I am going to go a'begging.
I would be very, very grateful if someone could tell me whether he or she has seen, in a major Japanese-language national newspaper or news source, any mention of why an eagerly awaited squadron of the Air Force's F-22 Raptors failed to land at Kadena Air Force Base on February 10, only to land there with far less fanfare a week later.
All I have seen are brief, inaccurate descriptions of the incident, like the one in the evening edition of The Asahi Shimbun of February 17:
米軍の最新鋭のステルス戦闘機Ｆ２２ラプター２機が１７日正午過ぎ、米軍嘉手納基地（沖縄県嘉手納町など）に到着した。後続の１０機も１８日に到着する予定。同機種の初の海外展開で、米軍は「約３カ月間の一時的な配備」としている。Far be it from me to question the reportage of The Asahi Shimbun and its fine stable of reporters (Oh, cut to the chase, will ya? - Editor) but :
嘉手納基地報道部によると、ハワイのヒッカム空軍基地から飛来。当初、１０日に到着予定だったが、悪天候やナビゲーションシステムの不具合で到着が遅れていた。
"The projected arrival date had been the 10th, but because of bad weather or navigation system problems, the arrival had had to be pushed back."
would be considered factually correct only among the squirrel-brained.
In case you don't know what happened, you will either laugh your head off or be very, very concerned about the U.S. military's testing of its weapons systems.
Please recall, each one of these planes, the most advanced in the U.S. arsenal, costs between $100 million and $160 million.
Hence, my request--did anyone tell the Japanese people why the planes did not arrive at Kadena on the 10th? Wouldn't the reporters and camera crews sent to cover the arrival have been interested to explain why the whole thing was suddenly dotakyanned?
The reason why I bring this up is I saw this "Ooops!" moment courtesy of Sharon Weinberger at Danger Room and suddenly realized I could not recall any follow-up to the Raptor no-show.
Suffice it to say that these tales fill me with confidence about the reliability and dependability of the U.S.-supplied anti-ballistic missile systems upon which the GOJ is pinning so many of its hopes.
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