'Strong anger' in Okinawa as Japan starts work to move US base

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Al Jazeera


Opponents of relocation say it risks harming environment and ignores local wishes to have base off the island entirely.

an hour ago

Japan has begun main reclamation work at a controversial US military airbase on the southern island of Okinawa, prompting protests and "strong" opposition from the local governor.

Construction workers on Friday started dumping a truckload of sediment into the sea at Henoko on Okinawa's east coast to build a runway for the Marine Corps base that will be moved from densely populated Futenma in the island's south.

The central government in Tokyo has reversed Okinawa's earlier ban on landfill work at the site.

Opponents of the move say it would not only harm the environment - construction risks corals and endangered dugongs, according to activists - but also ignore local wishes to have the base removed from the island entirely.

Read more: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/12/anger-okinawa-japan-starts-work-move-base-181214033926524.html

[Haggis for Breakfast]

1. Oh boy, this is not going to go down well.

For years, the Okinawan people have made it abundantly clear that they DO NOT WANT anything to do with the American military and are VERY opposed to having a base there. They are NOT going be happy about this.

I wonder why, now, that the Japanese government is taking a stand that they know is going to be problemmatic. What are they hoping to gain by this move ?

[Judi Lynn]

3. Had no idea this has been the situation there. Good grief.

It's a very unpleasant mystery how and why this historic bigotry has been cultivated. Abhorrent.

Thank you, so much, for taking the time to share some background which undoubtedly goes a very long way to explaining how the government there doesn't respond as well as it should.

Very thoughtful of you, and it's appreciated.

[llmart]

4. Wish I could remember where I saw the program...

about American military on Okinawa, most likely on one of the PBS history shows like Frontline or American Experience, but it was a fascinating story about how the people of Okinawa were treated when the island was taken over for our military base. I had no idea and I had a sister stationed there in the 70's.

[MicaelS]

6. Japan has always had a deep undercurrent of racism.

Look at the way they have treated the Aboriginal Ainu people of the Northern Islands. Not to mention their treatment of everyone they attacked in WWII.

[Judi Lynn]

10. I have been wildly uninformed to this point. Had no idea they considered the Ainu beneath them.Sick.

Although it's horrific information, it's good I didn't continue to be ignorant of it.

That makes absolutely no sense at all, just as hatred toward anyone unfamiliar is stupid and loathsome, elsewhere.

I was shocked to learn, from watching a Swedish or Norwegian movie on Netflix, there are people who live in the north of the country who tend reindeers, who look exactly the same, who are despised also, for being from another culture, having different lifestyles, which are ancient ways of people who lived up there thousands of years, apparently.

Was shocked and horrified, incredulous over that, too.

There are so many ways people have apparently been racists, for so long. What the hell motivates them?

Didn't know the Ainu are considered "Aboriginal." I feel it should become important, now, for me to try to find out more about their history.

Thank you, for advancing some information into the great void!

[pangaia]

7. "(as opposed to the Island of Japan itself.."

What might that be?

[Judi Lynn]

11. Thanks for your post! Very interesting. n/t

[pangaia]

12. Of course, I know Okinawa.

However, there is no such island called 'Japan.'

Japan is composed of 4 main islands and quite a number of smaller islands. The 4 main islands are Hokkaido in the north, Honshu (the largest), Shikoku and Kyushu, the farthest south.
Okinawa is actually about half way between Kyushu and Taiwan.

Most tourists visit Honshu, which includes Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Hiroshima, etc., and most of the bigger cities.

[dixiegrrrrl]

8. Same thing in the Philippines.

racism was...is?...a major factor in our history of global expansion.

Worse yet, the issue of military bases ending up as toxic sites has not been addressed.
2 military bases, small ones, were closed in the SF Bay area, and while the land was being fought over, for development, the argument died down when the issue of soil toxicity was raised. Developers did not want to deal with environmental requirements, last I heard.

[INdemo]

5. Wow..unbelievable

Tokyo does not or has taken the time to realize the economic impact this will cause to the main island.

I remember Okinawa well from the 60's being our West Pac Naval Home port at the Whitebeach area