Okinawans, former N Korea abductees urge Biden to take initiative

Interesting that the writer can link bullied NK and bullied Okinawa in the same article.

Biden hasnt even been in office one day and these folks are already pressing their issues.

At least we wont have to worry about Denny getting on a soapbox and talking about flying to the US to meet with Biden!

Assistant Secretary of State under the Obama administration a decade ago, Kurt Campbell worked hard to implement the bilateral agreement to relocate USMC Air Station Futenma to Henoko, Nago City, Okinawa. So might have Biden, Vice President.

Sit-ins against it have been going on since Campbell was an incumbent ten years ago and Biden had chaired the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations prior to becoming Vice President under Obama. Will they be able to solve the problem this time around without resorting to undemocratic measures?

Suga and his cohorts are enthusiastic about relocating Futenma to Henoko, saying Henoko is the only solution for the relocation issue. Note that Washington once said a target site for the relocation could be anywhere in Japan. A showy tactic to realize their intended plan? So the then Hatoyama government tried to locate an appropriate site, examining all over Japan.

Their conclusion: Tokunoshima in Kagoshima Prefecture. Tokunoshima islanders rejected the plan in no time, protesting against it vehemently. One-time Defense Minister Yuriko Koike came to the island and took part in a rally, shouting "No to Tokunoshima relocation".

This clearly showed that not only the general public on the mainland but also big-shot politicians in Tokyo were at heart opposed to Futenma's relocation anywhere on mainland Japan. Mind you, this was not simply a NIMBY mentality.

That Suga keeps saying "Henoko, Okinawa is the only solution" must be interpreted in this vein. He'll thus forge ahead with the atrocious landfill work in Henoko which his predecessor Abe initiated, not only to placate conservative mainlanders but also to please and satisfy Washington.

So, the ANTI-US nut jobs in Okinawa, who are mostly just bored people whose lives revolved around their bases (or at least the handouts they get for them), are asking the US to resolve the issue their central government cooperates with the US on? Yeah... they would have had a better chance if they sent Trump love letters. At least, that's what Kim did, and through Trump and Japan's support of him, set the stage so far back for relations with NK that the abductee issue will never, ever be resolved until long after all kin die of old age... if ever.

Okinawa should just accept the handouts as they have been, and deal with the consequences of it. Or, reject the handouts, and take a stand. We know they won't do the former, and even have said they will ask for MORE support from the central government to build a Disney Land or something, as well as asking the US to defend them from Guam.

People in Okinawa are tired of US military bases for a reason Smith, they are not anti-US Not Jobs as you call it.

Crimes have been committed, murder, rape, theft, drunk accidents, bad behavior happening for decades that's why people on Okinawa are tired and done with US bases.

The smart move is to relocate, not everyone, not all US soldiers, but at least half should be moved away. Look at those bases in Okinawa, look at their location, is literally next to people's homes and businesses.

smithinjapan,

Okinawa should just accept the handouts as they have been, and deal with the consequences of it.

Could you elaborate what you mean by "handouts" here? Because you sound as if Okinawa was living on alms given by the central government. 

Aren't there federal subsidies to local states in the U.S. to make up for federal taxes that are due to local states by nature? Don’t be a ready tongue talking randomly.

The Abe government enacted a law to directly subsidize municipalities according to the extent of their hosting bases, either U.S. or SDF bases. Is this what you mean by "handouts"?

Nice to see that less and less people here care about what some posters write, it's really easy to just copy-paste "Suga" over "Abe".