U.S. continues to fly Ospreys despite Japan's request for halt

Well thats a no brainer.

Lol someone didn't get the memo regarding being a colony.

When N Korea is threatening US forces in Japan, possibly with nuclear capability.., why this protest..?

The threat is both N Korea and China in the entire region. Japan is obviously NOT capable of handling such threat, so such protests do not make sense, except to please the local population.

The general population of Japan should realize that the threat from N Korea as a front (a distraction) for China is "real" and both N Korea and China are ready for war. Otherwise there could not be such a bold threat from N Korea.

The problem is also with this media not giving the kind of perspective needed.

Wake up and smell the coffee! Japan is still occupied by a foreign power.

I don't see how Japan has any say in the matter.

Surely the Japanese new the Americans would say no, so why ask in the first place?

Japan has ordered Ospreys for it's JGSDF who have been training with the USMC in their use. So where are the No Ospreys crowd going to be when the Ospreys are going to be camo painted with the rising sun?

Several reports from Australian and American Media says that the aircraft had improperly landed on the USS Green Bay and slipped off. It seems similar to this incident a year ago in San Diego http://www.military.com/daily-news/2016/12/13/series-of-errors-led-to-ospreys-risky-landing-on-ship.html.

It is likely due to human error and the seas vice mechanical error that this sad accident happened. I'm willing to bet that the GOJ only reacted this way to appease the OPG and to beat them to the punch without any real expectations from the USFJ. Because of it not likely being a mechanical problem there is no reason to ground a perfectly safe aircraft. It probably does more harm then good since it denies pilots much needed flight hours to build proficiency.

They won't complain when they have a Japanese military label on them. They'll brag, instead. And since this is just posturing, there is no need to listen. Most have piped down with the NK threat, anyway.

You guys are so wick to call the Japan govt silly and stupid for the request... Did any of you stop for a second to think maybe they knew they would be rejected, but in doing so they appeased their people and shifted any lingering hate of the osprey's towards America instead of themselves?

Wake up and smell the coffee! Japan is still occupied by a foreign power.

And became so after surrendering unconditionally, after starting a war which killed tens of millions. The consequences for such actions must be severe and long-lasting, or someone else my decide to start a similar war.

And, last I heard, Germany and Italy are still "occupied by a foreign power" as well.

And became so after surrendering unconditionally, after starting a war which killed tens of millions. The consequences for such actions must be severe and long-lasting, or someone else my decide to start a similar war. 

And, last I heard, Germany and Italy are still "occupied by a foreign power" as well.

Bingo!

The consequences for such actions must be severe and long-lasting

So like the Treaty of Versailles? What an absurd statement. It's been over 70 years. We're several generations removed now from those who had any responsibility for WW2. You might as well claim that France needs to be occupied for having Napoleon rampage through Europe.

Japan is not still not free. But somehow people have come to terms with it.

When Okinawa Deputy Governor Moritake Tomikawa asked that Osprey flights be stopped at least until the cause of the crash off the east coast of Australia is fully known, Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson, the coordinating general of Four Forces in Okinawa, blasted Ospreys are flying safely all over the world; So why stop their flights only here? A similar protest was filed when another Osprey crashed ( “ditched,” they say) off the coast of Abu village, Nago City. 

That time, too, the Marines resumed flight training very soon without explaining the cause of the crash.in detail.

Nicholson sounds like the hubristic high commissioner of a colony, which Japan definitely is, as many posters here also acknowledge, and which Okinawa, a sub-colony of the colony, represents most conspicuously.

I really would like to see Lt. Gen. Lawrence Nicholson go, he really thinks he is still the king of Okinawa, unfortunatly and thanks to the Abe Regime he is....

how about go fly them over North Korea?

Change Article 9 of the Constitution and send back the

american soldiers to his homeland, they are not here

in Japan to protect the Japanese people, Ah, and I was already forgetting, build your own nuclear weapon!

Put the US Militaries insensitivities and total disregard for the Okinawan people on full display.

This very high handed attitude of the Amerikano colonizer insisting on flying their flawed designed Ospreys exemplifies the sad fate of a Japan that can't say no.

Abe is still suffering from the Stockholm syndrome.

Seems someone is worried that Japan's blocking the Ospry flights might jeopardize some very lucrative contracts...

Time to end this occupation. Just tell them all to get the &%$# out! They are not needed, they're just a nuisance.

If you contract out your defense you can't quibble about the methods or equipment used.

If you want to decide how you should be defended, then defend yourselves.

Japan should then set up its own bases in the US and drive various vehicles - driven by sleep deprived overworked Japanese - through towns, crashing them into houses and farms. When asked to stop by the US, just say "nah, its safe so flub off."

Udondashi:

Amending article 9 isn't even a prereq for getting rid of American bases. The SDF is pretty large for the size of the country and could defend the homeland. That defense involves full strike against the country that attacked first to protect their own security.

Any Marine boarding one of these widowmakers should recall the inscription over the entrance to Hades: "ABANDON HOPE ALL YE WHO ENTER HERE". But what U.S. or Japanese politician is going to argue with Boeing? As an exMarine, we see that the USMC general staff is as corrupted as any of the rest of our government and any general who 'makes waves' may not get the next plum Whitehouse appointment such as John Kelly has hooked. It would be interesting to take a deep look at his REAL history as a Marine Officer.

Japan is a sovereign nation that does not suffer from foreign government intervention.

I think a colony needs to have settlements, not only bases.

This shows a complete disrespect towards the Japanese Nation by the US government. FYI the Ospreys will not do much to defend Japan against the DPRK missiles!

YuriOtaniToday 02:01 pm JSTThis shows a complete disrespect towards the Japanese Nation by the US government. FYI the Ospreys will not do much to defend Japan against the DPRK missiles!

Transport aircraft have nothing to do with countering incoming missiles. The Ospreys are crucial for Japan's ability to put ground troops in remote island very quickly. Which is why the JGSDF has been training with USMC in their use in advance of their ordered V-22 Ospreys arriving.

All you anti-U.S. posters wants the U.S. out of "occupied" Japan and Okinawa, until North Korea and China threatens Japan and Okinawa directly.  Then you'll be crying for U.S. help.

Mr. OssanAmerica is quite correct in that Ospreys are crucial for ground troop and logistics supply deployment.

And also useful for humanitarian aid as this video clip shows:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKcxIJuhPgQ

I'm sure when the next Japan earthquake or flood occurs, Ospreys will be there quickly to dispense humanitarian aid......if they aren't ordered out of the country.

Halwick,

All you anti-U.S. posters wants the U.S. out of "occupied" Japan and Okinawa, until North Korea and China threatens Japan and Okinawa directly. Then you'll be crying for U.S. help.

So all you want to say is Okinawa had better be occupied by the U.S. rather than North Korea and China? The occupation of Okinawa by U.S. forces is an ongoing hard reality whereas that by North Korea and China is only your conjecture and fancy. 

We reject occupation of any kind, real or hypothetical. That's all there is to it.

  So all you want to say is Okinawa had better be occupied by the U.S. rather than North Korea and China?

Well, Mr. "voiceofokinawa", the reality is that today's China is NOT the same China that traded with Okinawa centuries ago. Apparently many Okinawans can't accept or want to believe that reality. The modern-day China military expansionism in the Pacific is very much like Japan's during the 1930s, except China is doing it economically and backing it up with military force.

Why is the "peaceful" and "benign" China building military bases in the South China Sea? The Philippines believes those bases to be a threat and regrets it oustered the U.S. military and now wants the U.S. back. Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunai are also uneasy about the Chinese military presence for good reason.

Have you noticed those military bases are not far from the Ryukyu Islands? Didn't China challenge Japan's sovereignty over the Ryukyu Islands back in 2013, claiming (historically) Okinawa belongs to China? China, like the many "voicesofokinawa" wants the U.S. military out of Okinawa and Japan out of Okinawa and is willing to "help" Okinawan become independent. With the U.S. and eventually Japan out of Okinawa, China can easily annex and occupy Okinawa militarily, then it can invade and claim Taiwan, it's true objective.

Farfetched and improbable? As an independent country, Okinawa was powerless against the 1879 Japan annexation. A future sovereign Okinawa would be equally powerless against China annexation or occupation as there wouldn't be any U.S. and Japan military presence to protect Okinawa. But then again, you don't view China as an adversary or enemy and wouldn't consider Chinese presence on Okinawa as an "occupation".

 (You're welcome to dismiss this as further conjecture and fantasy.....and I hope my pessimistic "conjectures" are wrong.  And for what's it's worth, I have relatives living in Okinawa. But I remembered a few years on this forum, the any suggestion that North Korea would detonate nuclear weapons and launch ICBM missiles was equally dismissed as fantasy. Now all of a sudden, Japan is very, very worried and many participants here want U.S. nuclear umbrella to protect Japan.)

Halwick,

To sum up, all you want to say is Okinawa is better off under U.S. occupation, an ongoing reality, than under Chinese occupation, an if.

For 27 years after the war Okinawa people struggled to return to Japan, thinking it would exonerate them from the oppressive regime of U.S. trusteeship, aka occupation. We won it in 1972. But the occupation continued in a beguiled form even after the reversion. There had been no realization on the part of Okinawa that Japan was a vassal of the U.S., controlled by Washington like a puppet. In other words, Japan itself was under beguiled occupation. Through this system, the U.S. can maintain bases without any hitch, even demanding a new base be built for a dilapidated one.

So Okinawa's ongoing struggles are not only for itself but for Japan as a whole to recover its genuine sovereignty and independence.