Japan begins construction of new SDF base for U.S. fighter drills

Japan started construction work Thursday for a Self-Defense Forces base on an uninhabited island in a southwestern prefecture, the Defense Ministry said, under a plan to relocate military drills using U.S. carrier-borne fighter jets. In the work expected to last four years on Mage Island in Kagoshima, the ministry will first build runways and ammunition storage facilities, according to an environmental assessment report made public earlier in the day. The project will pave the way for the relocation of the practice site for U.S. fighter jets from Iwoto Island in the Pacific, about 1,250 kilometers south of Tokyo, following the construction work on the 8 square km island.

Missing sacred swords of Todaiji found after 1,250 yrs

Missing sacred swords of Todaiji found after 1,250 yrs

NARA, Japan - Photo taken Oct. 25, 2010, shows the Great Buddha of Todaiji temple in Nara, western Japan. The temple said the same day that two swords found under the Buddha in the Meiji era have been identified as sacred swords that had been missing for some 1,250 years since around 760 after Empress Komyo, the wife of Emperor Shomu who built the Buddha, dedicated them along with other items to the temple.

Missing sacred swords of Todaiji found after 1,250 yrs

Missing sacred swords of Todaiji found after 1,250 yrs

NARA, Japan - Photo taken Oct. 25, 2010, shows two swords found under the Great Buddha of Todaiji temple in Nara, western Japan, exhibited at a cultural assets research center in Nara. The temple said the same day that two swords found under the Buddha in the Meiji era have been identified as sacred swords that had been missing for some 1,250 years since around 760 after Empress Komyo, the wife of Emperor Shomu who built the Buddha, dedicated them along with other items to the temple.

Int'l water forum to start Sun. in Kyoto

Int'l water forum to start Sun. in Kyoto

NARA, Japan - Members of the World Water Council and the National Steering Committee for the third World Water Forum hold a joint session at Todaiji Temple in Nara on March 15, the eve of the opening of the forum in Kyoto. Todaiji was chosen as the venue for the meeting because a popular ceremony known as Omizutori (literally, ''water-drawing'') involving a water offering to the Eleven Headed Kannon has been held annually in March at the temple for over 1,250 years.