01/20/2026
Stars and Stripes has been essential to real, measurable improvements in our community healthcare.
They were the first to vet and publish the number of Americans who died from denials of emergency care in Japan, before U.S. Forces Japan was even tracking those deaths.
They were the first to report on loss of access to mental health medications and EpiPens after the Defense Health Agency forced civilians off base for care. That access is preserved now.
They documented law and policy violations by the Defense Health Agency running our clinics and hospitals. That reporting led to audits, replaced ambulances, improved training, emergency hiring of nurses and critical staff, and formal responses to ICE complaints that were previously ignored.
When we met with Congress, Stars and Stripes articles were on the agenda. Their reporting turned a small, easily-dismissed community into one that could not be ignored.
According to the Pentagon, Stars and Stripes will now operate with increased oversight. We don’t yet know what that means for the future of their reporting. What we do know is that independent, persistent journalism is the reason these issues were addressed at all.
We publicly thank Stars and Stripes for the mountains they moved.
The work isn’t finished. We still do not have guaranteed access to emergency care. There is no trauma-certified emergency room on any U.S. base in Japan. Billing errors still cripple MTF funding and challenge our community financially.
Stars and Stripes didn’t just amplify that data for families—they amplified it for our government, which needs accurate, unfiltered information as it plans and executes Pacific operations. Readiness depends on reality. Military communities depend on reporting that is willing to dig, document, and tell uncomfortable truths.
