Okinawa Population Grows More Angry Over US Military Base in Region

[TaiShang]

Okinawa Population Grows More Angry Over US Military Base in Region / Sputnik International

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said that the population of Japan's Okinawa Prefecture is growing more angry over the plans of the country's government to relocate a US military base from one part of the island to another.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — The population of Japan's Okinawa Prefecture is growing more angry over the plans of the country's government to relocate a US military base from one part of the island to another, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga said Sunday.

Japanese authorities are planning to relocate the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the city of Nago. The plans face opposition from local environmentalists and civic groups who are against damage to flora and fauna, as well as US military presence in the region.

US Military Base Row on Okinawa Worsens as Tokyo Shows Resistance

"People in Okinawa never volunteered to host military bases… And the more the government insists the work continues, the more alienated and angry the people of Okinawa become," Onaga was quoted as saying by Euronews.

Rallies have been erupting in Japan over the government's decision of the US base's relocation, which was agreed upon back in 2006.

At the time, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government confirmed the deal with the United States and asked former Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima to approve the relocation.

Okinawa's current leadership suggests relocating the US base from densely populated areas of the island to outside the country altogether.

 

[Jlaw]

Unfortunately they are unable to do much as it is the US. Most of the people rallying against are older folks. Where are the young people?

 

[terranMarine]

Unfortunately they are unable to do much as it is the US. Most of the people rallying against are older folks. Where are the young people?

Digging in hamburgers at those burger stores?

 

[syedali73]

Good to see that conscious and patriotism of at-least some Japanese is still alive with reference to Okinawa occupation of the US for past 75 years.

 

[Aepsilons]

Hmm. Just couple of days ago Onaga and Suga were involved in a open-community town meeting regarding the Henoko base construction. Hey, if they don't agree to it, then the Futenma air base will become a permanent fixture. Is that what Onaga desires? Either case, we need to find a compromise here.

The truth is in between the lines.

 

[Beast]

Unfortunately they are unable to do much as it is the US. Most of the people rallying against are older folks. Where are the young people?

Japan got young people?

 

[Tshering22]

Japan must move towards more independent military and collective defense system from US.

What say @Nihonjin1051 san?

This new approval is guaranteed to ensure an extension of the yoke of control US has on your country's political decision making when it comes to self defense and military advancement.

 

[Aepsilons]

Japan must move towards more independent military and collective defense system from US.

What say @Nihonjin1051 san?

This new approval is guaranteed to ensure an extension of the yoke of control US has on your country's political decision making when it comes to self defense and military advancement.

The goal of having the U.S. military leave Japan is indeed a long term goal. After all, the Japanese Armed Forces is able to hold its own. Nevertheless, due to the threats in the region it serves Japanese interests to have an integrated defense network with the United States.

When these threats are negated and when the environment is conducive then we will see the withdrawal of US forces from the Japanese Archipelago. Until then, Japan and the U.S. will have a broadened , active policy in regional and international cooperation, which is attuned to working with other regional powers such as India , and Australia, among others.

Later this month we will release the new Defense Articulation that will specify on the new framework of the Japanese-US Global Alliance.

 

[Tshering22]

The goal of having the U.S. military leave Japan is indeed a long term goal. After all, the Japanese Armed Forces is able to hold its own. Nevertheless, due to the threats in the region it serves Japanese interests to have an integrated defense network with the United States.

When these threats are negated and when the environment is conducive then we will see the withdrawal of US forces from the Japanese Archipelago. Until then, Japan and the U.S. will have a broadened , active policy in regional and international cooperation, which is attuned to working with other regional powers such as India , and Australia, among others.

Later this month we will release the new Defense Articulation that will specify on the new framework of the Japanese-US Global Alliance.

That's a deep and long term plan you got.

But tell me something; do you think that the environment will ever get conducive? I mean US doesn't want ot leave Asia. Which means even if you reach an agreement with China and Korea, something will be racheted to keep them there. It does the same here in South Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

Just a genuine question.

Japan can become a unique Asian power on its own.

With a vast military industrial knowledge, a stable government and immense goodwill across Asia for your development assistance to numerous countries, Japan has the potential to lead Asia as well as come to good terms with China and Korea as well.

Your government can speed up the relaxation of military export rules, help develop the military industries of Asia in a larger scale, co develop transport, rescue and dual-use platforms with other emerging Asian countries and probably lead a regional collective security pact.

While uniting Asia will be a difficult task due to the different types of rivalries, you could forge a US-like relation with every other country in Asia with whom you have good relations and who seem promising to you.

 

[Aepsilons]

That's a deep and long term plan you got.

But tell me something; do you think that the environment will ever get conducive? I mean US doesn't want ot leave Asia. Which means even if you reach an agreement with China and Korea, something will be racheted to keep them there. It does the same here in South Asia, Middle East and North Africa.

Just a genuine question.

Japan can become a unique Asian power on its own.

With a vast military industrial knowledge, a stable government and immense goodwill across Asia for your development assistance to numerous countries, Japan has the potential to lead Asia as well as come to good terms with China and Korea as well.

Your government can speed up the relaxation of military export rules, help develop the military industries of Asia in a larger scale, co develop transport, rescue and dual-use platforms with other emerging Asian countries and probably lead a regional collective security pact.

While uniting Asia will be a difficult task due to the different types of rivalries, you could forge a US-like relation with every other country in Asia with whom you have good relations and who seem promising to you.

@Tshering22 ,

Very deep premise. Now, to answer your query; Lets first adrress the elephant in the room, okay? The Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution and the Peace Clause.

After the end of WW2, it was the United States that forced upon Japan the adoption of its current constitution, the same way as how the US and allied powers wrote the framework on Germany's post war constitution. And as a nation that has genuinely atoned for our part in the prosecution of the Great War, Japan has slowly and rightfully moved away from constraints. The goal for us is to remove any and all limitations placed on us by the United States. When that is realized , and it is , then the U.S. ' presence in Japan will not be necessary , perhaps a token force to represent the Alliance.

In any case, the U.S. won't have to move that far as their forces can be diverted to Guam or South Korea.

 

[Jlaw]

Japan got young people?

Okinawa was not originally Japanese. Japanese brainwashed people in thinking Okinawa was always part of Japan.

 

[Kolaps]

What a stupid protest!

It's not a democracy at all.

US is the democracy!

The goal of having the U.S. military leave Japan is indeed a long term goal. After all, the Japanese Armed Forces is able to hold its own. Nevertheless, due to the threats in the region it serves Japanese interests to have an integrated defense network with the United States.

When these threats are negated and when the environment is conducive then we will see the withdrawal of US forces from the Japanese Archipelago. Until then, Japan and the U.S. will have a broadened , active policy in regional and international cooperation, which is attuned to working with other regional powers such as India , and Australia, among others.

Later this month we will release the new Defense Articulation that will specify on the new framework of the Japanese-US Global Alliance.

US will never leave Japan EVER!


DO you think Japan able to defeat China alone?

If you can't win, then makes friend and alliance to China...

and DO you think US allow this thing to happen?


It's going to be forever.

 

[Aepsilons]

What a stupid protest!

It's not a democracy at all.

US is the democracy!





US will never leave Japan EVER!


DO you think Japan able to defeat China alone?

If you can't win, then makes friend and alliance to China...

and DO you think US allow this thing to happen?


It's going to be forever.

lol, oh Kolaps, you are always so very entertaining !

 

[Lux de Veritas]

The day USA leave Japan is the day USA lost Japan. USA will never leave. Japan forever want to be a "normal country", in another word, ask USA to get lost.

Everyone knows USA never want Japan to miltarize. The young USA elites are stupid and they fall in love with Japan good image and fantasize they can use japan to contain China.

And Indians here have this fantasy also.

These people simply do not understand East Asian.

 

[TaiShang]

New Okinawa base fueling anti-US sentiment as DefSec Ash Carter visits Japan
Published time: April 08, 2015 09:45 ,

Incoming US Defense Secretary Ash Carter’s visit to Japan is fast becoming overshadowed by an escalating row over a new American military base on Okinawa, which is threatening to derail Tokyo’s pro-US involvement in regional security.

Carter’s visit to Tokyo, which kicked off Wednesday, coincides with a major review of US-Japan defense cooperation, the first since 1997. It would formalize the US role in Japan’s plan to allow collective self-defense, a policy that would permit Tokyo to aid militarily an ally facing an attack – a drift from Japan's restrictions put on its military by the country’s post-World War II constitution.

Also on the table is the stalled relocation of a US military base in Okinawa to another part of the island. The US Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in heavily populated Ginowan has been a cause of tension between American troops and local residents for years. Okinawa, home to about 1 percent of Japan’s population, hosts roughly half of the 47,000 US troops based in Japan.

Tokyo wants to shut the base down and open a new one in the more desolate area of Nago, in the center of the southern Japanese island. But the majority of the islanders, as well as Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, want the construction of the replacement base near the town of Henoko to be stopped.

The issue is also likely to overshadow the upcoming visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to the United States later this month.

Base an election issue
Governor Onaga got elected after challenging his predecessor, Hirokazu Nakaima, over the base. Nakaima gave the green light to the long-conceived base construction project, but now Onaga has promised to reverse that decision. In March, Onaga demanded that the underwater survey needed to build an offshore airstrip for the new base be stopped, citing environmental damage.

A week later, Tokyo responded by having its fisheries minister suspend the governor’s order to halt the work. Onaga had a tense meeting with Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga on Sunday, which resulted in some angry exchanges and the central government official warning that “giving up Henoko relocation could lead to Futenma Air Station becoming a permanent fixture,” Okinawan newspaper Ryukyu Shimpo reported.

Tokyo insists that building the base is the only option on the table and has promised to work on easing the burden of hosting an American military facility on the islanders. The governor didn’t appear to be convinced.

“The US military forcibly took over Okinawan land to build bases, which continues to bring huge suffering to the people today,” Onaga said in a reference to the post World War II occupation of the island by the US troops.

“The fact the Japanese government is making such an unreasonable demand clearly shows how low Japanese politics has sunk,” Onaga said.

Some 76 percent of Okinawans currently oppose the construction of the base, according to the latest opinion poll by the Okinawa Times, one of the prefecture’s two largest newspapers. The poll also showed an 83 percent approval rating for Governor Onaga.

Why Okinawans oppose the base
The islanders have a laundry list of grievances linked to the US troops’ presence on Okinawa. The Futenma base is a constant source of noise and pollution and is seen as a major hazard due to the heavy air traffic over urban areas.

There is a long history of incidents and alleged crimes committed by American soldiers on the island. The current wave of anti-base sentiment on Okinawa was sparked by a 1995 case, when three US marines kidnapped and brutally raped a 12-year-old elementary schoolgirl. There were less-publicized sex crime cases involving underage victims reported in 2001 and 2005, the fatal running over of a female high school student by a drunken US marine in 1998, and other crimes.

The problem has been aggravated by the difficulties faced by victims seeking justice, with Japanese authorities often perceived as being unhelpful. It took Catherine Jane Fisher, an Australian teacher and longtime Japanese resident, a decade to track down and bring to court a US sailor she accused of raping her.

The Japanese prosecutors for undisclosed reasons refused to prosecute her alleged assailant over the 2002 rape. In 2004, a Japanese court, reviewing a civil lawsuit, ruled that she was indeed a victim of the crime and awarded some $30,000 in damages.

By that time the accused was honorably discharged and US military officials refused to disclose his whereabouts, citing privacy reasons, according to Fisher. She had to track him down herself and file a separate lawsuit in the US to claim the damages.

“In my own case I was treated like a criminal,” Fisher told RT. “I had to look for the rapist by myself. When I finally did find him 10 years later, the Japanese government – I had a meeting with them and said ‘Will you please send court documents to the United States?’ and they said they couldn’t afford it. They couldn’t even afford a postage stamp.”

Fisher was awarded damages in 2012 by Wisconsin Circuit Court but settled for $1, Associated Press reported. She became an activist and defender of rape victims’ rights in Japan.

“After doing my own research I realized that for that past 70 years the United States servicemen have been raping, murdering and committing crimes against Okinawans and nobody was speaking up about it,” she said.

The conflict between Governor Onaga and the Tokyo government is expected to go to court if Onaga follows up on his threat and revokes the land development permit that his predecessor issued for the Henoko base.