues for media outlets and concerned readers around the world.