voiceofokinawa comments

There’s a discrepancy of opinion about the timetable of Futenma's relocation to Henoko between LDP-supported candidate Jun Sakima and the central government. 

Sakima claimed during the election campaign that Futenma could be returned piecemeal, obfuscating the relocation site.

Japan Defense Minister Minoru Kihara rejected the idea of piecemeal return of Futenma, also obfuscating the scheduled date of its return.

The Biden administration seems to have finally realized that Japan was a fifty-second state of the U.S.A. and that Nippon Steel's takeover of U.S. Steel would not be so big a deal as to be worrisome for its security.

Japan PM hopeful Kono calls for U.S. assurances to deter nuclear ambitions

That means there is an increasing number of opinions among LDP members that Japan should nuclearize itself. Mind-boggling, indeed.

This is the end-result of U.S. efforts to get rid of nuclear allergy from Japan.

Nippon Steel executives seem to have thought that they could buy out U.S. Steel without any hitch because the two countries, they thought, were allies with Japan probably a 52nd state of the great United States of America.

When U.S. President Harry S. Truman confided to Soviet Leader Joseph Stalin during the Yalta Conference that the U.S. had successfully carried out atomic bomb tests in Arizona, Stalin simply nodded and smiled, saying nothing.    

It's often said that dropping of the atomic bombs on both Hiroshima and Nagasaki were simply for the Soviet Union to see. It was a kind of demonstration by the U.S to be sure to achieve hegemony after the war.

The Soviet Union had been very desperate to develop atomic bombs themselves, which they succeeded to achieve in 1949.

Toward the end of World War II Japan’s surrender was imminent to anyone's eye  The sky over Japan was in complete control of the U.S. Air Force, whereby it could drop atomic bombs on the two cities with impunity Two Axis countries, Nazi Germany and Italy, had already been defeated, and Japan was fighting the war all by itself. 

The Soviet Union invaded and occupied Manchuria, Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands minus Attu despite the bilateral non-aggression pact.

Fighter planes were left on air strips like sitting ducks due to the lack of oil to fly them. Almost all infrastructure in cities was destroyed by daily air raids by formidable B-29s.

Japan hanged by a thread at the end of WW II.

The Japanese constitution is a precious gem that can be a World Cultural Heritage. So, why try to revise or abandon it? Rather, people should endeavor to export the spirit struck home in it.to other countries. Have LDP members ever tried that?

Municipalities get money from the central government in proportion to the size of bases they host. If the Iwakuni mayor has that in mind when he says Iwakuni will accept

the deployment of accident-prone Ospreys in the city, he will be a real tritor not only to the city but also to the nation.

Apparently, the guy was misunderstanding the whole matter, taking Beijing's official line to be true. That's why I've been saying that there should be a civilian-level symposium to discuss the matter. Make this thread a venue for it.

If Emanuel is so kind to be concerned with the safety and security of Japan, he should recommend all those U.S. bases be withdrawn. China's missiles are no doubt trained to destroy all those U.S. bases in Japan, in Okinawa in particular.

Natural disasters caused by floods, typhoons and earthquakes are entirely Japan's own to deal with, having nothing to do with the U.S. If so, why is U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel pressing Japan to name members of the task force panel that will deal with such disasters.

Apparently, Emanuel has a different kind of a disaster in mind -- a disaster caused by a war.  

Is a war with China definitely near at hand?

Just as it may be difficult to urge nations to adopt a war-renouncing provision like Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution, it may be difficult to urge nuclear nations to discard such weapons.

Notwithstanding, it's worth a try.

Ishiba, when he held the post of Defense Minister, negotiated with the U.S. over the relocation issue of the Futenma air station, succumbed to the U.S. and agreed with the U.S. for the Henoko relocation. He had suggested somewhere in sprawling Camp Hansen for the relocation site.  

He didn't notice that, for the U.S., Henoko was a target site for Futenma's relocation from the very beginning.

It's quite possible that the U.S. is behind the scenes, instigating Japan to increase its defense budget despite the war-renouncing constitution 'because of the threat of a rising China'.

"The China threat" justifies all this.

Article ９of the Japanese constitution says:

" Aspiring sincerely to an international peace based on justice and order, the Japanese people forever renounce war as a sovereign right of the nation and the threat or use of force as means of settling international disputes.

"In order to accomplish the aim of the preceding paragraph, land, sea, and air forces, as well as other war potential, will never be maintained. The right of belligerency of the state will not be recognized."

So, what is this increase of military budget for?

The issue is not something that is decided on solely by a Prime Minister. Therefore, the policy of releasing treated water will continue regardless of who the Prime Minister may be.

The issue then is whether contaminated water is properly treated or not.

He seems to be a scrupulous manipulator. He thinks November is the best time for him to leave his post in Japan and advance to a higher position when either Harris may win or Trump.

Wasn't his absence from the Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial ceremony the result of this minute calculation of his? He accuses Nagasaki Mayor Shiro Suzuki's decision not to invite Israel to the ceremony politically motivated, because of which he said he would boycott the ceremony.

The post-war Japanese constitution, notably its war-renouncing Article 9, can be an epoch-making world cultural heritage that every nation should value, esteem and emulate.

So, it's quite inconceivable why Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is so eager to do away with it, making Japan return to erstwhile trail of militarism and jingoism.

Is the U.S. behind the scenes, urging Japan to revise the constitution?

A dictionary defines the word "occupation" as "the invasion, conquest and control of a nation or territory by foreign armed forces."

Okinawa was invaded and conquered by U.S. forces in 1945 and is under unrestrained control of U.S. forces. Bases and facilities have remained almost intact. Crimes by U.S. soldiers are rampant. Therefore, one can say that Okinawa is under occupation by U.S. forces still today.

Bullying among school children was commonly observed in U.S. schools in the past. Now, it's a common phenomenon observed in Japanese schools.

Bullying seems to propagate abroad quite easily like a contagious disease. There is no doubt that when the U.S. sneezes, Japan catches a cold.

Abuse among school children was commonly observed in the U.S. in the past. Now, it's a common phenomenon observed in Japanese schools. Abuse seems to propagate abroad like a contagious disease

Why doesn't U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel want to attend the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb memorial ceremony? Is it really because Israel had not been invited? 

Nagasaki Mayor, Shiro Suzuki, is certain to deliver a speech in which he will call on all nuclear nations to abandon the policy of possessing nuclear arsenal.

Russian missiles are inflicting more damage on Ukrainian towns and villages. But Ukraine shouldn't cross the border to retaliate, motivating Russia to use nuclear arsenal.

So, they, the U. S. forces, have bases in Iraq. What's their justification for being stationed in Iraq, maintaining bases and personnel there? Is it the Iraqi government or the U.S. government that pays base maintenance costs?

I once had a telephone call from a self-professed landowner of the Futenma air station, telling me not to publish opinions to oppose U.S. bases. He said he would lose his major source of income if bases were gone.

 Incidentally, do you know that it is the Japanese taxpayers, not U. S. ones, that pay land fees to the landowners, whereby USFJ are using base land completely free of charge?

I once had a telephone call from a self-professed landowner of the Futenma air station, telling me not to publish opinions to oppose U.S. bases. He said he would lose his major source of income if bases were gone

TaiwanIsNotChina,

 There's no doubt that USFJ are basically occupation forces. For there was a seamless transition for them to transform from occupation forces to treaty forces. Bases and areas they used during the occupation have remained the same as ever before. You haven't refuted that.argument of mine.

Desert Tortoise: Today 01:12 pm JST

Didn't U.S. forces leave the Philippines because it was much cheaper for them to be stationed in Japan? 　If you were to be in the Philippines, you had to clean up the thick ashes fallen from the Pinatubo Volcano.

By contrast, base land is provided to U.S. forces free of charge; more than 70% of base maintenance costs is borne by Japanese taxpayers.; U.S. service members enjoy a lot more perquisites in serving in Japan thanks to Tokyo's generosity.

TaiwanIsNotChina: Aug. 3 09:33 am JST,

You haven't denied my contention that USFJ are basically occupation forces because they retain all rights to bases and areas they took as occupation forces.

TaiwanIsNotChina,

Japan can terminate the security arrangement with the US at any time.

Of course, Japan can terminate the security treaty itself anytime it considers suit. But that's when Japan and the U.S. go antagonistic against each other.

Do you want to wait till such a time will come?