hidingout comments

Such a pity he doesn't have the courage.

Hilarious. Were you sleeping under a rock when this happened?

http://www.theguardian.com/world/video/2014/jul/08/shinzo-abe-world-war-canberra-video

Mr Abe doesn't waste his time with insincere hate peddlers like the government of PRC, or third rate politicians without appointments like Onaga. Its only natural.

was there something external going on that forced him to take that action like blackmail or threat to kill a family member of his by Jihadists?

Can't say I blame people for jumping to the jihadist conclusion - its so often the right conclusion. But there are other boogeymen in the world besides fanatical muslims. Hearken back if you will to the case of Anders Breivik and the "motivations" for his killing spree.

I am not sure what kind of controls an airliner can take for a crazy pilot crashing the plane. Even if you make them take psyc tests, these people can see normal until one day they go over the edge.

There is nothing that can be done. Witness this comment from the CEO of Lufthansa, “no matter your safety regulations, no matter how high you set the bar, and we have incredibly high standards, there is no way to rule out such an event,” Carsten Spohr (CEO Lufthansa, parent company Germanwings) said.

Its getting to the point where I'm seriously considering giving up travel. Thirty years ago when I first left my home country I could literally go anywhere. I wish I had known then that the world was going to go to hell and a dozen places I wanted to see were going to turn into no-go zones for folks wishing to keep their heads attached to their bodies. Nothing I can do about global politics, so reluctantly I narrow my parameters and try to stay more on the beaten path when I travel. But now its to the point that we have airliners vanishing entirely, getting blown out of the sky by rebels with access to missiles, crashing for no apparent reason, and being intentionally flown into the ground. I mean if you can't even get to the destination alive what's the use in taking precautions about where you go?

I'm completely fed up with the airline industry. Obviously as someone who has a country of origin other than Japan, I don't have the luxury of just deciding never to fly again. But I'll tell you, I'm getting close to that point. Makes me sick to think of all the people who died on MH17, MH370, TNA222 and now 4U9525. RIP.

Surprise, surprise, it is an anti-baser.

Exactly. Time and again the anti-base folks seem to think they can dictate defense policy to the nation. Now they have resorted to (threats of) violence. Dangerous lot that.

Okinawans don't like Americans and Japanese. We are getting weary about them

People who live in Okinawa - no matter how long their forefathers may have lived there - are now citizens of Japan. The word Okinawan exists only in so far as the word Tottorian or Aomorian exists. They are all Japanese. I think a lot of people in Japan are "getting weary about" the NIMBY attitude and the constant moaning from Okinawa prefecture.

Read history of Ryukyu why Okinawan people dislike mainland Japanese

We all know the history thanks. Okinawa is not special when it comes to having its native population absorbed by a bigger and more powerful group. Everyone who has ever taken one history lesson knows this. There are countless examples from all over the globe. Nothing about Okinawa makes it a special case - other than their inability to recognize reality even now.

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I'm aware that, in certain circles, the inability to pronounce katakana words in a fashion close to English is seem as a sign of low education and that some people take great pride in their ability to pronounce katakana words in a 'quasi-English' way. But that's just a matter for of social status and pride - I think that's why you feel insulted even though no-one is insulting you.

See and I find the use of the word "haafu" completely unobjectionable except for the fact that the Japanese had to go and select an English word to get their point across. And worse, they selected one that doesn't render easily to katakana so native speakers of English unfamiliar with Japan wouldn't even understand what the word was if they heard it.

Solid comments as usual JaneM.

I guess you do not realize that you are perpetuating a stereotype when you talk about your own children in this manner. You do not even realize that you are helping to make them think they are different that any other Japanese person and in a negative manner not a positive one.

Wow. How rude. You think the word constitutes a negative stereotype. That would be a problem in your head alone. Strangerland already offered you a very clear explanation for the term, and provided examples from Western culture where the term (half French, half Dutch etc) is used commonly and with no negative connotation whatsoever. Any attempt by you to attribute a sweepingly negative connotation to the word would be contrary to fact.

And newsflash ... kids of mixed heritage are different than Japanese, contrary to your suggestion above. What kind of parent wouldn't recognize that difference? It just doesn't make sense. Almost as baffling as the people who object to the word gaijin or even foreigner. So many folks just looking to take offense.

Personally I think people who get bent out of shape about this are actually reacting to the terrible pronunciation of the English word half. Now that is a complaint I could get behind.

But I liked Hatoyama. I didn't like how he got forced out over the Okinawa base issue.

Why am I not surprised.

Hatoyama overstepped his authority. Japan is not a kingdom where one man gets to rip up agreements that have been painstakingly drafted, signed and ratified by two friendly nations in good faith over a period of what must be close to ten years. It was laughable that he thought he could get away with it. I posted here that he was writing his own obituary every time he opened his mouth wrt Okinawa and Futenma.

His "economic platform" ( and we can only use those words with a rueful chuckle) read like he was Rip Van Winkle or something and hadn't been alive to see that the debate was over and capitalism won.

I can't even take this man seriously when he's right (like I think he is in this case) because I know its just his commie roots causing him to back mother Russia no matter what.

Japan is currently ruled by history deniers who look fondly back at 1930's military Japan.

That is not true, but even if it were it would do no more than put them (Japan's leaders) on equal footing with the communists leading the PRC who continue to pay loud and grandiose lipservice to failed doctrines, enslave their people, corrupt the environment, threaten their neighbors openly, and worship at the mausoleum of fat dead guys who killed whacks and whacks more people than the IJA on their worst days.

Interesting how different the reaction on this site was when Hatoyama went grovelling to the PRC and made some speeches about how blah blah blah. Back then he was a hero to all the lefties and socialists on this site.

Been saying it for years, this goof is the worst excuse for a politician that has sat in the PMs chair over most of our lifetimes.

The Chinese, the Koreans, and the Americans, too, are waiting to see if Abe Shinzo is statesman enough to rise above revisionism and denial.

You are speaking for a lot of people there, aren't you. I guess you are probably qualified to do so ...

As for me, I'm waiting to see the communists stop their saber rattling and their incursions into the territory of their neighbors. And I'm waiting (in vain I know) to see the ROK honor its signatures on documents signed in 1965 that should have concluded this matter once and for all.

But given that I can walk any street in this country at any hour and never fear that the police will over-react to my race and shoot me, I feel pretty good about Japan. There are the occasional crazy people here who don't understand how to deal with foreigners or don't understand boundaries, but in general I'd give Japan an A- in terms of how people have behaved toward me.

This is how I feel as well. I've had a handful of unpleasant experiences over several decades in Japan, but I think most of those were down to people drunk on alcohol or having mental problems.

I did have one funny thing happen a few weeks ago in Hawaii. I was waiting for a family member near the front lobby of a posh hotel. A gaggle of Japanese obasans was standing nearby. One of them looked over at me, shivered and said to her friend "hey we really have to be careful about pickpockets over here". I laughed and said to her "pickpockets only target the rich, you are sure to be safe so long as you keep up the shabby appearance". Her eyes almost popped out of her head.

In the U.S., for instance, children are regularly taught in schools that diversity has been the source of much of the nation's strength over the years. Despite plenty of ethnic/racial tensions, stories of the rags to riches immigrant who works hard and achieves success are widely celebrated in America. Japan is the polar opposite. Here, homogeneity (lack of diversity) is proudly touted as one of the nation's strengths in ensuring cohesiveness, low crime rates, and a host of other pluses. When I first came to Japan this attitude surprised me since I had always assumed (been taught) that diversity is a positive and homogeneity is a negative.

You seem to assume, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, that "your" way is right and the "Japanese" way is wrong. Go ahead and try to prove the bolded statement wrong.

Still can't believe this. How does a nutjob of that variety get to share breakfast with the US Ambassador? At the very least this shows that security and screening is lax. Wonder how many nasty violent hardcore nationalists like this there are in ROK. How embarrassing for them to have the whole world get a peep behind the screen.

“That Chinese tourists swamp Japanese stores at a time when the country is facing a sluggish domestic demand is certainly not something to be proud of,” it said.

I'm going to take a different tack than my usual anti-PRC one and post some compliments to the communist government. I really like the fact that they are being consistent. The one thing I hate more than all (even commies and socialists) is people who pick a stance and can't stick to it when it becomes personally inconvenient for them.

The quote above, made by the state mouthpiece, is at least consistent with the communists anti-Japan stance. When I see mainland Chinese all over the streets in Japan (and I see them almost every day now) buying up cheap crap in drug stores and 100 yen shops I always wonder to myself wtf are these people doing here? Do they have no shame? There are certain countries in the world that I despise. I would never under any circumstances travel to those countries and spend my hard earned money supporting their economies. And certainly not for the sake of a toilet seat.

So I applaud the commie newspaper for sticking to the party line and for following a logic (hate Japan? Don't travel there or buy their stuff) that makes "sense". I hope the people of PRC heed the words of the party and stop coming to Japan to buy toilets, toilet paper, shampoo and soap.

Time for Japan to stop just thinking 'again' and look into their own history to see why so many people are still hurting from their war antics. Ignore it at Japan and look worse and worse in the eyes of the world.

Laughable. You know who looks "worse and worse" in the eyes of the world? ROK.

Plenty of other countries suffered a lot more than ROK in WW2. I have yet to see any other country in the world still whining and harping along about how they were done dirty .. and more money please. Every other country in the world has moved along with life - I don't count PRC cause nobody expects any decent behavior from them.

If ROK wants to stop embarrassing itself in the international community they should just shut up about WW2 and Japan once and for all. What a pack of tools.

Yes with the Japanese staff greeting customers with "Aloha". Which has been pointed out by other posters complaining about foreign run washoku restaurants makes the cuisine "fake".

Amazing the number of posters who cannot see the real issue here.

No one cares if there is an "Aloha" restaurant in Osaka run badly by the Japanese. No one cares if there is an "irrashaimase" restaurant in Seoul, run badly by the Koreans. This is normal.

This article is strictly talking about restaurants outside ones own home nation - created and run by third party nationals or third party immigrants.

Would you think it was dumb if there was an "Aloha authentic Hawaiian" restaurant in Kona selling bad knock off food made by Japanese staff pretending to be Hawaiian?

That's the situation you have with the thousands of korean run "Japanese" restaurants in North America. Truly pitiful.

Even with a modest minority of "sensible" foreigners (basically the same as most of the long term ones here now) will have a positive impact on the country, socially and probably economically also.

Not so. I am of the opinion that an immigrant who is not prepared to accept the way things are done in his/her adopted country shouldn't be allowed in the door. You want to do things "your" way? Great. Stay home then and do as you like.

I guess when you say "sensible" you mean people like the population of posters here at JT? Mostly educated and mostly working. I would say that the comment pages of this site - wherein gaijin visitors to Japan (not even real immigrants) can be seen bellyaching about almost every aspect of Japanese society, mocking the culture, and longing for the day that Japan can "grow up" and become just like their home country where everything is "perfect" - should be used as Exhibit A for tightening up immigration even more.

If even the most "educated" and "tolerant" samples from the immigration pool behave like the posters here at JT regarding their adopted home, Japan is better off without them.

Let's get this focused. Le Pen in talking about Japan is talking against us foreign residents, whoever we are. Le Pen is our enemy.

Yeah, the guy talking facts is the enemy. And the posters bashing Japan day in and day out on this site are the sample population of "good" immigrants. What kind of upside down world are you from?

Yeah because homogenous (sic) Japan never had a terrorist attack cough Aum Shinrikyo cough.

Are you comparing Aum to islamists? Cause that would be one of the more feeble comparisons I've ever seen drawn. On every level imaginable.

The point is not "to avoid terrorist attack". The point is to maintain your culture and your way of life. Multiculturalism is a proven failure on a macro level. The most multicultural country on the planet - indeed a country built on a foundation of multiculturalism - is still facing the most horrific social problems rooted in ethnicity, color, religion etc. Its so bad there now that there are large sections of the population who believe that the police kill certain groups for fun, with impunity. In return they think that killing a cop is nothing - a kind of service to his community more than anything. These problems only seem to be compounding themselves as certain groups end up under educated, over represented in the prison population, kids in care, on welfare with dozens of their relatives on the way to join them at the end of the rainbow.

The liberal/pc crowd will say that kind of talk shows a terrible tendency to stereotype. And yeah, obviously it does. When socioeconomic data leads researchers to certain conclusions that's stereotyping. Its also the truth. There are good people of every race and religion - that should go without stating. But taking a macro viewpoint massive immigration (as it has taken place in Europe where some cities are now 1/4 muslim) will destroy a culture from within.

So in America, where they founded themselves on a policy of immigration, they still have different races killing one another with guns two hundred years down the line, and in Europe where they let in a whole bunch of immigrants willy nilly to "fix" their work forces, they have different races killing one another with guns.

Perhaps in the long run (like 1000 years) humans can get past their pointless posturings - I doubt it, but I guess its possible. In the meantime, Japan would be very well served by maintaining the sort of immigration policy that rewards only the best applicants the opportunity and curtails any immigration from nations openly hostile to Japan. Certainly Le Pen's observations on this subject are right on point.

Can't believe the number of posters with the simple-minded logic that goes "because Japanese-run restaurants routinely ruin the dishes of various other countries - in Japan, for the Japanese consumer, its totally OK for nationals of two certain Japan hating countries to immigrate to third countries and support themselves but passing off third rate slop as Japanese food."

This might be a point that actually warranted comparison if the world was as full of bad Japanese-run pizza shops as it is of revolting "Japanese cuisine" served up by Koreans.

I'll say one thing for the ROK; they produce some of the most hardcore, loopiest activists on the planet.

Dropping copies of this movie (in any format) is an idea so dumb that it beggars description. I can't even think of one good thing that could possibly come from the idea.

hidingout's talk about NIMBY, greed and selfishness are ridiculous and completely off the track.

Yeah, because you say so.

I think what's "completely off track" is a single prefecture attempting to hijack Tokyo's defense policy. And even more off track than that is that there are people who propagate these views in public with a straight face and not a hint of shame.

I urge you to move along sir. Okinawa prefecture is forever going to be a military installation of some sort, its geographic location guarantees that. You are winding yourself up into a fever over a cause that has already been lost.

I'm sure you've got several excellent sources for that claim. Otherwise, it's ludicrous.

How about just reading this site and seeing the non-stop contempt in which the Japanese legal system, the Japanese cops and the Japanese courts are held by so many of the Americans and Canadians etc posting here?

But let me guess, that's different, right?

Actually your assumption is factually inaccurate. Many of the landowners actually DID have their lands taken away from them without any warning nor due compensation either. It fell under the spoils of war during the American military's administration of the islands after WWII until 1972.

I don't think its "factually inaccurate" if it (being fairly compensated) applies to the majority of modern era cases, as you concede below. If you wish to go back to post-war times then I think you have to recognize that spoils of war is a legitimate doctrine. So that's not "stolen" either. You think there'd be any Japanese military bases in the US if the war had gone the other way? Sounds like you are complaining about history here; see references to ROK and PRC in my post above.

Do a little research and you will realize that while eminent domain exists here, it is a last resort measure of the government and rarely used.

No need to research as I'm not that interested in Japanese law. My only point in mentioning eminent domain was to explain to bamboo that citizens in many free nations are familiar with the idea that sometimes land needs to be used for the common good. In the case where a landowner wishes to resist the common good, the law can be brought to bear. Normal people realize and accept this.

the Japanese national government chose to keep the Okinawa prefectural government and the people in the dark about the details until the latter half of this year when it recently came to light

Yeah, because they are a bunch of NIMBYs who are beyond reasonable discourse. You and bamboo can't seem to read my point even though I've typed it up already twice now. You can't say that the "people of Okinawa prefecture weren't consulted" when it was their aggressive protesting (flying kites at an airport, lol) over more than a decade that led to the government decision to move Futenma in the first place. If the people of Okinawa prefecture don't like where its getting moved to then perhaps they should have just lived with the status quo instead of demanding this and that. Sometimes the devil you end up with is worse than the one that you had before you started complaining.

it seems to me that you are trying to make the case for saying that all Okinawa benefited

Said that nowhere. All I said is they took the money, and the infrastructure, and the spin-off dollars, and the transfer payments from central government. And they still complained.

Look I'm not going to waste any more time on this topic. Okinawa is not some glorious kingdom. It is not a special case. All the people wishing for the removal of American military bases from Japan are certain to be disappointed. America needs to be here and Japan needs America here. 360000 NIMBYs from Okinawa prefecture had their votes duly recorded. Now they are going to be ignored in favor of the wishes of the majority of Japan's citizens. That's how life works. I truly hope the base haters in Okinawa prefecture wake up and realize that before they waste their lives away tilting at windmills.

Either you never had a place that you called your home, or you are a thoroughbred cynic.

I've lived on four continents. I have several homes. So maybe that makes me someone who likes to move around. Why the speculation on my personal life?

Please note that Okinawa is an archipelago with its own millenniums-old history and culture.

Which distinguishes it from thousand of other teeny tiny archipelagos around the world, each with their own history and culture, how exactly? This tendency for some residents of Okinawa prefecture to self-aggrandizement is quite perplexing. I'm not interested in your stories of millennia gone by, we are now living in the 21st century. And in this reality Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan - a minor prefecture that would be nothing but a drain on the central government were it not fortuitously located in a position of some strategic significance.

You might expect a small number of people to leave their home to pursue a better life somewhere else, but if a majority of citizens is not happy with the decisions of their central government to say they should leave their ancestral homeland is an absurd and anti-democratic idea of a "free country".

What majority are you talking about? It matters very little what the majority of Okinawa residents want. They can elect whatever radical they wish. In the end they will do as told. Now if you were suggesting that the majority of Japanese citizens would like the bases out of Okinawa - or indeed out of Japan altogether as Onaga has stated he wishes - then I would hope the central government would heed that wish and begin negotiating such a departure with the US government. Wouldn't hold my breath on that ever happening though.

Further to your idea that "leaving ones ancestral homeland is absurd" ... I think we all know if everyone before us had always thought like that there would be no Texan for you to mock in stereotype.

There are so many misconceptions in your statement that I don't know where to start.

It would have been nice of you then to at least point out one of them instead of addressing nothing I said.

First of all the majority of Okinawan landowners never had a choice in leasing their land, it was just stolen from them.

Surely a one-sided telling of the events. Without even investigating I can assume that any landowners were given fair warning and most likely an opportunity to sell at (or better than) market value. That would almost certainly go double in Japan where they give you a two month written notice before they repave your parking lot, and hand out free towels in the neighborhood six months before ground is broken on a new building. So "stolen"? I think not.

You may be familiar with the concept of eminent domain. It means a country has the right to take over private property to exercise functions of the public good so long as landowners are properly compensated. And looky looky, just below you concede that they were properly compensated. Its no different than someone in another prefecture having his/her land appropriated to build a train line, or an Olympic village, or a highway or whatever. If you are a sensible person you simply take the money and move. Period.

Of course many (not all though) took the compensation money, but what would you do being a farmer who had all his land taken away?

Yeah they took the money all right. For decades. And the jobs and the spin-off dollars and the infrastructure etc etc.

Then the Okinawans had absolutely no say in the relocation discussion, it was anything but their idea and if anybody had asked them the Okinawan people would have said no, Period.

"Absolutely no say". How ridiculous. I've been in Japan a long time, and I've seen very little but Okinawa prefecture having her say. The constant bellyaching emanating from Okinawa is perhaps surmounted only by the complaining of PRC and ROK. So its false for you to say "they had no say". They wanted Futenma moved, and agitated long and hard toward that end. Their concerns were heard and the Japanese government prepared a plan. I'm sure leaders of Okinawa prefecture were included in the discussions. I'm also sure that their ideas for relocation amounted to one ... NIMBY. Very little point continuing a discussion with a NIMBY.

Wow, hidingout, the way you talk about the large majority of Okinawans speaks for itself. Sounds a bit like the "all indians are lazy and good-for-nothing" talk that we know from the darker side of US history.

My post specifically references the "anti-base" folks. It says nothing about "the large majority of Okinawans" and certainly makes no mention of Indians (we prefer Native American, thanks). But I appreciate that sometimes when folks have nothing but emotion and impotent frustration with which to buttress their stance, they sometimes lash out with inappropriate references. So no offense taken.

Not to mention McCarthy..

Without checking, I'm willing to bet Okinawa is one of the most socialist prefectures in Japan. And you don't need to be an expert on commies to figure that out.

It is our island and we face a large share of the burden of the US Bases. Really dude we want our land back!

Who is "our" and "we"? I thought you lived (by choice) in the USA? If you use we/our to denote Japan/Japanese then I agree. Okinawa is a prefecture of Japan. As such they line up and do as they are told just like other prefectures do. They bear their share of the burden for having the privilege of living in an affluent. stable democracy. Okinawa prefecture is not a kingdom or a special group of people who get to go their own way when they have disagreements with the central government. No room for compromise on that point.

The US bases on Okinawa will not help defend Japan against attack.

Truly laughable. I hope you don't really believe that.

As for the new radar not only was it sold but will help defend US bases

Of course it will. US bases in Japan. Which are there to defend Japan according to Article 5.

It was not a gift at all.

Honestly. Please read Yuri. Not once have I said it was a gift. No one has said it was a gift. Only you keep pretending that there is anyone in this thread who thought for a moment it was a gift.

As for being "grateful" , suppose the people of Okinawa should be grateful for the US invasion that killed 200,000 Okinawa people, destroyed our business and homes and has gifted us with a 69 year American occupation.

I never said any of that. It comes from your imagination. But since you imagined it .... lets think. Japan probably would have been better off if she'd been conquered by the commies or the Russians? Is that right? Japan has a lot to be proud of post WW2. Picked themselves up off the mat, learned to work with their sworn enemy, and built the worlds number one economy within forty years. Its gotta be some sort of record turnaround in the history of human society. The hard work and the pride of the Japanese people - that's what I choose to focus on. I think there is room in there for serious minded Japanese people to realize the role America played in that success and yeah, feel a bit of gratitude.

Onaga was elected because Okinawans hope that he can change the pawn role and make Okinawas voice heard in Tokyo and Washington, but seeing this repeated expression of Abe's arrogance and carelessness towards the people of Okinawa he surely will have a hard time realizing this wish.

I have no idea why people try and romanticize the situation of Okinawa prefecture. Its a minor, poor, rural part of Japan. You seriously speak of the "Okinawan voice" reaching Tokyo and Washington? Like the article says 360 000 people voted for Onaga. I know you realize how insignificant that number is in a country with 130 million. Obviously the government is going to want to situate bases in strategic areas which have low populations. That's Okinawa prefecture. Some prefectures have to put up with heavy industry and pollution. Some prefectures have (had) to put up with nuclear reactors. Some prefectures have to put up with congestion and over crowding. The great thing about living in a free country is that you can move somewhere else if you can't put up with whatever inconvenience the central government foists on you.

Okinawans are everything but selfish

Maybe selfish was the wrong choice of words. What would you call it when people make fortunes leasing land to the central government or the US military, and take huge transfer payments from the central government to ease their sufferings, and succeed in negotiating the relocation of the biggest, noisiest base that everyone hated the most .... and still weren't satisfied. Maybe "greedy" is the more appropriate word?

I suspect the anti base folks are motivated by something beyond money though. I suspect they are mostly socialists who just hate America and have some misty notion of a future paradise where the central government supports them with welfare payments and all foreigners are cleansed from "their" land. Perhaps this is why Onaga is quoted in the Western press as follows.

“I will do everything possible to prevent the construction of a new base in Henoko. Futenma needs to be moved out of the nation and out of the prefecture.”

Not just out of the prefecture, out of the nation. This insignificant little pipsqueak is trying to dictate national defense policy. Talk about delusional.

So, if you base your comments upon what you read here, you need to jump on a airplane and find out for yourself what is actually happening.

Yes. When I comment on an article my comments are usually based on the content of the article. Novel concept isn't it? The article clearly suggests, and common sense would concur, that Onaga won the election because he was willing to sell himself to the anti-base crowd.

So, if you base your comments upon what you read here, you need to jump on a airplane and find out for yourself what is actually happening.

No thanks. I've been to Okinawa twice. That's plenty for me. I also don't really care because I know that the base will be relocated according to the agreements that have already been stipulated to by Tokyo. Onaga and his cronies can weep and wail all they like. It will ultimately be useless.

and no Smith and hidingout it cost Japan money to buy. It was not a gift!

We know that. We specifically stated that. I'm sorry for your reading comprehension problems.

Yet, Americans show respect to the other countries like Italy or Germany, but rude to Japanese. Why do Americans have to behave so condescending attitude toward Japanese?

First of all, you sound like the chinese complaining about "losing face" and "centuries of humiliation". Please try to be better than that. Second, I am unaware of any recent instances of America being "rude" to Japan. Its natural that with a socialist like Obama in the WH relations might not be as cozy as they would with a Republican president, but that probably holds true for Obama's WH relations with a lot of other countries too.

Most Japanese live in poor housing, but US soldiers live in much better housing all paid by Japan, and do you still have to complain?

I don't know where you live tina, or what other parts of the world you may have seen but its ridiculous for you to come on here and say "most Japanese live in poor housing". That statement indicates that you don't know what "poor housing" looks like. As for the accommodations for US soldiers, I'll admit that I've never been to any military housing in Japan, but I've been to a few in Hawaii. Its hardly high living.

And yes, I still "have to complain" because the governor of Okinawa prefecture (backed by the 350 000 NIMBYs who voted for him) is once again trying to scrap agreements that have already been made. Do you want Japan to be like ROK? A country that puts its name on a paper and makes a promise and then decides that it wants to renegotiate for a better deal? How many times is Japanese central government policy going to be held hostage by a few greedy farmers from Okinawa? How long are the Japanese people going to keep accepting the benefits of a military agreement with the USA (like getting this new radar system - NOT FOR FREE I KNOW) while trying to live without any of the inconveniences such an agreement entails. If I was Japanese I'd be embarrassed.

This is a rather naive view of the election results. The people voted for Onaga basically because he was a good mayor for Naha and is popular with folks because he represents a known and stable factor.

Good mayor for Naha. Please. The article states that Onaga has declared he will "veto" landfill work required to start the project. And you think that didn't factor into the election. And you call me naive.

I would certainly like to see relations with other nations upgraded during this new Onaga administration. Why depend on handouts from Tokyo? In the long run Okinawa loses out so what's to lose?

Indeed. I mean what's the price of dignity in the end anyway? Why not suck up to the communists and create further friction in the area just because well ... NIMBY.

They want to continue to be defended by the US and be rescued if there is an attack, citing the necessity of the US to do so under the current pact; they want to continue joint drills and joint R&D, and most of them don't want to change the constitution. In other words, they want to have their cake and eat it too. They cry about housing the bases, but want everything the bases provide except their physical presence, forgetting as well that the pact is BASED ON THE BASES BEING THERE! Can't have it both ways, and Okinawa could certainly not defend itself from China or other threats (and of course the same Okinawans on this thread who say "Japan could defend itself" refer to the nations overall military, belonging to the central government, whom they also turn around and hate when it suits them).

Nails it.

I am not sure what the exact problem is with the attitude of Japanese towards children but child abuse and infanticide are rampant. Hey Strangerland I dont need numbers. Just have to hang around this site a bit.

Generally speaking, there are not many kids in the world who have it as good as the children of Japan do these days. For every story you find on this site about "child abuse and infanticide" in Japan , I will find you three from the US or the UK. Pretending that this is a particularly Japanese phenomenon would be in contrary to the facts. I know what igloo's motivation for doing so is, I wonder what yours would be.