Japan's defense ministry said a submarine was spotted by a P-3C Maritime Self-Defense Force patrol aircraft Sunday night passing near Kume Island in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture in the East China Sea.

WSJ: Japan on Alert Over Submarines Near Its Territorial Waters

Also, in the August 2009 elections, Denny Tamaki, a former radio deejay with a fondness for rock-and-roll, won a seat in the Lower House, representing a district in Naha, the capital of Okinawa prefecture, located south of the main Japanese islands.

FORBES: When Japan's Leaders Have Ties To Other Nations

These lend to a host of borrowers that the market shuns but politicians deem worthy, from farmers, to small firms, to projects in the southern prefecture of Okinawa.

ECONOMIST: Japan's economy

OKINAWA, Japan's most southerly and poorest prefecture, is home to three-quarters of the country's American bases.

ECONOMIST: Left on the beach