japan4life comments

OssanAmerica,

U.S. Army Special Forces stationed on Okinawa from 1967 to 1968, Stationed in Vietnam from 1969 to 1970. Worked as a civilian on U.S. Military Bases on Okinawa from 1971 until I retired in 2012. Have been inside every U.S. Military and JSDF Facility on Okinawa.

How about you??

The U.S. Marines contribute very little to the defense of Japan or S.K. The U.S. Air Force, Navy and Army are the major players in the defense of Japan and S.K. with the Marines being like the water boys and the people who wash the jock straps of the main players. If all of the U.S. Marines left Japan tomorrow it would have very little effect on the U.S. Military's ability to defend Japan.

The same sort of job that he is doing as the Prime Minister of Japan, lousy!!

Trump should visit Okinawa! We have great U.S. Military Golf Courses and in fact the U.S. Military Bases on Okinawa are more like Trump Resorts than Military Bases. Trump would feel right at home on a U.S. Military Base on Okinawa, he would think he had never left the United States!

Hoping for a full recovery for Mick and that the Stones will come to Japan at least one more time.

People are still singing that sad song about low voter turnout but low voter turnout does not invalidate a political election or a referendum. The people who talk about how only 52% voted are trying to make it sound like that all of the 48% who did not vote in the referendum would have voted for the Henoko Landfill and that most certainly is not the case. All that matters is what the majority of the people (72.15%) who voted in that referendum decided and that is that they oppose the Henoko Landfill.

52.48% of the registered voters on Okinawa voted in the referendum and that is a majority of the registered voters on Okinawa and 72.15% of the people who voted in the referendum voted against the Henoko Landfill and that is a majority and those are facts!!

CrucialIS,

The IJA treated the people of Okinawa like they treated the people of China and Korea not like how they would have treated the people of Mainland Japan and that feeling of being superior of the people of Okinawa is still alive in Mainland Japan today especially among LDP members and Central Govt. bureaucrats.

I am not a member of the minority base hantai, I am a member of the Majority Henoko Landfill Hantai!

yubara,

I don't know why you always confuse me with a SOFA status person when I have never had SOFA status. I was in the Army on Okinawa from 1967 to 1968 when there was no SOFA status. I left Okinawa in late 1968 to fulfil my Army obligation including a year in Vietnam and I returned to Okinawa in 1971 and have lived here every since. While it is true that I worked inside the bases, I always worked for either local companies or Mainland Japanese companies and was a project manager who took care of their construction projects inside the base and have been in charge of some very large projects including direct projects for the U.S. Military and projects for the GOJ and in fact my last project was inside Camp Schwab. I have never had on-base shopping privileges since I have lived here as a civilian since 1971. I retired over 6 years ago and I receive a Japanese pension and I do all of my shopping off-base as I have for the last 48 years.  I have lived here for 48 years on the local economy and if the U.S. bases left tomorrow, I would still stay here. By the way I am in favour of a U.S. Military presence on Okinawa.

It is not that I hate the USMC because I have had many projects inside Marine Bases and have met many great Marines from privates to Generals. My problem with the U.S. Marines on Okinawa is that in my opinion they do not contribute enough to the defence of Japan to justify the amount of land that they take up on Okinawa and certainly not enough to justify spending a massive amount of Japanese Tax money to build them a new state of the art facility and destroy the ocean at Henoko.

I cannot honestly say that I could have survived on Okinawa without the bases but I was determined to live my life on Okinawa so I believe that I could have but probably on a lower standard of living because my salary was always a lot higher than most Okinawans because of the construction projects being inside the bases.

CrucialIS

Do you talk to the people of Okinawa and tell them about how fair and even-handed the IJA was?

Has any Prime Minister of Japan ever said to the people of Okinawa that we were forced to give you to the United States and we regret doing it but we had no choice?

You use the word forced sacrifice but I think it was easy for the Japanese Govt. to sacrifice Okinawa because they are still sacrificing Okinawa to this very day.

The IJA murdered countless civilians on Okinawa and forced countless more to commit suicide. That anyone can say that the IJA treated civilians in Okinawa the same as civilians in Mainland Japan is an attempt to whitewash the crimes committed by the IJA on Okinawa just like the Japanese Govt. attempts to do with their revised school textbooks.

It is the opinion of some experts in the field that Mainland Japan sacrificed Okinawa in WWII. They did sacrifice Okinawa by giving it to the U.S. in order to gain their own sovereignty. Imagine how the people of Okinawa must have felt when they found out they were being given to the U.S. Military.

It is not only my opinion but the opinion of a large number of people on Okinawa that the Central Govt. dislikes them.

The problem is arrogant Mainland Politicians and Central Govt. bureaucrats who have always disliked the people of Okinawa. They dislike the people of Okinawa so much that they have always sacrificed them for the good of the Mainland every chance they have had from the Battle of Okinawa to actually giving the people of Okinawa to the U.S. Military.

The people of Okinawa owe Mainland Japan nothing but Mainland Japan will never be able to repay the people of Okinawa for their sacrifices for them.

The U.S. Air Force with Kadena Air Base, The Army with Torii Station and the Special Forces and the Fort Buckner Communication Site and the Navy with White Beach and their Aircraft and Facilities on Kadena Air Base along with the JSDF are the real deterrence on Okinawa. The U.S. Marines are not necessary to be on Okinawa for the defense of Japan and the money that the Japanese Govt. is going to waste on that new facility at Henoko is a waste of taxpayers money and is in reality a big public works project to benefit large Mainland Japanese Corporations who are big donors to the LDP under the guise of a necessary Military Facility in order to avoid public scrutiny.

The U.S. Marines already have an Air Base with a runway on the island of Ie Shima located not far from the Motobu Pennisula . That existing Air Base could have been a viable one for one replacement facility for MCAS Futenma and upgraded at a fraction of the cost of Henoko and without destroying the ocean and would have already been finished by now and MCAS Futenma would have been closed but the Japanese Govt. insistence on going with the incredibly expensive landfill at Henoko in order to provide greater profits to their Construction Company Cronies has caused the problems and delays in construction that we have seen and there will be more delays because Gov. Tamaki is not going to sign off on the new design changes that the J-Govt. is going to be forced to propose because of the soft seabed.

I feel sorry for anyone who lives in Japan and thinks that the U.S. Marines on Okinawa are going to save them from an enemy attack and that China or N.K. would be afraid to attack because of the Marines. I would like for someone to tell me what the U.S. Marines have on Okinawa that would prevent China, N.K. or anyone else from attacking Japan.

Look at that beautiful ocean that is being destroyed for the U.S. Marines who regardless of what the Japanese Govt. says are not a deterrent on Okinawa. The U.S. Marines have nothing on Okinawa that would deter or prevent an attack on Okinawa, Mainland Japan, The Philippines or any other place.

It is one thing to build a facility on land that can eventually be removed and restored to near the original condition but this landfill is an irreversible procedure that the people of Okinawa will have to endure forever. Every Japanese Citizen in Mainland Japan should hang their head in shame for allowing this landfill to happen.

This is what the Joint Statement says that was agreed upon by both the U.S. and Japan,

To achieve the goals of the shared partnership between the two countries, the SCC decided to adjust the plans outlined in the May 1, 2006 SCC Document entitled, "United States-Japan Roadmap for Realignment Implementation" (Realignment Roadmap). As part of these adjustments, the Ministers decided to delink both the relocation of the III Marine Expeditionary Force (MEF) personnel from Okinawa to Guam and resulting land returns south of Kadena Air Base from progress on the Futenma Replacement Facility.

The Japanese Govt. has the authority to construct all of the necessary facilities on Okinawa and Guam to close Camp Lester, Camp Kinser, Parts of Camp Foster, and Naha Port, regardless of what is happening with the relocation of MCAS Futenma and the United States has agreed on the transfer of Marines to Guam and the closing of other facilities even if the replacement of MCAS is not finished. If the Japanese Govt. chooses not to proceed with constructing those facilities in order to close those bases then that is the fault of the Japanese Govt. and not the people of Okinawa.

My opinion is the Japanese Govt. should be constructing the facilities in order to get those additional bases closed and show the people of Okinawa that they are serious about truly reducing the burden.

The Okinawa Prefecture is not causing a delay in the closing of Camp Lester, Camp Kinser, Naha Port or any other U.S. Military Base Land outside of MCAS Futenma. The closing and relocation of MCAS Futenma is a separate issue. The closure of Camp Lester, Camp Kinser, a small portion of Camp Foster and Naha Port depends on suitable facilities being built on existing bases on Okinawa, a new Military Port being built in Urasoe City and new facilities being built on Guam.

In 2012, the United States and Japan signed an agreement saying that the closing and relocation of MCAS Futenma was not linked to the transfer of troops to Guam and that the transfer of troops to Guam and the closing of Camp Kinser would take place regardless of what happened to MCAS Futenma.

For all of you people who are spreading the false information that other bases on Okinawa cannot be closed and the Marines cannot be transferred to Guam until the relocation of MCAS Futenma is completed and that the people of Okinawa are to blame for Camp Lester, Camp Kinser and other facilities other than MCAS Futenma not being closed, please read this Joint Statement from the U.S. Japan from the Ministry of Defense Website stating that the closure and relocation of MCAS Futenma and the transfer of troops to Guam and the closure of other bases on Okinawa are no longer linked.

http://www.mod.go.jp/j/approach/anpo/kyougi/2012/04/js_27.html

All JSDF bases would be better for the people of Okinawa because the JSDF does not require as much land as the U.S. Military. The JSDF do not require Golf Courses, Tennis Courts, Bowling Centers, Fitness Centers, Movie Theaters, Military Clubs and all of the other leisure facilities that the U.S. Military and their dependents require. The JSDF would not require all of the Family Housing that the U.S. Military requires because most married JSDF members would live in the local communities. The JSDF would not require Dependent Schools because their children would attend local schools. The JSDF would pay Japanese Taxes and would spend their money shopping for food in local supermarkets instead of the on-base commissary. Local businesses would benefit more from JSDF personnel who would do almost all of their shopping on the local economy while U.S. Military spend most of their money on-base. JSDF personnel would be under Japanese Law.

So the people of Okinawa would benefit more economically and would be able to get back more than half of the land that is currently used by the U.S. Military if all of the bases were JSDF because most of the land taken up by U.S. Bases is for Military Family Housing, Dependent Schools and Leisure Facilities that are not needed by the JSDF.

With such a high percentage of voters voting No to the relocation of MCAS Futenma to Henoko there is a very high probability that a large number of voters maybe even a majority of the voters  living in Ginowan where MCAS Futenma is located voted No to relocate to Henoko. Hopefully a breakdown of the votes by location will be provided.

Abe is not being truthful when he says he will continue to seek the understanding of the people of Okinawa. If he really wanted to get the understanding of the people of Okinawa, the Central Govt. would have been holding Town Hall Meetings all across Okinawa and talking directly to the people of Okinawa. But the attitude of the Central Govt. has always been one of arrogance and their policy has always been to use coercion and bribery to push this relocation plan through. If the Central Govt. is truly  convinced that Henoko is the only viable solution then it should be easy for them to explain that directly to the people and get at least a majority of them to accept that.

Regardless of your position on the Henoko Relocation issue, I encourage you to read this article that appears in the Online Asahi Newspaper in English.

http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201902230024.html

Once again, the closure of Camp Kinser and the return of a small portion of Camp Foster is not dependent on the closure and re-location of MCAS Futenma. The closure of Camp Kinser, the small portion of Camp Foster that is scheduled to be returned is dependent on the Japanese Govt. building new replacement facilities on existing bases on Okinawa as well as Guam. The closure and re-location of MCAS Futenma is a separate issue from other proposed base closures and return of land.

If the Japanese Govt. wants to get more Yes votes then they should include the following voter option,

Do you want to remove all of the U.S. Marines from Okinawa, Yes or No.

Now that voter option would get a lot of Yes votes!

No more centrist, moderate. neo-liberal democrats. The Democratic Party needs to get back to the Democratic Socialist party of FDR and get away from the corporate, Wall Street, vulture capitalist friendly party of Bill Clinton. It has always been radicals that have brought change to the U.S.. The founding fathers like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Ben Franklin were radicals who were not afraid to take on the British Empire. Abraham Lincoln was a radical for signing the Emancipation Proclamation. FDR was a radical for implementing the New Deal and Social Security, Martin Luther King was a radical for demanding Civil Rights now. Moderates are only good for keeping the status quo and the status quo means allowing Greedy Corporations and Wealthy Individuals to buy and control politicians.

Conducted by The Hill in partnership with the market research firm HarrisX, a poll found that 59 percent of the U.S. public supports raising the marginal tax rate on the richest Americans to 70 percent. The poll also found a "surprising amount of support" for the proposal among Republicans, with 45 percent backing the idea along with 71 percent of Democrats.

The vast majority of Americans, 70 percent, now support Medicare-for-all, otherwise known as single-payer health care, according to a new Reuters survey. That includes 85 percent of Democrats and 52 percent of Republicans. Only 20 percent of Americans say they outright oppose the idea.

When Democratic Socialist programs are factually explained to the people of the United States, a majority of the people support them. Don't believe the hype of Establishment Democrats and Republicans. They are one and the same, both Establishment Democrats and Republicans are the slaves of the Wealthy Donors, Greedy Corporations and Military Industrial Complex.

Any money spent on the U.S. Marines on Okinawa by the Japanese Govt. is a waste of money. Go inside a JSDF base on Okinawa and see how they live and then go inside a U.S. Marine Base on Okinawa and look at all of the Military Family Housing, Dependent Schools and Leisure Facilities the GOJ has built for them and see the difference. The JSDF is more important for the defense of Japan than the U.S. Marines. Instead of wasting the Japanese Taxpayer money in Henoko, spend it on the JSDF.

Love Ichiro but shame on the Mariners for allowing him to play in Japan in order to sell tickets but once they leave Japan he will be on the bench or in the Minor Leagues.

I can picture all of the other leaders in the G7 laughing their ***** off.

Maybe Abe should nominate Putin for the Nobel Peace Prize if he wants to get faster results.

The closing of Camp Kinser and other bases have nothing to do with the relocation of MCAS Futenma. I suggest you search for an agreement signed by Japan and the U.S. in 2012 where they agreed to close Camp Kinser and relocate Marines and their dependents to Guam regardless of what happens to MCAS Futenma.

The timetable for the closure of Camp Kinser depends on the Japanese Govt. building replacement facilities on Guam and existing U.S. Bases on Okinawa. The same for Naha Port which depends on a new port being built in Urasoe. The relocation of MCAS Futenma is a separate issue from other base closures and relocation's. I would like for people who are talking about all bases being closed south of Kadena if MCAS Futenma is relocated to give a time table for that happening. You not only have Camp Foster but you have Plaza Housing Area, Kishaba Housing Area which are controlled by the Air Force as are all housing areas even if they are on Marine Bases and the Ft. Buckner Communication site behind the Futenma Shrine which is controlled by the U.S. Army which would have to be relocated somewhere on Okinawa.

The U.S. Marines were not necessary to be on Okinawa when I first came here in 1967 and they are not necessary to be on Okinawa in 2019. The U.S. Marines on Okinawa have nothing that would deter an attack by an enemy and they contribute almost nothing to the defence of Japan but yet they have the most bases on Okinawa and the Japanese taxpayers are going to spend 3 trillion yen (current prices but will probably double or triple before the completion) to build them a state of the art facility. The U.S. Marines on Okinawa have more dependents on Okinawa than fighting troops and they spend more time on their golf courses, private beaches and other leisure facilities than they do training.

Send Shinzo Abe and the Okinawa hating LDP and bureaucrats in Tokyo a message and vote no to Henoko!!

The Japanese Govt. is not easing the burden on Okinawa with the Henoko relocation, what they are doing is removing the burden from the people of Ginowan City and placing that burden on the people of Henoko and Nago but the burden is still on Okinawa.

Until there is prosecution of people in Govt. organizations who are negligent in their duties to protect these children from abuse then there will be no changes no matter how many new people you hire. A bow and an apology should never allow a person to escape responsibility for placing a child in a known dangerous environment.