Why is California West and Japan Far East?

Why is California the West and Japan the Far East?

Albert Zhang
California is considered the west and Japan the Far East in reference to the Prime Meridian at Greenwich, UK. However, this Prime Meridian is just an imaginary line. It just so happens to be so that it was set by the British, making the reference line go through Europe. The Prime Meridian can really be anywhere, making no where really the west or east side of the Earth. For example, if Americans set the Prime Meridian to the latitude of Washington DC, Europe would be the east and Japan would be the far west.
 
Petra Havlíčková
Because of the International Date Line that runs through the Pacific. It is basically the boundary of a map. In reality, it is the border between two days - the difference in time is only one hour, but already of the following day. 
It starts with New Zealand, Japan, Australia, runs to half of the planet to Greenwich, and to California. 
East, to west. Following the sunlight. Makes sense. 
Actually, the only reason it is so, is because they had to draw the Line somewhere.
 
Natalia Rossi
From seen on a regular map of the world
California is very far west and Japan is very far east. It is the most commonly used world map, simply because it shows the entire Earth in a relatively easy to read way. There are other maps

that rotate the Earth, but only shows it a different angle, not changing anything about the world itself. Maps like his tend to confuse people, as they see places on the left as west and places on the right as east, even though the positions are still the same.

 

It has nothing to do with the physical location on the globe, but rather a concept made up by humans to determine the whereabouts of an area, or the alignment of the map.

 

Hope this helps.

 
John Burgess
Because the point of reference is Europe (arguably the Prime meridian), California is to the West and Japan to the Far East.

Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) Reykjavik: 0

Iceland - Greenwich Mean Time

https://www.worldtravelserver.com/travel/en/iceland/reykjavik/gmt_0.html

 
Far East; 極東
 
 
 

WikiLeaksが謎に包まれたAmazonのデータセンターの所在地を暴露、地図 

Yesterday WikiLeaks published the locations of Amazon's data centers in #AmazonAtlas https://wikileaks.org/amazon-atlas/  

 

More context about Amazon's secretive data center infrastructure:

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1050887589975269378

 

Is there an @awscloud data center near you? Explore the often secretive locations of Amazon's cloud revealed in our latest publication with this interactive map: https://wikileaks.org/amazon-atlas/map/ … #AmazonAtlas

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1050400151074934784

 

 

Is there an @awscloud data center near you? Explore the often secretive locations of Amazon's cloud revealed in our latest publication with this interactive map: https://wikileaks.org/amazon-atlas/map/ … #AmazonAtlas

https://twitter.com/wikileaks/status/1050400151074934784

 

 

 

 

CIA World Tour: What has the Agency done in your country?

https://www.muckrock.com/news/archives/2017/sep/22/cia-world-tour/?utm_content=buffer2a2f8&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer

 

 

Japan pushing forward on missile defense despite North Korea thaw ...

 

 

The Benefits for Japan of a U.S. Military Withdrawal

Taoka Shunji

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mapping U.S. Foreign Military Bases

While I was lecturing the other week on the controversies surrounding U.S. military bases on the Japanese island of Okinawa, one of my students expressed astonishment at the existence of such facilities, wondering why they would be considered necessary. Although I am used to students questioning the wisdom maintaining foreign military bases, I had thought that the U.S. military presence in such countries as Japan, South Korea, and Germany was common knowledge. Evidently it is not. And even if most students do know about foreign bases, few realize how extensive the network actually is.
 
 

Japan is still under the control of the U.S., even more than 70 years after the end of World War II. As you see on the table below, the many U.S. Forces' facilities occupy throughout Japan. 

 

US-Japan Military Base Issues

https://www.google.co.jp/search?q=US-Japan+Military+Base+Issues&rlz=1C1CHZL_jaJP714JP714&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjOkcqK5IPeAhWLErwKHc-1CDkQ_AUIDygC&biw=1280&bih=579#imgrc=_

 

U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa, Japan

Camp Gonsalves Marine Corps in Northern Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/camp-gonsalves/

Fleet Activities Okinawa Naval Base in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/okinawa/

Camp Hansen Marine Corps in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/hansen/

Torii Station Army Base in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/torii/

Camp Schwab Marine Corps Base in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/schwab/

Camp Mctureous Marine Corps in Kawasaki Village, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/camp-mctureous/

Yontan Airfield Marine Corps Base in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/yontan-airfield/

Kadena Air Force Base in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/kadena/

Camp Lester Marine Corps Base in Chatan Town, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/lester/

Fort Buckner Army Base in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/fort-buckner/

 MCAS Futenma Marine Corps in Ginowan, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/futenma/

Camp SD Butler Marine Corps Base in Okinawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/sd-butler/

 

 U.S. military facilities in Tokyo 

http://www.toshiseibi.metro.tokyo.jp/base_measures/english/etonokiti.htm

Akasaka Press Center (Minato-ku);  MWR Tokyo Recreational Lodging (Hardy Barracks) - Camp Zama :

Situated next to Aoyama Park, including a heliport, an office for the Stars and Stripes (newspaper publisher), CIA & NSA, International Technology Center-Pacific, Asian Office of Aerospace Research and Development (AOARD), ONRG-Asia, bachelor officers’quarters, garages, etc.

ONR Global Tokyo, Japan - Office of Naval Research

Akasaka Press Center - Japan - World Airport Codes

Pacific Stars And Stripes Newspaper Archives

 

The New Sannō Hotel or New Sannō U.S. Force Center (Minato-ku);   

 Meetings of the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee are held in this facility. (About twice a month, Bi-weekly Thursday, From 11 am), Japan side: 6 people, American side: 6 people (US soldiers) and the US Embassy's minister (diplomat) 1 person 

is located in downtown Tokyo. It offers a swimming pool, recreational facilities, a Navy Exchange, and other services designed for military travelers. The hotel is regulated and controlled by the U.S.–Japan Status of Forces Agreement. In addition to active duty and retired U.S. military personnel eligible to use other Armed Forces Recreation Centers, DoD civilian employees duty stationing in Japan, contractors on DoD orders to execute contracts for the U.S. armed forces stationed in Japan, U.S. Embassy Tokyo personnel and individuals administratively attached to U.S. Embassy Tokyo are eligible to use the hotel.[1]

What is the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee? – Black Tokyo

http://www.thenewsanno.com/links/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Sanno_Hotel

https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8B%E3%83%A5%E3%83%BC%E5%B1%B1%E7%8E%8B%E3%83%9B%E3%83%86%E3%83%AB

http://open.mixi.jp/user/5690042/diary/1954582786

 

Yokota Air Force Base in Fussa, Japan (Tachikawa City, Akishima City, FussaCity, Musashimurayama City, Hamura City and Mizuho Town)

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/yokota/

 

Fuchu Communication Station (Fuchu City): 

A communications relay facility with a 107-meter (350-feet) communications tower.

http://www.michaeljohngrist.com/2008/11/abandoned-us-air-force-base-fuchu/

 

Tama Service Annex (Tama City and Inagi City): 
Recreation facilities for U.S. military personnel and their families. Equipped with a golf course, camping site, outdoor sport facilities, etc.

Tama Hills Recreation Area – Yokota FSS

 

Owada Communication Site (Kiyose City, etc.): 
A communication facility with numbers of antenna towers. Straddles the border between Kiyose City (Tokyo) and Niiza City (Saitama Prefecture).

 

Iwo-jima Communication Site (Ogasawara Village)
The communication function of this facility is not used currently. Since 1991, Night Landing Practice has been conducted at this site several times a year.

Iwo Jima - Wikipedia

and...

MCAS Iwakuni Marine Corps Base in Nishiki, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/iwakuni/

Misawa Air Force Base in Misawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/misawa/

Camp Fuji Marine Corps in Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/fuji/

Naval Air Facility Atsugi Navy Base in Kanagawa, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/atsugi/

Fleet Activities Sasebo Naval Base in Sasebo, Japan

https://militarybases.com/overseas/japan/sasebo/

 

Base Nation – U.S. Military Bases Worldwide
Posted on August 26, 2015
by David Vine

From a hilltop at the Guantánamo Bay naval station, you can look down on a secluded part of the base bordered by the Caribbean Sea. There you’ll see thick coils of razor wire, guard towers, search lights, and concrete barriers. This is the U.S. prison that has garnered so much international attention and controversy, with so many prisoners held for years without trial. 

http://www.thehistoryreader.com/military-history/u-s-military-bases-worldwide/

 

BASE NATION

How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World

American Empire Project

David Vine

Metropolitan Books

 

From Italy to the Indian Ocean, from Japan to Honduras, a far-reaching examination of the perils of American military bases overseas

 

American military bases encircle the globe. More than two decades after the end of the Cold War, the U.S. still stations its troops at nearly a thousand locations in foreign lands. These bases are usually taken for granted or overlooked entirely, a little-noticed part of the Pentagon's vast operations. But in an eye-opening account, Base Nation shows that the worldwide network of bases brings with it a panoply of ills—and actually makes the nation less safe in the long run.

 

As David Vine demonstrates, the overseas bases raise geopolitical tensions and provoke widespread antipathy towards the United States. They also undermine American democratic ideals, pushing the U.S. into partnerships with dictators and perpetuating a system of second-class citizenship in territories like Guam. They breed sexual violence, destroy the environment, and damage local economies. And their financial cost is staggering: though the Pentagon underplays the numbers, Vine's accounting proves that the bill approaches $100 billion per year.

 

For many decades, the need for overseas bases has been a quasi-religious dictum of U.S. foreign policy. But in recent years, a bipartisan coalition has finally started to question this conventional wisdom. With the U.S. withdrawing from Afghanistan and ending thirteen years of war, there is no better time to re-examine the tenets of our military strategy. Base Nation is an essential contribution to that debate.

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781627791694