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About The Asian reporter. (Portland, Or.) 1991-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 7, 2022)
ASIA / PACIFIC November 7, 2022 THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 3 U.S. uses farmers markets to foster ties at bases in Japan MARKET DIPLOMACY. U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel shakes hands with a local vendor at the farmers market at Camp Hansen, a U.S. Marine Corps base on a southern Japanese island of Okinawa, on October 30, 2022. (U.S. Embassy via AP) By Mari Yamaguchi The Associated Press OKYO — As the United States and Japan further strengthen their military alliance, they’ve turned to farmers markets to foster friendlier ties between American military bases and their Japanese neighbors. On Sunday, about 20 Okinawan farmers and vendors came to Camp Hansen, a Marine Corps base on the southern Japanese island of Okinawa, bringing locally grown spinach, pineapples, big lemons, and other fresh vegetables and fruits that the U.S. embassy said attracted hundreds of customers. U.S. Ambassador Rahm Emanuel, who proposed the event, said the market brought healthy, local produce to consumers at Camp Hansen, while providing Japanese farmers and businesses with new customers. He bought Okinawan spinach, according to the U.S. Embassy. “A win-win for all,” Emanuel tweeted. Fostering good relations with their host communities is important for the U.S. military based in Japan — especially in Okinawa where a heavy U.S. military presence has carried a fraught history. T Emanuel said in a statement he expects to see farmers markets foster a benefit between the Okinawan residents and American servicemembers who are contributing to the defense of Japan. He said he hopes to establish more farmers markets at other U.S. bases across Japan and hold them regularly. Emanuel, a former congressman who served as former President Barack Obama’s first White House chief of staff, tweeted that he later joined Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki at a festival of Okinawans gathering from around the world, including Americans of Okinawan descent, held every five years. Okinawa was reverted to Japan from U.S. occupation in 1972. Today, a majority of the 50,000 U.S. troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact, as well as 70% of U.S. military facilities, are still in Okinawa, which accounts for only 0.6% of Japanese land. Many Okinawans who complain about noise, pollution, accidents, and crime related to American troops are now concerned about a possible emergency in Taiwan — just west of Okinawa and its outer islands — as an increasingly assertive China raises tensions amid its rivalry with Washington. Tamaki, who was re-elected for his second four-year term in September, supports the bilateral security alliance but has made the reduction of U.S. military bases a key component of his platform. The launch of the farmers’ market on Okinawa came a week after one at the Yokota Air Base in the western suburbs of Tokyo. Afraid of needles? China using inhalable COVID-19 vaccine By Ken Moritsugu The Associated Press EIJING — The Chinese city of Shanghai has started administering an inhalable COVID-19 vaccine in what appears to be a world first. The vaccine, a mist that is sucked in through the mouth, is being offered for free as a booster dose for previously vaccinated people, according to an announcement on an official city social media account. Scientists hope that such “needle-free” vaccines will make vaccination more accessible in countries with fragile health systems because they are easier to administer. They also may persuade people who don’t like getting a shot in the arm to get inoculated. China wants more people to get booster shots before it relaxes strict pandemic restrictions that are holding back the economy and are increasingly out of sync with the rest of the world. As of mid-October, 90% of Chinese were fully vaccinated and 57% had received a booster shot. A video posted by an online Chinese state media outlet showed people at a community health center sticking the short nozzle of a translucent white cup into their mouths. The accompanying text said that after slowly inhaling, people hold their breath for five seconds, with the entire procedure completed in 20 seconds. “It was like drinking a cup of milk tea,” one Shanghai resident said in the video. “When I breathed it in, it tasted a bit sweet.” The effectiveness of non-needle vaccines has not been fully explored. Chinese regulators approved the inhalable one in September, but only as a booster shot after studies showed it triggered an immune system response in people who had previously received two shots of a different Chinese vaccine. A vaccine taken as mist could fend off the virus before it reaches the rest of the respiratory system, though that would depend in part on the size of the droplets, one expert said. Larger droplets would train defenses in parts of the mouth and throat, while smaller ones would travel further into the body, said Dr. Vineeta Bal, an immunologist in India. The inhalable vaccine was developed by Chinese biopharmaceutical company CanSino Biologics Inc. as an aerosol version of the company’s one-shot adenovirus vaccine, which uses a relatively harmless cold virus. The traditional one-shot vaccine has been approved for use in more than 10 markets, including China, Hungary, Pakistan, Malaysia, Argentina, and Mexico. The inhaled version has received a go-ahead for clinical trials in Malaysia, a Malaysian media report said in September. Regulators in India have approved a nasal vaccine, another needle-free approach, but it has yet to be rolled B out. The vaccine, developed in the U.S. and licensed to Indian vaccine maker Bharat Biotech, is squirted in the nose. About a dozen nasal vaccines are being tested globally, according to the World Health Organization. China has relied on domestically developed vaccines, primarily two inactivated vaccines that have proven effective in preventing death and serious disease but less so than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines at stopping the spread of the disease. Chinese authorities also have not mandated vaccination — entering an office building or other public places requires a negative COVID-19 test, not proof of vaccination. And the country’s strict “zero-COVID” approach means that only a small proportion of the population has been infected and built immunity that way, compared to other places. As a result, it’s unclear how widely COVID-19 would spread if restrictions were lifted. The ruling Communist Party has so far shown no sign of easing the “zero-COVID” policy, moving quickly to restrict travel and impose lockdowns when even just a few cases are discovered. Associated Press writer Aniruddha Ghosal in New Delhi and video producer Olivia Zhang in Beijing contributed to this report. STAYCATION Find a place, then make time to make it yours. Get started with an affordable home loan. Member FDIC COVID-19 VACCINE INFORMATION To learn more about COVID-19 vaccinations, reach out to https://vaccinefinder.org Oregon Call 211 or 1-866-698-6155 Visit covidvaccine.oregon.gov Washington Call (360) 236-4501 or 1-800-525-0127 Visit doh.wa.gov/coronavirus Let’s create tomorrow, together. bannerbank.com/home-loans