New Okinawa minister says Japan-U.S. SOFA should be 're-examined'

Of course the SOFA needs revision. It's totally out of date.

I can see it now...

US forces along with their Ospreys pull out of Okinawa and the people of Okinawa rejoice.

Then, the hawkish Japanese government swoops in and occupies the bases along with, guess what, the Ospreys Japan ordered from the US.

he would "read aloud" texts prepared by government officials so as not to make mistakes.

noting that he is a "layman" on the issue.

The perfect choice for shoring up public support for Abe's cabinet.

cancelling the osprey orders would be the first step. next would be giving jobs to japanese companies to build our own solutions for self defence. jobs for japan, japan first!

I think its time for america to stop intervening in Japans domestic affairs

Was it a lucky hit or a gaff characteristic of Japanese politicians? But he was simply reading a text prepared by his subordinate bureaucrat in the ministry. So it was neither a lucky hit nor a gaff.

Calling on the central government to revise the SOFA, and hence the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, has been a long-term demand by successive Okinawa governors, either progressive or conservative. But Tokyo has been very reluctant to convey that voice to the U.S. side, fearing it might infuriate Washington and so undermine the security treaty.

Esaki's "lucky hit" or "gaff" might be feelers by Tokyo to see how Washington would react.

The 73-year-old Esaki has just drawn fire from opposition parties for having said Saturday, just two days after he was appointed, that he would "read aloud" texts prepared by government officials so as not to make mistakes.

He may as well just say, "I don't know what I'm talking about so please ignore me."

And a particularly bad hair-dye job as well. Quality outfit, this Abe govt.

Esaki is right but Onaga should have been the person given the job to clean Okinawa from the Ospreys and the massive Amerikano colonizers military bases.

Making Tetsuma the Governor General of the Ryukyus under Amerikano occupation effectively makes Okinawa the Crimea of Asia.

The Osprey is used as a scapegoat in a thinly veiled attempt to get rid of U.S. military forces out of Okinawa and Japan and eventually South Korea. The anti-US protesters advocating this are backed by North Korea and China. Their ultimate goal is to remove all U.S. forces in the that area and their absence would make a forced unification of South Korea with North Korea under North Korea rule easier.

Probably Abe wart to. get rid of this old treaty that Kish pushed with help of his ancestor politician Shintaro Abe. Yamaguchi Prefecture people like to stop nepotism.

toshiko: "Yamaguchi Prefecture people like to stop nepotism."

hahahaha.... you're kidding, right?