2/9/2005

Okinotori rock
As I have mentioned before, Japan claims an exclusive economic zone over this fragment of coral reef known as Okinotori “Island” , far to the southeast of Okinawa. The real story here is that the “island” cum rock is useless as the beacon that the Japanese want to put on it. The German news source, Spiegel Online has an article about the impact of GPS systems on Lighthouses. Basically, the satellite-based global positioning system has made all the lighthouses along the German coast unecessary, and GPS is reliable and safe enough to warrant the closure of these historical beacons of safety.”

Bloomberg.com: Japan— Japan’s government will take control of a lighthouse built by a group of activists in 1978 on Uotsurishima, the largest of the Senkaku Islands in the country’s southernmost prefecture of Okinawa, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said….