The price of unleaded gasoline sold on US military installations in Japan has gone up to USD 4.004 per gallon. A price of $3.47 per gallon for unleaded is available only at Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni. That price has been unchanged since December.

The average US mainland price June 28 was 4.59 per gallon. The June 28 Japan nationwide average price for one gallon of regular was USD 6.20 per gallon (sold at JPY163.88 per liter). convert$

The price is expected to rise to JPY180 by mid-July.

At least one Japanese oil company has surplus gasoline that could be exported to the US. Reuters reports Nippon Oil Corp President Shinji Nishio said Japan’s oil demand will decline 2 percent per year through 2010. But as the Asian market is set to grow 4-5 percent a year, Japan can export domestic surplus overseas. He said Nippon Oil had considered shipping gasoline to the United States to meet peak summer demand, but it was difficult due to the variety of gasoline specifications that exist in the country.

In May 2008, the U.S. Department of Energy, Japan’s trade ministry and oil companies including Exxon Mobil Corp and Nippon Oil held a meeting in San Francisco to discuss gasoline exports to the US from Japan. According to the Reuters story, Japanese exports to the United States of distillates such as gas oil have been steadily increasing, but exports of gasoline are relatively uncommon. The meeting ended with no detailed arrangements of exports, but both countries agreed that the US would stand to gain as it has consistently suffered from a lack of refinery capacity and gasoline shortages, especially in the summer.

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Military Comic Books Not So Novel

A comic book created by the US Navy to educate Japanese teens and young adults about one of it’s nuclear powered aircraft carriers is ready for distribution in Yokosuka. The city is home to the Yokosuka Naval Base US installation. The USS George Washington is scheduled to arrive in August 2008, to replace the 47-year-old non-nuclear propelled USS Kitty Hawk.

Stars and Stripes reports 30,000 copies of the 200-page Japanese language manga have been published. The comic book, titled “CVN-73″ follows sailor Jack Ohara , an American of Japanese descent, as he gets into all kinds of comic situations all over the ship. He’s mentored by Petty Officer 1st Class Elly Benton. full story

update june 10, 2008: The Navy released the comic June 8. Stars and Stripes reports sailors handed out about 800 copies of “CVN 73″ in three hours in the manga’s first day of distribution. full story. Free download of “CVN 73” in English and Japanese.

The Japan Ministry of Defense published it’s 2007 Ballistic Missile Defense White Paper in a manga version in addition to a standard text document. Read the MOD comic in Japanese about Japan’s Anti-Ballistic Missile capability, or download the MOD pdf version of the manga.

Pickles The Military Mascot

“Prince Pickles is our image character because he’s very endearing, which is what Japan’s military stands for,” said Shotaro Yanagi, a Japan Defense Agency official. “He’s our mascot and appears in our pamphlets and stationery.” full story: AP/IHT

Download the Prince Pickles series from the Japan Ministry of Defense.

Pentagon Uses Its Spidey Sense For the Troops

US psychological operations comic book in the southern Philippines: “Barbargsa — Blood of the Honorable.”

Psychological comic operations