about
Jon Mitchell is a Welsh-born writer based in Japan.
As a regular contributor to The Japan Times, Truth-Out and Asia-Pacific Journal, he has written extensively about human rights issues on Okinawa.
Mitchell uncovered the first photographs confirming the deployment of atomic weapons on the island, images of the 1971 Koza Riot - Okinawa's largest outpouring of anti-military sentiment - and evidence the Pentagon tested chemical weapons on its own troops during the 1960s. His ongoing coverage of the usage of the Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange, on Okinawa prompted a nine-month investigation by the Pentagon - the results of which were released in February 2013.
Numerous Japanese TV documentaries have been produced about Mitchell's research - including TV-Asahi's The Scoop Special and Defoliated Island, winner of an award for excellence from Japan's Association of Commercial Broadcasters.
As a regular contributor to The Japan Times, Truth-Out and Asia-Pacific Journal, he has written extensively about human rights issues on Okinawa.
Mitchell uncovered the first photographs confirming the deployment of atomic weapons on the island, images of the 1971 Koza Riot - Okinawa's largest outpouring of anti-military sentiment - and evidence the Pentagon tested chemical weapons on its own troops during the 1960s. His ongoing coverage of the usage of the Vietnam War defoliant, Agent Orange, on Okinawa prompted a nine-month investigation by the Pentagon - the results of which were released in February 2013.
Numerous Japanese TV documentaries have been produced about Mitchell's research - including TV-Asahi's The Scoop Special and Defoliated Island, winner of an award for excellence from Japan's Association of Commercial Broadcasters.
In 2007, after winning the American Accolades Screenwriting Contest, Mitchell wrote movie projects for studios in Japan and the Film Agency for Wales. On the other side of the camera, he acted alongside an A-list Japanese cast in the anti-war film, Best Wishes for Tomorrow.
Following the March 2011 earthquake, Mitchell traveled to tsunami-hit Tohoku to report on international relief operations.
The magnitude-9 tremor also seems to have scared the poetic muse back into him. His poetry booklet about the disaster, March and After, was published to critical acclaim - reviews here and here - leading one British paper to dub him "Bard of a Broken Country".
In 2012, Mitchell was invited aboard Japanese NGO Peace Boat on its voyage between Yokohama and Vietnam to give talks about the Okinawan human rights movement and the ongoing legacy of Agent Orange. He is currently gathering together this research in a book to be published winter 2013.
Mitchell is an Asia-Pacific Journal associate; he lectures at Tokyo Institute of Technology and Meiji Gakuin University.
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