atrueokinawan comments

Nobody's Fool: Your post is spot on. This is all about allowing the JSDF to follow a certain country in its misadventures around the world. I wonder what the reaction of the Japanese people will be when those body bags containing young men and women start coming home and when sons and daughters return home with an arm or a leg blown off. What are they going to do with those veterans suffering from PTSD? The Japanese people need to be very careful about allowing this current government to lead them down a path that will only end in pain and suffering.

Peacetrain: The Okinawan people were abused by the Japanese long before the Koreans and the abuse continues today. I think that most Okinawan people know that the bureaucrats in Tokyo and their politician lackeys are their enemy but they also know that Washington is not without guilt. Hopefully some international attention will show people the reality of the situation on Okinawa and the actual sizes of these massive bases and generate a discussion on what the U.S. Military actually needs on Okinawa versus what they have here because the Japanese Govt. is so generous with the taxpayer's money.

They should relocate MCAS Futenma to Tokyo Bay. It should be completed by the Tokyo Olympics and they could have AKB48 parachute out of the Ospreys during the opening ceremony.

I would like to see a discussion of the reality of the U.S. bases situation on Okinawa in 2014 and what is really needed to be on Okinawa for the U.S. to be able to fulfill its commitment to defend Japan.

toshiko: Michael Moore is an American filmmaker, author, social critic, and political activist.He is the director and producer of Fahrenheit 9/11, which is the highest-grossing documentary of all time and winner of the Palme d'Or. His films Bowling for Columbine (2002) and Sicko (2007) also placed in the top ten highest-grossing documentaries, and the former won the Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Nathaw: Before the brutal rape of that 12 year old child by three U.S. marines not one person from the U.S. or Japanese Govt. called MCAS Futenma a dangerous base. Their safety concerns only came out after they realized that a majority of the Okinawan people were against the relocation to Henoko. In order to try to get them to accept the relocation plan they started saying that MCAS Futenma was a dangerous base and needed to be relocated to Henoko immediately.

Oliver Stone was on Okinawa in the fall of last year and visited the proposed site in Henoko so he is familiar with the situation. The Okinawan people need this kind of help to fight the bureaucrats in Tokyo and their flunkies in the LDP. Maybe Michael Moore can make a documentary on the bases and show the 5 private beaches, a marina, 2- eighteen hole golf courses, 2- nine hole golf courses, all the tennis courts and other leisure facilities that make up a lot the land used by the Military on Okinawa.

Using money to buy support for the bases is a specialty of the Japanese Government. Before reversion, some of the most vocal anti-base people were the Okinawan on-base workers themselves. Then when the J. Govt. made them National Civil Servants and started paying them more than their jobs are worth their opposition all but disappeared. Same with the base landowners, they are paid a lot more than what their land is worth to buy their support. The only way the Japanese Government can get any type of support from the Okinawan people for the bases is to bribe them.

Thank you goyabento, finally someone who understands the situation. It seems that a lot of the posters have never been to Okinawa and have definitely never been inside the bases. If you have been inside the U.S. bases you would know that if MCAS Futenma was closed tomorrow without any replacement the U.S. Military still has enough firepower on Okinawa to take care of any threat. If you add in the JSDF Air Base in Naha and their various missile sites located on Okinawa there is no reason to worry about Okinawa at all.

I would like to know why the Okinawan people should have to bear the burden of hosting bases that provide for the defense of countries like the Philippines and other countries that refuse to host U.S. bases themselves.

The problem is that the Okinawan people have no friends in high places. The bureaucrats in Tokyo and the politicians especially the LDP despise the Okinawan people. Okinawa is kept as the poorest prefecture in Japan on purpose so it will be dependent on the U.S. bases and public work projects controlled by Tokyo.

lincolnman: Thank you for the information and I agree with your comments about the reduction of the U.S. Military footprint. And I also agree with you that it is unfortunate that no other areas were suitable for the re-location.

lincolman: Thank you for the link, it was very informative. I was only listing facilities that I have actually been to and considered to be candidates for re-location inside Okinawa. i didn't see any mention of the family housing or the school so I assume the U.S. has waived to right to have them re-located or maybe they are part of new facilities planned for Guam. I am puzzled by the omission of the AAFES facilities since that bakery serves all of Okinawa, I would assume they would want it replaced and knowing AAFES I can't believe they would spend their own money to re-locate it when they could have the J-Govt. do it for them. Do you have any info on that? Also I agree with you that some progress is better than no progress but it is still going to be painful to watch that beautiful ocean spot be destroyed.

Camp Kinser will not be moved lock, stock and barrel to Guam but the entire base will be returned. There are quite a few facilities that will need to be re-located inside Okinawa. I believe Heavy Equipment and Vehicle Maintenance Facilities will be moved to Camp Courtney or Camp Hansen. There are some warehouses that are operated by other branches of service that will have to be re-located. There are a lot of Military Family Housing Towers and other housing units that are operated by the Air Force. I assume that they will also need to be re-located somewhere in Okinawa because personnel other than Marines are living there. Kinser Elementary school is also there but since the military has 5 more Elementary Schools on Okinawa they might give a pass but under the one for one replacement agreement they have a right to have one built. AAFES has a bakery there that supplies bakery goods to all the bases, that will have to be re-located. AAFES also has their trucking headquarters there. The military mortuary is also there and that will need to be re-located. And the list goes on and on.

smithinjapan; Don't know why it is so hard for you to believe that the majority of Okinawan people want Futenma to be re-located out of Okinawa. They are not saying they want all of the U.S. bases removed. Have you ever been to Okinawa and seen these massive bases with your own eyes? Do you honestly believe that if Futenma was re-located out of Okinawa it would make Okinawa vulnerable to attack by China? Have you ever heard of Kadena Air Base, Camp Hansen,Camp Schwab, White Beach and other U.S. bases on Okinawa? There is also JSDF Naha Air Base and various missile sites. Even without Futenma being re-located to Henoko, there is enough firepower on Okinawa to handle anything from China and North Korea. Man you are really paranoid about China, I hope you are not buying any Made In China junk and supporting their war machine.

Don't know where some people are getting the idea that only a few people in Okinawa are against the re-location of Futenma to Henoko. I can only assume that you don't live in Okinawa. A majority of the people of Okinawa do not want the new base. Even the Okinawan chapter of the LDP reluctantly accepted the Henoko plan after severe arm twisting by Tokyo. The Okinawa chapter of Komeito held their ground and submitted a document to the Governor urging him not to sign the landfill agreement. All of the Local Assemblies in Okinawa have passed resolutions saying the base should be re-located out of Okinawa. Even if you support the re-location plan, you have to admit that it is being forced on a majority of the Okinawan people.

While the people of Ginowan may be happy that the base will be moved, I don't think you will find the majority of the people of Ginowan overjoyed that it is being moved to Henoko. The majority of the people of Okinawa want the base re-located out of Okinawa. Even the Okinawa branch of Komeito broke with the LDP and submitted a document to Gov. Nakaima asking him not to sign the landfill agreement.

Better to have Condos, Shopping Malls, a new Ginowan City Office building and another drinking district that can be used by all the people than a PX, Commissary, Military Club, or any other Military Facility that the overwhelming majority of Okinawan people cannot have access to.