Japan government out of touch with Okinawan concerns about U.S. bases

http://mdn.mainichi.jp/features/news/20091109p2a00m0na021000c.html

Gov’t out of touch with the real problems Okinawans over U.S. military presence

The charred Javanese bishopwood trees are a pitiful sight, a lasting reminder of the U.S. military helicopter crash on the campus of Okinawa International University on Aug. 13, 2004, just south of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

Noriyoshi Miyagi, 67, who runs a confectionary company near Futenma, was reminded of a similarly nightmarish incident that took place 45 years earlier when he saw black smoke billowing from the American helicopter, when in 1959, a U.S. jet fighter slammed into Miyamori Elementary School in Uruma City (then Ishikawa City), killing 17 people, including 11 of the school’s students. Miyagi witnessed the destruction first hand.

“If all our politicians saw something like that, they would immediately understand the danger of military bases,” he said.

The relocation of Futenma — which currently occupies one-fourth of Okinawa’s Ginowan City and is called “the world’s most dangerous military base,” due to its location by the city center — has remained at a standstill since the 1996 Japan-U.S. agreement of its reversion to Japan. But since the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) took over the reins of government in September, it has once again become a top-priority issue.

Like most Okinawa residents, Miyagi thinks that relocation out of Okinawa is the best solution, but more than anything, he is simply tired of living under such risky conditions. Asked what he thinks about relocation of Futenma to an offshore location at Camp Schwab in Nago City, he answered, “I guess it can’t be helped. I worry more that nothing will actually happen.”

Seisuke Tamanaha, 77, who owns land inside Futenma air station that he inherited from his parents, is similarly doubtful. “I had faith … but I really don’t want to talk about politics.” He’s a “military landowner,” whose land was forcibly turned over for use by the U.S. military, for which he receives rent from the Japanese government.

U.S. military troops landed on Okinawa Island in April 1945, and grueling ground fighting ensued between Japanese and U.S. troops. Tamanaha was just 12 years old at the time. Upon returning home from a relocation camp after the war ended, he found that the surrounding area had become an aircraft junkyard, which was eventually absorbed into the air station.

Of the 13 people in his family, only he, along with his mother and grandmother, survived. In protest, he never took one of the well-paid jobs on U.S. military bases, but has mixed feelings about having received rent for the family’s land. He remembers feeling a weight lift from his shoulders 13 years ago when a bilateral agreement was reached stating that Futenma would be returned to Japan.

Still, he has misgivings about the fact that other Okinawans will continue to bear the burden. Naturally, he had had high hopes for the DPJ, which called for the relocation of Futenma out of Okinawa and out of the country during its general election campaign. On Sept. 26, however, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa stated that relocating Futenma out of Okinawa would be “extremely difficult.” A change of course by the government not even a month after the general election has made Tamanaha increasingly distrustful.

At a study session by Ginowan City military landowners on Oct. 31, the venue was less than half filled. “Maybe people are too dumbfounded to attend,” suggested Tamanaha with a sigh. “They probably think nothing’s going to happen for a while anyway.”

Approximately 40 kilometers northeast of Ginowan City, an emerald green ocean glimmers off the coast of Henoko, Nago City. In a tent set up next to the fishing port, a sit-in by residents protesting Futenma’s relocation has been going on for more than five years. Meanwhile, 72-year-old Shigemori Shimabukuro, who sees parallels between the Futenma relocation and the establishment of Camp Schwab some 50 years ago, is hopeful that relocation of the air station to the area will help his son find good work. Another man, a construction worker in the area, said with a wry grin, “It would help if the base came here, but we no longer live in an age where the construction industry influences politics.”

On the heels of the statement by Defense Minister Kitazawa, on Oct. 23, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada announced his desire to revive the option of shifting Futenma to Kadena Air Base. “They’re repeating the same discussions that took place over a decade ago,” Shimbakuro muttered. “Considering the number of aircraft at Kadena, even a kid can tell that it’s impossible to incorporate Futenma into Kadena …”

In addition to the various views and interests of local residents, the relocation has given rise to discord within the new government. Ahead of President Barack Obama’s upcoming visit to Japan, on Nov. 5, Foreign Minister Okada notified U.S. officials that the Japanese government was postponing its decision on Futenma.

“I will make the final decision (about the Futenma relocation),” Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama declared last month, to which Tamanaha remarks: “It’s always people who don’t know Okinawa who are making the decisions.” (By Toru Watanabe, Tokyo Regional News Department)

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