Community celebrates airman’s campaign to reduce litter on Okinawa’s party street

OKINAWA CITY, Okinawa — A one-man effort that began last year to clean up litter in a nightlife district has grown into a community movement involving service members and city residents.

Air Force Tech. Sgt. Edward Terrell Sims II was busy again Sunday morning in the visitor parking lot outside Gate 2 at Kadena Air Base, handing out supplies and giving instructions.

Sims, of the 718th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, leads about 40 people on a weekly cleanup of the area known as Gate 2 Street.

This time he was joined by about 100 volunteers, including representatives from the U.S. Consulate General Naha, Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Okinawa city. Turnout was amplified because the event was tied to other activities marking the United States’ 250th anniversary.

Sims said he started the cleanup in June 2025 because he wanted to improve the area outside Gate 2, a collection of bars, night clubs and tattoo parlors.

“I was trying to change it to be something that everyone can come out and enjoy, and everyone can feel safe, not just for the younger people but for the older generations that have lived here,” he said.

Volunteers spread out along the streets, collecting beer bottles and other trash while picking their way around a handful of people asleep on the sidewalks. After an hour, they had more than 20 bags of trash.

Sims said a small group joined his first cleanup, but none returned for subsequent events. He was “all alone for the next couple of times.”

U.S. service members and Japanese citizens collect trash from Gate 2 Street in Okinawa city, Okinawa, Aug. 2, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripes)

Volunteers collect trash during a community cleanup along Gate 2 Street in Okinawa city, Okinawa, Aug. 2, 2026. (Ryan M. Breeden/Stars and Stripe)

Weather permitting, Sims and his team are out every Sunday. His consistent efforts eventually merged with a local community center that hosts similar events one Saturday each month.

Kenji Matsuda, chairman of the Center Residents’ Association, said Sims’ efforts inspired the group to expand its own cleanup activities.

“We used to clean once a month,” he said my phone Monday. “We wanted to do it every weekend, but it was difficult to gather enough people.”

Matsuda said Sims “is the first person to do this continuously. They were doing a great job for the community.”

Sims and Airman 1st Class Nicolas Cardona received a certificate of appreciation from the city in March. Matsuda said the award was intended “to let people know that there are many good service members.”

Some of the Sunday cleanup crew moved to a local community center afterward for a short ceremony.

Gate 2 Street cleanup founder Air Force Tech. Sgt. Edward Terrell Sims II poses with volunteer Yukimori Miyazato at the community center in Okinawa city, Okinawa, Aug. 2, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)

Volunteers collect trash during a community cleanup along Gate 2 Street in Okinawa city, Okinawa, Aug. 2, 2026. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)

Col. Bryon Buzan, commander of Kadena’s 18th Mission Support Group, volunteered for the cleanup just two weeks after arriving on Okinawa.

He said he was impressed by Sunday’s event. The weekly cleanup provides service members an opportunity to contribute to the community beyond their military duties, while also building relationships with Okinawans, he said.

“Being new here, I was really surprised at how big it turned out,” Buzan told Stars and Stripes at the center. “Hearing the story about one airman who decided to take initiative, clean up the community, take that time, and it’s grown to this, [I’m] very proud.”

Yukimori Miyazato — a city resident and Sims’ “cleanup soulmate” — said cleaning with service members is a “completely different kind of fun.”

“Just picking up trash together creates a sense of unity,” he said at the center. “I can’t speak English either, but you can become close just by doing it together, without needing words.”