Gavan McCormack and Norimatsu Satoko have produced a very readable and sobering view of the current state of the Japan-U.S. plan to move the forces at the U.S. Marines Corps Airbase Futenma to a new base to be constructed in the town of Henoko.
"Discordant Visitors: Japanese and Okinawan Messages to the US"
As for myself, place me among the reluctant "unrealists" described in the report, if only for my belief that everyone has a price at which he/she can be bought.
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14 comments:
OK move bases out of Japan? Not smart unless we allow Japan to develop its own defenses or face the reality of being defenseless?
The bases are a must to keep things in check!
We should thank them not frown at them!
Dubai built an island, I mean if you are that rigid to be against bases then make the money and build a stinkin island, there problem solved...money talks people!
It is unfortunate that most articles about Okinawa written in English take far left newspapers like the Okinawa Times and Ryukyu Shimpo as accurate voices of the Okinawan people. The media as well as politics in Okinawa has gone way off the deep end during the past 5 years and no longer really reflects the will of the people. There is no reliable polling that shows how Okinawans feel about the bases, and reporters take the words of bureaucrats and politicians who have an anti-base agenda as reflecting the majority's views. Don't forget, Gov. Nakaima was originally elected on a pro-base platform. There are plenty of pro-base people in Okinawa, they just have no voice. Unfortunately nobody seems interested in giving them a voice either.
Anonymous #2 -
I agree that the emphasis on the Okinawa Times and Ryukyu Shimpo as sources leads probably leads to a tilted view of Okinawan opinion.
I recommended the piece as much for the logical dissection it gave of one of the conundra of the Noda-Obama meetings -- Was the prime minister "pressed" (semerareta) by the president for results, as Deputy Assistant Secretary Campbell insisted he was? -- as for anything else.
Defense or no defense? pick one that's all!
If you don't want U.S to be your defense, then build your own dang defenses and stop grouchin.
Defending oneself is a God given right! Honestly could it be downright xenophobia, still the silly closed minded gaijin issues Japan?
You Japanese for real need to get past that nonsense that is really bringing you down! That proverbial wall you guys have in front of you! As a Japanese I am tired of it! Shima guni mindset is a dead end!
And yes we already know the bureaucrats are our worst nightmare, regrettably they mean no good!
I'm usually the only one that posts comment anonymously on this forum, but now I have competition. I should create a google account named Anonymous like the protest group since I usually protest your "unrealistic" positions anonymously.
I'd like to add my 2 cents mostly about the reaction of my fellow anonymous commenters. Since I only have the privilege of knowing "anti-base politicians from Okinawa," reporters from the Okinawan newspapers, and only a handful of Okinawans (who all oppose the Henoko plan), I can't say I know the true mood of the Okinawan people.
However, the reaction of the commenters is very typical of the DC crowd that believes the words out of certain "experts" like fundamentalists and the Holy Bible. While there are several people out there that say the benefits of a separate base for the Marines at Henoko don't even come close to the cost and that the idea itself is a relic of cold war thinking based on cold war era capabilities, these commenters still follow in step with the Gospel according to the "Japan hands" whose job it is to make Japan critical to our security for their own job security. Contributions from defense contractors will also keep pouring in their coffers if they promote programs like the F-35 and sales of those weapons to Japan, even if the Pentagon would rather spend their now dwindling dollars on unmanned aircraft instead of expensive, high-maintenance (F-22 requires 30 hours of maintenance for every hour of flight) aircraft. My Pentagon friends in weapons acquisition readily admit the F-35 program is a waste of money that politicians forced on them. Still, the Japan hands insist the Japanese should buy them, just as they insist that Henoko is fighting tomorrow's war instead of the cold war.
The sad part of this is that the sheep in this flock are also in the bureaucracies and cabinet in Japan. With a shrinking population and weaker budget situation, it's sad that they selfishly push this agenda. The downfall of Japan will come from the inside...
Also, to those that still believe that the only way to achieve peace is through an arms race and dominance in the balance of power by America (with, as Michael O'Hanlon put it, sufficient checks on the use of force...where has he been over the last decade???), you are also cold war dinosaurs that need to be de-brainwashed. I'm waiting for the meteor to come down and wipe out your species.
I wish your blog would stop censuring me...
Then why don't they do something about it, Wall Street protestors sure are! They actually worry about the future and are taking definite action instead of sitting there on the fence like Japanese tend to do. Stop being like a bunch of sheep and get her done otherwise life passes you by in a flash! Its win or lose brother!
Anonymous #6 -
The problems is Blogspot's anti-spam function. It thinks you are a spambot.
Well you all know the Japanese have created their own woes, headaches, and problems. Created their own Hades and that is crystal clear to see nowadays. It's more than having an issue with national defenses,the problems are far more serious than that alone! No kidding Japan is a big shame
And it really doesn't have to this way, and they created their own Godzilla :-( definitely feel shame.
And it shouldn't take so much to ask to realize national defense basically.
Bottom line things are so jacked up thanks to the bunch of no brains running the place, additionally the corruption that spreaded like a disease. Ozawa and the passe for example
Time for a revolution and that's exactly what's happening!. Win or lose period!
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