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  • Honoring Ancestors: Tradition of Shimi in Okinawa

    Each year in Spring, Okinawan families observe Shimi, a deeply rooted cultural tradition centered around honoring their ancestors. During this time, families come together to clean ancestral tombs, offer food and gifts, and gather in front of these sacred spaces. This custom is one of the most

  • Going the distance: Okinawa Marathon 2025

    Refreshed by a rainy start, service members and their families cheered on the participants, offering encouragement and much-needed supplies along the course. Volunteers stationed at various checkpoints along the route provided water, fruit, motivation, and medical support, ensuring the athletes had

  • Southern Beach 2025

    Southern Beach is a locally organized, bilateral exercise that brings the 18th Wing and JASDF units together to practice leading, mission planning, flying, and debriefing with one another. This exercise is a continual effort to enhance interoperability between U.S. Forces and host nation partners.

  • 909th ARS refuels 82nd RS

    The RC-135 supports theater and national level consumers with near real-time, on-scene intelligence collection, analysis and dissemination capabilities.

  • Shimi holiday on Kadena

    A Shinto priest leads a family in prayer before beginning to move their family’s remains at Kadena Air Base, Japan, April 7, 2024. The visiting families came together to pay respects to their ancestors for the annual holiday of Shimi. (U.S. Air Force photo by Senior Airman Cedrique Oldaker)

  • 18th MXG secures Phoenix Award win

    The 18th Maintenance Group won the Department of Defense’s Phoenix Award for Maintenance Excellence of the Year during the Secretary of Defense Maintenance Awards ceremony on December 19, 2023. The award is presented annually to honor the “Best” maintenance unit in the DoD, with this recognition

  • Bilateral Tactics Exchange kicks off at Kadena

    Japan Aerial Self-Defense Force, U.S. Air Force and U.S. Marine Corps Service members meet together at Kadena Air Base for the Okinawa Bilateral Tactics Exchange conference for a better understanding of the capabilities held by each others armed forces, as well as improving relations between the

  • Kadena AMS host JASDF exchange

    U.S. Air Force 733rd Air Mobility Squadron and Japan Air Self-Defense Force members meet at Kadena Air Base. The two organizations came together to exchange practices and ideas between the two different groups.

  • Patriots on parade at Kadena Veterans Day Parade

    U.S. military members, veterans and their families participate in the 9th Annual Veterans Day Parade at Kadena Air Base. Veterans Day originated as Armistice Day on Nov. 11, 1919 and marked the first anniversary of the end of World War I.

  • Opening the Dome on the AWACS

    U.S. Air Force 18th Equipment Maintenance Squadron preform routine maintenance of an E-3 Sentry Airborne Warning and Control System aircraft assigned to the 961st Airborne Air Control Squadron during routine maintenance

  • 18 EMS train with JASDF

    U.S. Air Force 18th Equipment Maintenance Squadron and Japan Air Self-Defense Force members meet at Kadena Air Base. The two organizations came together during training to share techniques and solutions to the environmental challenges they both face in Okinawa.

  • Kadena hosts 18th Wing Commander Conference

    During the two day conference, leadership discussed on how to increase collaboration across the wing as well as meeting with military spouses and discussing key quality of life factors at Kadena.