Site Fwd: Okinawa Outreach: Citizens’ Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa demands halt to construction of U.S helipads in Yanbaru Forest

(Okinawa Defense Bureau and Peace Bamboo)


Ten Thousand Things
Okinawa Outreach: Citizens’ Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa demands halt to construction of U.S helipads in Yanbaru Forest
Aug. 26, 2011

Okinawa Outreach, a new blog edited by Okinawan scholars and activists, offers news, photos, & analysis directly from Okinawa.

Its July reports describe efforts by the Citizens’ Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa (Okinawa BD) to obtain answers from the Okinawan Defense Bureau (the Japan Defense Bureau's branch in Okinawa) regarding U.S. military plans for training accident-prone military Osprey aircraft in biodiverse Yanbaru Forest. The Citizens’ Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa demanded a halt to the construction of helipads which the U.S. wants to locate in one of the most well-preserved areas of the forest, a habitat for numerous endangered species unique to northern Okinawa.

Okinawa Outreach also provided updates to the Okinawan Defense Bureau's November 2008 legal action against 15 residents of the Takae community (including a child), who, since July 2007, had been conducting a peaceful sit-in protest against the helipad construction on the prefectural road near the construction sites. Many consider this frivolous litigation, a SLAPP (strategic lawsuit against public participation) action, intended to intimidate and silence critics. The next hearing is scheduled for the end of August:

READ MORE(information and photos)

Text Fwd: Pressure Builds for US Shift on Okinawa

* Text fwd from Martha Duenas on May 14, 2011

http://www.dispatchjapan.com/blog/
Pressure Builds for US Shift on Okinawa

Pressure is growing on the Obama Administration to significantly alter plans for US Marine basing arrangements on Okinawa, but chances seem slim for a policy shift at least until Defense Secretary Robert Gates departs office late next month.


Several factors have converged to give the issue new urgency. Opposition remains strong on Okinawa to construction of a new facility in the Henoko Bay area, to replace the US Marine Air Station Futenma, which has been slated for closure since 1995. There is simply no momentum in Japan to move forward with the project, a situation made more stark by the Great Eastern Earthquake of March 11. Tokyo is intensely focused on reconstruction efforts; neither the financial nor political capital is available to push the Henoko project through.

Meanwhile, construction delays and cost overruns continue to bedevil a critical, related portion of the plan: the relocation of over 8,000 Marines and 9,000 family members from Okinawa to Guam.

And in Washington, an increasingly debt-weary Congress is asking whether it is worth the cost of building the new Henoko facility and the new Marine housing and related facilities on Guam, when cheaper force configurations more conducive to strategic needs in Asia might be found.

Diplomats are under stress to find some answers because of plans for a “2+2” meeting of defense and foreign ministers from the two countries, to be followed by a summit meeting between President Barack Obama and Prime Minister Naoto Kan. With leaders in Japan tied down with reconstruction efforts, no schedule has yet been set for either meeting, though staging both by the end of June has been discussed.


When those meetings do occur, it won’t be possible to simply ignore Futenma and related Okinawa issues. It is very possible Washington and Tokyo will agree to state the obvious: the 2014 deadline to complete the Okinawa and Guam force structure realignment will have to be pushed back. It is also possible the administration will accept a very low-key statement of continued support for the Henoko plan, rather than a high-profile emphasis, so as to avoid the issue returning as a major irritant at the top of the bilateral agenda.


There remain pockets of hope within the Obama administration that White House will force the Pentagon to accept a review of the whole base realignment plan for Okinawa prior to the Obama-Kan summit, but that seems very unlikely.


PENTAGON BOTTLENECK: Secretary Gates remains adamantly opposed, and there does not yet exist within the administration the necessary correlation of political forces willing to force Gates to accept a new approach. The Pentagon’s rigid stance is worsened by the lack of a replacement yet for General Chip Gregson, who retired recently as assistant secretary of defense for Asian affairs.


Senior Pentagon officials continue to say the administration is committed to the Henoko plan. But with the Pentagon leadership in transition, with CIA director Leon Panetta set to take over once Gates departs, the senior officials are exceedingly reluctant to veer from established policy, even if they want to. Officials at this level are in a bind: aware of the opposition in Japan, aware of the enormous investment the US Marines, and US diplomacy, have in the existing policy, but not politically strong enough to even push for, much less win, a policy change.


AWAITING LIPPERT: The White House has tapped Obama confidante Mark Lippert to replace Gregson, but Lippert has been bruised a bit as he works his way through the administration’s internal political gauntlet. Some Pentagon officials have quietly raised concerns that Lippert might have the kind of strained relations with senior military officers that could hinder his effectiveness.


Lippert, who has served in Iraq as a Navy intelligence officer, is “pro-military,” and is known to have functioned as a bit of a window into the US armed forces for then-Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama. But Lippert is not “pro-Pentagon.” Lippert is an international relations major from Stanford University who has served in the military with pride, but is committed to the military as a tool of policy, not out of institutional loyalty. His loyalty is to Obama.


For much of Obama’s first year in office, Lippert served as chief of staff for the National Security Council (NSC). He clashed with General Douglas Lute, a holdover from the Bush administration as “war czar” for Iraq and Afghanistan. He also had tense relations with his nominal boss, then-National Security Advisor General Jim Jones. Critics say Lippert flaunted his close relationship with Obama. But the close tie with Obama is real, and strong, and Obama personally would like to see Lippert overseeing Asia policy for the Pentagon. That is still likely to happen, though those harboring reservations could trip him up.

ASIA POLICY SHIFT: Evidence continues to grow that President Obama and his top aides would like to see a major US strategic shift toward greater emphasis on Asia, which should be particularly evident when the President hosts the APEC summit in Hawaii next November.

It’s notable that in a recent New Yorker analysis of Obama’s foreign policy, NSC director Tom Donilon, deputy director Ben Rhodes (Obama’s long-time chief foreign policy speechwriter), and Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia Kurt Campbell were all quoted outlining just such a strategic “rebalancing” of American foreign policy. The Pentagon’s top policy chief, Michelle Flournoy, outlined a similar policy in a recent talk at Johns Hopkins.

The administration is looking to energize America’s role in East Asia by fomenting a system of open and transparent economic and security cooperation in the region, defining the terms of engagement to which China has to respond. The economic component, for now, is the Trans-Pacific Partnership regional trade initiative. And the security component involves building on America’s traditional bilateral security alliances in the region to include a network of overlapping bilateral, trilateral, and multilateral security relationships from India, through Vietnam and Indonesia, to Australia, and up to Korea and Japan.

Japan is already cultivating security ties with India and Vietnam, and deepening ties with South Korea, including discussion of formal military agreements involving information sharing and the exchange of military goods and services. China and South Korea both provided relief assistance to Japan after March 11, opening the door to expansion of the existing “Plus Three” dialogue between Tokyo, Seoul, and Beijing.

Washington is supportive of these steps by Japan, as they indirectly extend the influence of the US-Japan alliance, while providing Tokyo a far greater degree of self-determination than possible through the exclusively bilateral US-Japan security alliance.

THE FUTENMA DILEMMA: The problem Washington faces is that continued focus on the Futenma dispute threatens to distract the US and Japan from this broader strategic goal, allowing a relatively minor base dispute to disrupt the whole alliance. Excess focus on Futenma also detracts from the absolutely critical role played by the naval facility at Yokosuka, where the US home ports the USS George Washington carrier group, and the role of the huge Kadena Air Force base on Okinawa. Together, Kadena and Yokosuka allow the US to project enormous power throughout East Asia, and are the principle means to deter North Korean aggression, and to balance China’s rising military role in the region.

Tokyo continues to insist Japan fully backs the plan for a new facility at Henoko, fearful that admitting the plan is dead will cause tension with Washington. And Washington continues to back the Henoko plan, because no political decision has been made to abandon the bureaucratic status quo.

With no decision yet made to abandon the Henoko project, none of the necessary talks about a new plan can proceed. That leaves the US-Japan alliance dangerously vulnerable to a crisis in the event of a helicopter crash at the Futenma facility, which is surrounded by civilian communities.

CONGRESSIONAL INTRIGUE: Into this bureaucratic quagmire have stepped three senior and very influential US senators: Carl Levin, Chairman of the Armed Services Committee; John McCain, the Ranking Republican on Armed Services; and, Jim Webb, chairman of the Asia subcommittee of Senate Foreign Relations. On May 13, the three senators issued a joint statement calling for the Defense Department to “re-examine plans to restructure U.S. military forces in East Asia.” The senators said the US “strongly supports a continuous and vigorous US presence in the region,” but emphasized that they “believe the current DoD realignment plans are unrealistic, unworkable, and unaffordable.”

While the statement was “joint,” Senator Levin seemed to emphasize the need for restraint, and cost-effectiveness, in defense spending, especially in the construction of new overseas facilities. Senator McCain tended to emphasize strategy, saying: “The Asia-Pacific region’s growing role in the global distribution of power requires us to consistently view and update plans for the U.S. military’s role in the region.” And Webb forcefully challenged the Marine Corps claims that construction of a new facility in Henoko Bay to replace the Futenma air station is indispensable to the Marine presence in, and thus the stability of, East Asia.

Webb brings to the issue years of experience as a Naval Academy graduate, a highly-decorated Marine officer, a military planner, a former Secretary of the Navy, and now almost a full term as a US senator.

With Webb taking the lead, the three senators proposed a dramatic overhaul of the US Marine presence in East Asia. The key elements would include: a) “abandonment” of the Henoko project at Camp Schwab as a replacement for the Futenma facility; b) integration of the Marine Corps assets at Futenma into Kadena Air Force base, while dispersing some Air Force assets now at Kadena to other areas of the Pacific; c) home-basing in Hawaii or at Camp Pendleton the 8,000 Marines now scheduled to redeploy to Guam, and deploy those Marines on a rotating basis throughout the Pacific.

THE JONES ROLE: Most intriguing is that retired Marine Corps General Jim Jones, who was President Obama’s national security advisor until last October, played an important role in helping Webb craft these proposals. It will be difficult for the current Marine Corps leadership to argue to legendary Marine veterans Jones and Webb that their proposals would be harmful to the Marine Corps, and are otherwise operationally unrealistic.

Jones first publicly revealed his apparently evolving views on Okinawa in a meeting last week with a group of Japanese parliamentarians, including former Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki (LDP) and Mikio Shimoji, policy research chief for the People’s New Party (PNP). According to Shiozaki and Shimoji, who met with reporters after their meeting with Jones and displayed their written notes, Jones said that he had always thought the best approach on Okinawa was to merge into the Kadena air base the Marine aircraft operations now based at Futenma. The Henoko project was not needed.

It remains unclear what, if anything, Jones did to try to change American policy toward Futenma while he was national security advisor.

THE SKEPTICAL VIEW: Some sources very close to the situation are skeptical that the Obama administration will shift Okinawa policy any time soon. According to this view, it makes sense that the administration would seek to kick the Futenma-Henoko issue down the road a while longer.

Pushing back the 2014 deadline would amount to acknowledging the obvious, and acknowledging the difficulties to proceed so soon after the March 11 natural disasters would also buy more time to find a permanent solution.

But Senator Webb is proposing a wholesale rethinking of American strategy and force structure in the Western Pacific, and only the Secretary of Defense and/or the President himself can make those kinds of decisions. Without that heavy push from the White House, according to this view, it would not be possible to shake the bureaucracy out of its policy rut.

From a strategy standpoint, opponents of a shift in Okinawa policy will argue that it would signal a US retreat from Asia, and reduce the American deterrence of China.

WORKING WITH CONGRESS: But the White House continues to send signals that it is serious about a shiftin strategy toward Asia. A restructured US force posture would not be seen as retreat, but rather an effective region-wide “hedge” in the event China tries to throw its growing weight around in the region. And sources close to Kurt Campbell say that he is convinced that continued US and Japanese wrangling over Futenma will threaten the whole “shift” strategy, because it can’t work without a vibrant US-Japan alliance.

Campbell is prepared to work with Webb and others in Congress on a new basing arrangement for the Marines in the Pacific. Once Panetta takes over as defense secretary, and assuming Lippert becomes his top deputy for Asia, the White House would have in place an administration-wide team to pursue an expanded role in the region.

Texts Fwd: Complete Set of Asahi Shimbun Wikileaks Stories on DC-Tokyo re Okinawa

* Text fwd by J. D. on May 7 and Martha Duenas on May 8

The Asahi Shimbun
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105050102.html
EDITORIAL: Leaked Documents Reveal Shocking Japan-U.S. Diplomacy
2011/05/06

WikiLeaks has published vast troves of internal and confidential government documents that normally would have been kept inaccessible to the public for a certain, usually long, period, such as 25 years, before being released after careful screening.

The anti-secrecy website has disclosed shocking facts about the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan and American diplomacy through the releases of classified government documents by whistleblowers. Now, the wave has hit Japanese diplomacy.

The Asahi Shimbun has obtained nearly 7,000 U.S. diplomatic cables from the site, which shed light on the unknown side of diplomacy between Japan and the United States mainly between 2006 and early 2010.

This is the period from the final days of the Liberal Democratic Party's rule to the era of the first Democratic Party of Japan administration led by then Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama.

The Hatoyama administration pledged to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma out of Okinawa Prefecture at the least.

Between late 2009 and early 2010, however, the Hatoyama administration secretly told Washington that Japan would go along with the 2006 bilateral agreement to move the base to a northern location in the same prefecture if no viable alternative to the existing plan was found. It was half a year before Hatoyama publicly said he had decided to break his promise to relocate the base outside Okinawa.

There are certainly some elements in diplomatic negotiations that should be kept secret from the public.

But the Hatoyama administration's lying about its basic policy concerning the Futenma issue amounts to an unpardonable betrayal of the people.

After the DPJ government assumed office, senior bureaucrats at the Foreign and Defense Ministries gave the United States some advice that could undermine the DPJ administration's efforts to solve the Futenma problem, such as Washington should not show flexibility (over the issue) too early.

If bureaucrats have objections to the government's policy, they should express their opinions to their own country's administration.

These foreign and defense ministry officials showed a gross misunderstanding of their roles when they tried to influence the new government's actions by communicating secretly with the negotiation partner.

But questionable diplomatic actions are not the exclusive preserve of the DPJ government.

Concerning the cost of transferring thousands of U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam, the previous government of the LDP-New Komeito coalition agreed with the U.S. administration to pad related expenses as a gimmick to make Japan's share of the financial burden look smaller than it actually was.

These cables, not intended for immediate publication, contain many facts about behind-the-scenes goings-on in the bilateral diplomacy.

Since they reflect U.S. interpretations of what actually happened, the documents may be silent about things the U.S. administration might find inconvenient.

But reading through these documents without reading too much into specific words and phrases throws into sharp relief some serious problems with Japanese diplomacy.

What emerged from the documents is a deplorable spectacle of Japanese politicians and bureaucrats making haphazard responses to the situation in order to protect existing policies or their own interests.

Their actions showed no sign that they were thinking consistently from the viewpoint of what was in the best interest of the Japanese people.

If there is any one thread running through their actions, it is consideration of the need to keep Japan's relations with the United States on good terms.

In addition, Japanese actors who were distrustful of each other talked fairly candidly about what was going on within the Japanese government to American officials. That's shocking rather than surprising.

If this distressing picture is a true picture of the state of our country's diplomacy, we need to start our efforts to rebuild it by confronting this reality.

What do the DPJ government, Japanese diplomats and the LDP really think about Japan's diplomacy as revealed by these cables? Their answers to this question should be seen as a starting point to debate.

--The Asahi Shimbun, May 5, 2011
http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105050102.html

_____________________________

THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (1): DPJ Government Never Committed to Futenma Alternatives
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (2): U.S. Used 'China Card' to Thwart Futenma Alternatives
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (3): Numbers Inflated in Marine Relocation Plan to Increase Political Impact
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (4): LDP Ministers Made Secret Promises to Okinawa Governor on Futenma
2011/05/04

THE TRUTH BEHIND JAPAN-U.S. TIES (6): Japanese Bureaucrats Also Critical of DPJ Government
2011/05/04

Part 1 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040063.html

Part 2 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040065.html

Part 3 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040066.html

Part 4 - http://www.asahi.com/english?TKY201105040067.html

Part 5 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040068.html

Part 6 - http://www.asahi.com/english/TKY201105040069.html

Video Fwd: HISTORY: THE BIG EMPIRE

http://space4peace.blogspot.com/2011/04/history-big-empire.html
Friday, April 29, 2011
HISTORY: THE BIG EMPIRE




An old U.S. military propaganda film about turning Okinawa into a U.S. "possession" as a power projection hub.

These days the people of Okinawa are fed up with the presence of U.S. bases and want them gone. But the U.S. military still sees Okinawa as a key outpost in its goal of maintaining bases to enable control of the Asian-Pacific, particularly China.

Text Fwd: Return of US forces to Subic possible

* Text fwd by Corazon Valdez Fabros on April 28, 2011http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=333354
Return of US forces to Subic possible

US military build-up in Guam delayed

By Robert Gonzaga
Philippine Daily Inquirer
Posted date: April 28, 2011

SUBIC BAY FREEPORT — High-level visits here by American officials have raised the prospect of a return of the United States’ military presence in this former naval base in the wake of disasters that hit Japan, which have delayed the planned US military build-up in Guam.


US Senators Daniel Inouye and Thad Cochran visited this free port on Tuesday and met with Subic Bay Metropolitan Authority (SBMA) and Olongapo City officials.


The Philippine Daily Inquirer learned of the visit but was told that it was “not open to press coverage.”


In March, US Ambassador to the Philippines Harry Thomas Jr. also met with local officials and briefed them about the impact of the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan on the transfer of US military bases in Okinawa to Guam. The visit was not announced to reporters here.
Inouye and Cochran, chair and ranking member, respectively, of the US Senate committee on appropriations, appeared to be interested in the possibility of an increased presence of the US military in the country, a source present at the luncheon meeting for the visiting senators hosted by Subic and local officials told the Inquirer.


The source, who asked not to be named for lack of authority to speak on the matter, said: “Their official reason for being here was to obtain a situationer of developments in the area and to consult with local officials about these. They even brought their technical staff. During the discussion, they were curious about the reception in the country of an [increased presence of the US military] here.”


The source also said the US embassy “gave strict instructions that [the media] not be allowed to cover the visit.”


“Their embassy arranged the logistics of the visit directly with Olongapo City [officials], and not the SBMA,” the source said.


Facilities in the free port that can be used by the US military, like the airport and seaport, are intact, according to the source.


“Even now, they are already using it as part of the VFA (Visiting Forces Agreement). But if they substantially increase their presence here, then the free port can still accommodate them,” the source further said.


Olongapo mayor for US return


Olongapo Mayor James Gordon Jr. said the senators wanted to see the success of the free port, which the Americans left 20 years ago after the Philippine Senate rejected a treaty extending the stay of US military bases in the country.
“They were amazed by what they saw,” Gordon said.


Asked if he would support a return of the US military in Subic, Gordon said: “Of course, we would welcome it. We want two economies here—the one that is free port-based and the other [which relies on support services] to the US military. They can coexist here.”


He said the Guam build-up would be scaled down following the Japan disaster.
“We are open to the possibility that [the US military] might again use the Subic Freeport,” he said.


The US government approved the relocation of its naval base from Okinawa, Japan, to Guam starting 2012. Guam officials have been visiting the Subic Bay Freeport and Olongapo City to learn from the experience of hosting a naval base.


Gordon, however, declined to give details on the discussions about the US military’s possible return to Subic.


“Your guess is as good as mine. Like investors, they come here but initially don’t tell you what [their real plans] are. But if it’s an enhancement of the VFA … that’s already ongoing,” he said.


Bilateral interest


The US embassy said Inouye was in Manila with Cochran to meet with Philippine officials to discuss issues of bilateral interest.


During their four-day visit, the two American senators also met with President Benigno Aquino III, Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario, among other officials.


Inouye is a senior senator from Hawaii and the president pro-tempore of the US Senate. For helping pass the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation provision of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, he has been hailed by Filipino veterans as their “champion” in the US Senate.


Cochran is a senior senator from Mississippi.


The source said the US senators arrived on a US government jet that landed at about 11:30 a.m. on Tuesday at the Subic International Airport where they were welcomed by local officials.
“Then they went on a tour of the Subic facilities. Specifically, they visited the seaport, and the housing areas in Kalayaan and Binictican, as well as [some other areas],” the source said.
After that, the senators and their entourage and military escorts, proceeded to Lighthouse Marina Resort for a luncheon meeting. The US senators left after the meeting that lasted for less than two hours, according to officials present during the visit.


Delays in transfer


Gordon said Inouye and Cochran discussed the delays in the transfer of US bases in Japan to Guam.


“[They cited] not only the disaster in Japan as the reason for that, but also the [political turmoil] in Japan. That country has had a change of at least six prime ministers now since [the beginning of talks for the Guam military build-up]. Also, they are now focused on the [reconstruction] of the disaster-hit areas there,” Gordon said.


Outgoing SBMA Administrator Armand Arreza said the possibility of Subic being an alternative site to Guam was “officially not discussed.”


“That sort of talk is above my pay grade. Senator Inouye was instrumental in getting a bill passed into law in the US about Filipino veterans getting compensation and benefits. He told us that the US government made a promise to Filipino veterans and [the US government] has to keep that promise,” he said.


Arreza said Inouye, who last visited the Philippines in 2008 for what the US embassy described as a “learning tour” in Zamboanga City, “was interested about how Subic turned out.”


“They were very impressed because they thought the withdrawal of the US Naval Base would result in [the collapse of the local economy],” he said.


In an earlier interview, Dean Alegado, executive director of the Association of Pacific Islands Local Government Conference, said the disaster that hit Japan “made the fate of the military build-up uncertain, to say the least.”

Text Fwd: Senior U.S. diplomat replaced over Okinawa uproar

* Text sent from Kyle Kajihiro with below words on March 11, 2011

'The Network for Okinawa http://www.closethebase.org/ helped to spark the protests that that toppled a US diplomat who made racist comments about Okinawans. Great work!'

Star Advertizer
Senior U.S. diplomat replaced over Okinawa uproar
By Eric Talmadge
Associated Press

TOKYO » A senior U.S. diplomat supervising Japan affairs has been replaced for allegedly making disparaging comments about the inhabitants of a southern Japanese island where U.S. troops are based, the U.S. Embassy and an assistant secretary of state said Thursday.
Kevin Maher caused an uproar by reportedly telling a group of American University students in December that Okinawans were lazy and used their hosting of U.S. bases to extort benefits from Tokyo.

The comments have been widely reported in the Japanese media, and Japan's foreign minister called them hurtful and deeply regrettable.

Maher has been replaced by Rust Deming, the deputy chief of mission in Tokyo, as director of the State Department's Office of Japan Affairs, the U.S. Embassy said in a statement. Maher will continue to work for the State Department.

Visiting Assistant Secretary Kurt Campbell refused to say whether the State Department had confirmed what Maher said. But he said the decision to replace him was made for the sake of the overall bilateral relationship.

Okinawa hosts tens of thousands of U.S. Marines and other troops, more than any other part of Japan. Okinawans have often complained that they bear too much of the burden for Japan's security alliance with Washington.

The issue is particularly sensitive now because Tokyo and Washington are negotiating a plan to move about 8,000 Marines off Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam. To do so, they plan to relocate a Marine base on Okinawa to a less crowded part of the island, but many Okinawans oppose that option and want the base closed down.

Campbell said that he has conveyed his deep regrets over the comments to the Japanese government and that the U.S. has "the utmost respect for the Okinawan people."

He said the U.S. ambassador to Japan, John Roos, had been dispatched to Okinawa Thursday to personally apologize to the Okinawan people.

Campbell described Deming, Maher's replacement, as a "strong friend of Japan."
Under their mutual security pact, about 50,000 U.S. troops are stationed in Japan.

++++++++

New York Times
March 10, 2011
U.S. Removes Diplomat Over Comments Angering Japan
By MARTIN FACKLER

TOKYO — A top American diplomat has been removed from his post after stirring outrage in Japan for reportedly belittling Okinawans, a State Department official said on Thursday.
The official, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt M. Campbell, also said the United States ambassador to Japan, John V. Roos, flew to Okinawa on Thursday to apologize in person to the governor of the island, which hosts about half of the 50,000 American military personnel in Japan.

According to Japanese press reports, the diplomat, Kevin K. Maher, told American university students in December that the Okinawans were “masters of manipulation and extortion.” Mr. Maher, who was head of the State Department’s office of Japan affairs, has called the media reports inaccurate and incomplete.

While it was unclear why it took so long for the comments to become public, they have become front-page news in Japan, where many people called them racist. On Thursday, ultra-nationalist groups used loudspeakers to protest in front of the United States Embassy in Tokyo.

But the most intense anger appeared in Okinawa, where there is deep resentment over the heavy United States military presence. Earlier this week, the Okinawan prefectural assembly adopted a resolution calling for a retraction and apology.

Japanese officials have expressed concern because the comments came at a sensitive time. Tokyo has been trying to persuade Okinawans to accept the relocation of the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma elsewhere on the island as part of a broader agreement that would reduce American forces on Okinawa.

Seeking to control the damage, Mr. Campbell, who is in Tokyo for two days of talks, said he repeatedly apologized to Japanese officials for misunderstandings caused by the reported remarks. He said Mr. Maher had been replaced as head of Japan affairs, although he still works for the State Department.

“We do believe that this has caused some harm,” Mr. Campbell told reporters in Tokyo. The reported comments “in no way reflect the views of the government of the United States and the people of the United States.”

On Thursday, Mr. Campbell met with Japan’s new foreign minister, Takeaki Matsumoto, who has said that if the reports were true, the comments were “unacceptable” and “hurt the feelings of not only Okinawans but all Japanese.”

++++++++
Peace Philosophy Center
Gavan McCormack: How Many Other Mahers Will Turn Up in Wikileaks?
ガバン・マコーマック：ウィキリークスにあと何人の「メア」が隠れているのだろうか

Kevin Maher, former Consul-General of Okinawa, has been sacked as Director of the Japan Affairs Office of the State Department and being replaced by Rust Deming, a former deputy chief of mission at the US embassy in Japan. See below for related news (Kyodo, Xinhua, and New York Times). 下方にケビン・メア更迭の英語報道（共同、新華社、ニューヨークタイムズ）を貼り付けています。

Here is Gavan McCormack's comment on the issue, which he provided at request of Okinawan newspaper Ryukyu Shimpo. The English version is followed by Japanese. 琉球新報３月１０日版の社会面に一部が掲載されたガバン・マコーマック氏（オーストラリア国立大学名誉教授、アジア太平洋ジャーナル：ジャパンフォーカス編集委員）のコメント全文をここに英語、日本語で紹介します。

For Ryukyu Shimpo

As exposure follows exposure since 2009, with the Mitsuyaku, Hatoyama, and now Maher revelations, the US-Japan-Okinawa relationship is revealed as never before. We now learn that the US Department of State’s Japan policy unit is headed by a man who is ignorant, abusive, and racist.

That in itself is not new. Contempt for Japan has been common ever since General MacArthur referred to Japanese as “twelve-year old.” But it was commonly concealed by the warmth with which Japanese leaders who are compliant, performing essentially as poodles and saying “Yes” are feted in Washington.

When Hatoyama in 2009 began to assert, however briefly and feebly, a distinctive Japanese national interest, and to talk of an equal relationship, however, that was intolerable. He was subjected to a barrage of contempt and abuse that would have been unimaginable towards any other country, enemies included. Much of Japan, however, then sided with Washington.

In due course compliant Japanese leadership was reinstated under Kan and Maehara. They are accorded respect precisely because they have reverted to the established role of Japanese leaders: to say “Yes.” Respect is simply the other side of the coin of contempt.

To Maher, Okinawa deserves special contempt because it is, or should be, the zokkoku (a client state) of a zokkoku, yet it persists in saying “No.” That he seems to find infuriating and his bureaucratic colleagues are presumably like-minded.

By exposing so clearly the thinking of Washington’s Japan handlers, however, Maher performs an unexpected service. He opens a window onto thinking at elite policy levels in the Washington establishment and so makes it virtually inconceivable that the agreements for construction of the new base at Henoko or the helipads at Takae should ever proceed.

He also makes us anticipate the release of the supposed 5,000 plus US embassy documents contained in the Wikileaks archive. How many other Mahers will turn up in those files?

Gavan McCormack, author of Client State: Japan in the American Embrace, is Coordinator of Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, and Professor Emeritus at Australian National University.

Text Fwd: U.S. diplomat accused of disparaging Okinawans

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* Peace Philosophy Center has a good coverage on this. Click the link for more information
* See also DMZ Hawai'i and Ten Thousand Things
_____________________________________
* Text Fwd from Joseph Gerson and Kyle Kajihiro on March 7

U.S. diplomat accused of disparaging Okinawans
Islanders 'masters of manipulation and extortion' on Futenma issue
Kyodo News - March 7, 2011

A U.S. official in charge of Japanese affairs at the State Department is said to have likened the Japanese cultural principle of maintaining social harmony to "extortion" and described Okinawans as "lazy" during a speech in Washington late last year.

Kevin Maher
According to a written account compiled by students who attended the lecture at the State Department, Kevin Maher, head of the Japanese affairs office and a former consul general in Okinawa Prefecture, described Okinawan people as "masters of manipulation and extortion" when dealing with the central government.
"I am not in a position to comment on the record at this time," Maher said, noting his briefing was an off-the-record event. He said the account made available to Kyodo News is "neither accurate nor complete."

Maher has been involved in the bilateral negotiations on relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and is known to be an advocate of relocating it elsewhere in the prefecture, an idea detested by local residents.
The remarks attributed to Maher are making waves.

They are "racially discriminating against Okinawa," said Teruo Hiyane, a scholar on postwar Okinawan history. Ukeru Magosaki, a former diplomat, said Maher's reported view on Japan is "biased and completely distorted."

Maher gave the speech Dec. 3 at the request of American University to a group of 14 students who were about to embark on a roughly two-week study tour of Tokyo and Okinawa.

In the speech, Maher was quoted as saying, "Consensus building is important in Japanese culture. While the Japanese would call this 'consensus,' they mean 'extortion' and use this culture of consensus as a means of extortion.

"By pretending to seek consensus, people try to get as much money as possible," he said.
Maher also criticized the people of Okinawa as "too lazy to grow 'goya' (bitter gourd)," a traditional summer vegetable in the prefecture, according to the account.

On the base, which is situated in a crowded residential area of Ginowan, Maher allegedly said that while Okinawans claim the base is the most dangerous in the world, they know it's not true.

The civilian airports in Fukuoka and Osaka are "just as dangerous," he reportedly said.

Maher was quoted as saying that the Japanese government "needs to tell the Okinawan governor, 'If you want money, sign it," referring to the Futenma relocation plan.

Students who took notes during Maher's speech said he definitely made the remarks, and at least one said it was surprising to hear statements full of bias coming from a person in the U.S. government.

The air base affair in Okinawa has been dragging on for well over a decade.

Maher, 56, served as the consul general in Okinawa from 2006 to 2009 after joining the State Department in 1981 and being posted to Tokyo and Fukuoka.

Maher said of the account provided to Kyodo that he "cannot control how individual students themselves might interpret remarks" and "it would therefore not be appropriate" to attribute any specific remarks to him "based upon secondhand information coming from students or others."

In the summer of 2008, while he was posted in Okinawa, Maher sparked controversy after questioning why the local authorities were allowing the construction of homes in the residential area around the Futenma air base. Plaintiffs seeking damages over noise from the U.S. base then presented him with a written demand calling on him to immediately leave Okinawa.

Magosaki, former head of the international intelligence office at the Foreign Ministry, said he had the impression that "U.S. officials in charge of recent U.S.-Japan negotiations shared ideas like those of Mr. Maher," adding "in that sense, his remarks were not especially distorted."

Text Fwd: Hatoyama's Confession: The Myth of Deterrence and the Failure to Move a Marine Base Outside Okinawa

Asia Pacific Journal
Hatoyama's Confession: The Myth of Deterrence and the Failure to Move a Marine Base Outside Okinawa
Norimatsu Satoko

Hatoyama Trumps Mubarak

While most Japanese newspapers led with the resignation of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the morning of February 13, it was different in Okinawa. Both Okinawan dailies, Ryukyu Shimpo and Okinawa Taimusu, ran as their top story, “Deterrence was [just] a Pretext,” (Yokushiryoku wa hoben).1 In a joint interview held in Tokyo on January 31 and February 8 with the two Okinawan papers and the Kyodo News Agency, former Prime Minister Hatoyama Yukio conceded that he had just given “deterrence” as the factor necessitating retention of the US Marine Corps on Okinawa (and hence the building of a new Okinawa base for them) because he needed a pretext. Nine months after stepping down as Prime Minister, he conceded that this was not true. Since then, Hatoyama has scarcely stopped talking, even giving an interview to a Hong Kong TV station,2 and in the process he has shed vivid light on Japanese policymaking and the US-Japan-Okinawa relationship. Japan scarcely needs a Wikileaks when it has a Hatoyama.

Hatoyama became Prime Minister when the left-of-centre DPJ (Democratic Party of Japan) won a landslide victory in the general election of August 30, 2009, defeating the conservative LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) that had ruled post-war Japan almost without a break. He had campaigned on pledges to establish political (rather than bureaucratic) leadership in governance, to build a more equal US-Japan relationship, and secure the return of the Futenma Marine Air station without replacement in the prefecture. Hatoyama had also advanced the view that Japan’s security should be achieved without a permanent US troop presence, and envisaged a more harmonious relationship among China, Japan and Korea as a foundation for the nation’s foreign policy.

Hatoyama’s plan directly challenged the agreement between US and the LDP government to close the dangerous airbase in the middle of densely populated Ginowan City and to build a new air base and military port at Henoko, on the pristine Northeastern shore of Okinawa. The plan to “reduce the burden on the people of Okinawa and thereby strengthen the Japan-US alliance,” was conceived in the Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) agreement in 1996.3 In 2006, the US and Japan agreed on the “Roadmap” plan,4 which stipulated that eight thousand Okinawa Marines and their nine thousand family members would be moved to Guam by 2014, and V-shaped runways would be built on Henoko, as a replacement base for Futenma. The plan was hurriedly formalized in February 2009 in the final days of LDP rule.5 When Hatoyama became Prime Minister in September 2009, the thirteen-year old plan for the new base construction in Henoko had not been implemented, primarily because of determined Okinawan opposition.6

Hatoyama’s election pledge and the DPJ triumph at the polls buoyed Okinawans, who had experienced more than six decades of a military base regime in which 75 percent of all US military-use land in Japan is located in Okinawa’s 0.6 percent of Japan’s land. As Prime Minister, however, Hatoyama, failed to break through the thick wall of bureaucratic control of the state or even to negotiate directly with the US. After months of sometimes hopeful, sometimes confusing, and often contradictory proposals for alternative “relocation” plans, Hatoyama finally concluded that there was no viable alternative to the existing plan for a Futenma “replacement” base in Henoko. He thus betrayed Okinawan expectations.

On May 4, 2010, explaining to Okinawans why he had abandoned his pledge, Hatoyama said, “In terms of the role of the Marine Corps in the totality of all US forces in Okinawa, the more I learned, the more I have come to realize their interoperability. I have come to believe that it was the [only] way to maintain deterrence.”7 He offered no explanation, however, of why, after months of efforts to relocate the base outside of Okinawa, he suddenly brought up the concept of “deterrence.” Following the US-Japan Joint Statement on May 28 confirming the two countries’ intention to build a replacement base in Henoko, Hatoyama resigned on June 4. He had served as Prime Minister for just eight months.

In the interview, Hatoyama belatedly explained his decision to revert to the Henoko plan despite overwhelming Okinawan popular opposition. “Deterrence” had simply been a pretext, the ex post facto rationalization for a decision reached after failing to implement his vision for Okinawa and a new Japan-US relationship. As military analysts had long recognized, the Marines functioned not as a “deterrent” against attack on Okinawa or Japan, but as a force used in attacking enemy territory. The role of the Marines was not to protect Okinawan or Japan, but to train for the role they have played in US wars from Vietnam to Iraq and Afghanistan. It was in a way no surprise to Okinawans who long suspected that “deterrence” was merely an excuse to justify the new base construction. What was surprising was Hatoyama revealed the details of the Futenma-related negotiations in the days leading up to his resignation, and admitted openly that claims of “deterrence” had been merely a pretext.

Equally notable was that calling for unconditional closure of Futenma without building a replacement base in Okinawa or anywhere else in Japan never seemed to occur to Hatoyama or other Cabinet members. Research indicates that the Marine functions that US plans to move to Guam most likely include Futenma’s helicopter units, which would make it unnecessary to build a replacement base in Okinawa or anywhere else in Japan.8 Building a “replacement” base was presuppositional in the whole discussion of Futenma closure, including the mainstream media and the government.

READ MORE

Text Fwd: Okinawans Continue to Resist in Takae

* Image source: Ten Thousand Things
'Okinawans engaged in nonviolent action to protect their beloved, biodiverse Yanbaru Forest from unwanted U.S. military training helipad construction. Photo: The Situation in Takae Higashimura and Yanbaru Forest website.'
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See also Ten Thousand Things
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* Text fwd from Corazon Valdez Fabros on Feb. 26, 2011

Huffington Post
Okinawans Continue to Resist in Takae
John Feffer
Co-director, Foreign Policy in Focus
February 25, 2011


Some animals should be endangered. Consider the V-22 Osprey. The tilt-rotor aircraft, which takes off like a helicopter but flies like a plane, costs more than a $100 million apiece, killed 30 personnel in crashes during its development stage, and survived four attempts by none other than Dick Cheney to deep-six the program. Although it is no longer as crash-prone as it once was, the Osprey's performance in Iraq was still sub-par and it remains a woefully expensive creature. Although canceling the program would save the U.S. government $10-12 billion over the next decade, the Osprey somehow avoided the budget axe in the latest round of cuts on Capitol Hill.

It's bad enough that U.S. taxpayers have to continue to support the care and feeding of this particular Osprey. Worse, we're inflicting the bird on others.

In a small village in the Yanbaru Forest in northern Okinawa, the residents of Takae have been fighting non-stop to prevent the construction of six helipads designed specifically for the V-22. The protests have been going on since the day in 2007 when Japanese construction crews tried to prepare the site for the helipads. "Since that day, over 10,000 locals, mainland Japanese, and foreign nationals have participated in a non-stop sit-in outside the planned helipad sites," writes Jon Mitchell at Foreign Policy In Focus. "So far, they've managed to thwart any further construction attempts. At small marquee tents, the villagers greet visitors with cups of tea and talk them through their campaign, highlighting their message with hand-written leaflets and water-stained maps."

It's all part of the plan that would shut down the aging Futenma air base in Okinawa, relocate some of the Marines to Guam, and build a new facility elsewhere in Okinawa. The overwhelming majority of Okinawans oppose this plan. They want to shut down Futenma, and they don't want any new U.S. military bases.

But the Japanese government has essentially knuckled under to U.S. pressure to move forward with the agreement. Building these helipads in a subtropical forest, with a wide range of unusual wildlife, is all part of the deal.

The recently re-elected Okinawan governor Hirokazu Nakaima opposes the relocation plan. And, according to Pacific Daily News, "Nakaima may actually have the authority to disrupt the plan because of his authority under the Japan Public Water Reclamation Act, which gives the Okinawa governor final authority over reclaimed land."

Washington has said that it won't move forward on the deal without local support.
The Osprey is a budget-busting beast. The Okinawans don't want it. Both Tokyo and Washington are desperate to trim spending.

The V-22 is one animal well worth driving toward extinction.

[Site Fwd:Ten Thousand Things] Solidarity Appeal against the Illegal Arrest Of 2 Okinawan anti-war Activists

Ten Thousand Things
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Solidarity Appeal against the Illegal Arrest Of 2 Okinawan anti-war Activists


Peaceful Feb 20 protest at U.S. Embassy, Tokyo. Footage of the violent arrest at 4:00.

Two activists have been arrested during a demonstration in front of the US embassy in Tokyo on February 20th. Despite pre-arrangements to hold talks with the embassy, the activists were arrested with no explanation. The footage above shows a police officers using unnecessary force in arresting a submissive activist, one officer grabbing the activist by the hair while lifting him from the protest area to a police vehicle.

An appeal against the injustices on 2.20 by the "Rescue Committee for the Feb. 20 repression in front of the US Embassy in Japan" follows:

We strongly condemn these arbitrary and illegal arrests and demand the immediate release of the 2 activists. This demonstration was against the construction of a heliport that is part of the US military base in Takae, Okinawa. This construction is carried out despite the opposition by the people of Takae town. We had asked for talks with the US embassy which they granted us to be held at 16:00 on Feb.20. The police of Akasaka district agreed to stand nearby the embassy.

When we arrived at the rendez-vous place, the police wouldn't let us go near the embassy, [and] resorted to violence against 2 activists and arrested them. When another activist asked the police on what grounds, the reason for the arrests,they said that" the reason would be given later, after the arrests." This answer is a total denial of rights. A protest is a legitimate and legal right of citizens that the police cannot deny through violence.

After the arrests, the police refused us the request to hold talks at the embassy by asking us threateningly if we wanted to be arrested like the others. The police prevented lawyers to see the arrested activists on the first day. All these acts by the police are illegal. The response of the US embassy is that they had commissioned the talks with the citizens at the Akasaka police district.

It is clear that these arrests are a message from the Japanese and US governments that any opposition to US military bases will be suppressed by force. We condemn the illegal arrests and demand the immediate release of the arrested activists.

February 22nd protests against the arrest and violation of human rights by the Akasaka police department at Kasumigaseki Public Prosecutor's Offices

Information in French： http://d.hatena.ne.jp/ametaiQ/20110224/1298557024

Information in Japanese:　http://d.hatena.ne.jp/ametaiQ/20110220

Demand the release of the activists by calling:

The Akasaka Police Station +81-3475-0110
The US Embassy in Japan +81-3224-5000
The Japan Embassy of your country of resident.
*Send solidarity messages to: ametaiq@gmail.com

- Posted by Jen Teeter

Video Fwd: Fwd: Two arrested in the demonstration at US Embassy in Tokyo

* Informed by Satoko Norimatsu and Kyle Kajihiro on Feb. 22, 2011



'At the demonstration on February 20 in front of US Embassy in Tokyo toprotest forceful construction of helipads in Takae, Yanbaru, twoactivists were arrested. They are still detained, from what we read onthe net.See from around 3:30 minutes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OnwiaVSQ1ig

Satoko Norimatsu
Peace Philosophy Centre, Vancouver http://peacephilosophy.com
Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus http://japanfocus.org
UBC Education/Centre for the Study of Historical Consciousness http://www.cshc.ubc.ca/ '

Text Fwd: Reischauer Saw US Forces' Okinawa-to Guam Move Theoretically Possible

* Text informed by Martha Duenas on Feb. 19, 2011

The Mainichi Daily News
Reischauer Saw US Forces' Okinawa-to Guam Move Theoretically Possible
February 19, 2011

Tokyo(Kyodo) - Former U.S. Ambassador to Japan Edwin Reischauer told a Japanese government official in 1967 that relocating all U.S. military facilities in Okinawa to Guam was theoretically possible, declassified Japanese diplomatic documents showed Friday.

Reischauer also told the Japanese officials that the U.S. military had estimated the cost for the relocation at $3 billion to $4 billion, showed the documents declassified by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

Reischauer made the comment during a meeting with a Japanese diplomat in Boston on April 14, 1967, eight months after leaving the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo, according to a top-secret cable sent the following day to the Japanese Foreign Ministry from the Japanese Embassy in Washington.

The document quoted Reischauer as saying that Japan had enjoyed a "free ride" in its national security thanks to U.S. defense efforts, a comment taken as speaking for some U.S. lawmakers who were dissatisfied with Tokyo and trying to prod Japan to take a more active role in its national defense.

In 2006, Japan and the United States reached an agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. Under the accord, the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan will be relocated to the coastal area of Nago by 2014. The deal also includes the transfer of around 8,000 Marines to Guam from Okinawa.

Reischauer (1910-1990), who is known to be an expert of history and culture of Japan at Harvard University, served as U.S. ambassador to Japan from 1961 through 1966.

[Site Fwd: Ten Thousand Things] VOICE OF OKINAWA

See also Peace Philosophy Center


Ten Thousand Things
VOICE OF OKINAWA
Takae's helipad issue — Criticizing Sen. Inouye
Yoshio Shimoji
Naha, Okinawa

Futenma is not the only base issue anguishing Okinawa these days. There's a village called Takae in northern Okinawa and the problem facing Takae is that, in return for an unused portion of the U.S. Marine Corps Northern Training Area, Tokyo agreed with Washington to construct six helipads (diameter: 75 meters each) for the U.S. Marines' V-22 Ospreys in the lush forests surrounding the village.

The helipad construction is apparently interconnected with the planned relocation of the Futenma air station to Henoko, located also in northern Okinawa. The noise pollution caused by the Ospreys is said to be beyond human forbearance as the storm of protest showed lodged against the Marines on January 27 by the citizens of Brewton, Alabama, for the maneuvering of the Ospreys at the city’s airport.


Takae's lush forest where Tokyo wants to construct of six helipads (diameter of 75 meters each) for U.S. military V-22 Ospreys. Over 192 plant and animal (most are endangered) species are unique to this area. Photo: Yoshio Shimoji)

Takae sits amidst lush forests and natural beauty. Imagine how horrible its beautiful landscape would become if the construction actually started. The training and the deafening noise of the infamous Ospreys would certainly destroy the peaceful environment for not only the Takae villagers but also those precious species, some already listed as endangered, that are indigenous to Yanbaru (or Northern Okinawa Highland).



According to the February 12 Japan Times, Senator Daniel Inouye again urged Tokyo to make headway for the early relocation of Futenma, saying “The U.S. side has been patient, although it cannot wait indefinitely.” This is a gangster’s typical pet line when he intimidates others — that is, Senator Inouye is threatening Tokyo to expedite Washington’s decades-old design of Futenma’s relocation to Henoko.

He may not know, but the Marines or the U.S. Navy representing them submitted to U.S. Congress every fiscal year in the 1960’s a blue print for the relocation of Futenma to Henoko for a budgetary approval, which was never approved because of sky-rocketing Vietnam War expenditures. How dare he say “the U.S. side cannot wait indefinitely”? That’s a laughing matter, indeed.

(The blueprint for a new air station, a military port, and a pier, from the Master Plan of Navy Facilities on Okinawa, 1966. Image: Asia-Pacific Journal)

Mr. Shimoji's "The Futenma Base and the U.S.-Japan Controversy: An Okinawan Perspective" was published at The Asia Pacific Journal earlier this year.

His letter letter, "How dare Obama ask Hatoyama to act without regard to democratic process in Okinawa?" was published at the The New York Times on May 28, 2010, and his article, "'Thanks' Doesn't Allay Okinawans," was published on July 11, 2010, at The Japan Times.

Text Fwd: 2 congressmen call for pullout of U.S. forces from Japan

* Text informed by Corazon Valdez Fabros on Feb. 16, 2011

Japan Today
2 congressmen call for pullout of U.S. forces from Japan
Wednesday 16th February, 11:00 AM JST

WASHINGTON —Two veteran U.S. congressmen have called for the withdrawal of U.S. forces in Japan amid the ballooning U.S. budget deficit.


‘‘It’s becoming a financial issue,’’ Ron Paul, a Republican House of Representatives member from Texas, said in a recent interview with Kyodo News, indicating that maintaining U.S. forces in Japan has become a financial burden for Washington.


Dennis Kucinich, a Democrat member from Ohio, said in a separate interview, ‘‘The United States truly cannot afford to construct the new base in Okinawa. Nor can it afford to have a military presence across the globe.’‘


Kucinich and Paul are heavyweights in the House, and both have experience of seeking the presidency. Paul, an advocate of isolationism, is supported by conservatives, while Kucinich is popular as one of the most liberal figures among the Democrats.


Last week, the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff unveiled their latest National Military Strategy report pledging to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in northeast Asia for decades.


Some members of Congress say it is important for the United States to keep forces in Japan as China’s military presence is growing in the region while North Korea continues to act provocatively.


The two lawmakers, however, are opposed to continued stationing of U.S. forces in Japan.
‘‘China’s interested in making money, not war,’’ Kucinich said.


Paul argued Tokyo should end its dependence on U.S. forces for its defense, saying, ‘‘It’s time for Japan to assume all of their own responsibilities.’‘


He also dismissed the view that U.S. forces in Japan serve as deterrence, saying this is an ‘‘excuse’’ to maintain a U.S. military presence in the region.


‘‘For a long time I was probably the only one’’ who proposed such a view, he said, adding, ‘‘Now we’re getting more support.’‘


Kucinich is also critical of the current U.S. military strategy. ‘‘We don’t have the money to be the policemen of the world. And we should stop pretending that we do,’’ he said.


Describing the U.S. military bases in Japan as ‘‘really part of a bygone era,’’ Kucinich urged the two countries to move away from a relationship prioritizing military cooperation.


‘‘We have a strong friendship with Japan. That friendship is not dependent on a military presence,’’ he said.


Both Paul and Kucinich said they can understand the feeling of local people in Okinawa Prefecture where a host of U.S. bases are located. Local opposition remains strong against a plan to relocate a U.S. base within the prefecture.


‘‘What if China wanted a base in New York City? We’d be furious,’’ Paul said.


The problem in Okinawa is not U.S. Marine troops but ‘‘the people in Washington that send them there,’’ Kucinich said, adding, ‘‘This is an issue that Congress must take up with the White House so that we can make sure that the concerns of the residents of Okinawa are taken into consideration.’’

Petition Fwd: Stop building USmilitary helipad and save the Okinawa forest!

* Fwd from Corazon Valdez Fabros on Feb. 15, 2011


Petition: Stop building USmilitary helipad and save the Okinawa forest! (click)
Target: Mr.President Obama
Sponsored by: Sumiko Uda
Dear Mr.President Obama,

Okinawa people need your help.
Japanese government starts destroying the forest for building the US helipad,
without investgation of Redlisted animals.


Please tell Mr.Kan to stop destroying Okinawa forest.


There is Jungle Warfare Training Center of United States Marine Corps (7,500 ha) in the area called Yanbaru %u2013 Northeast mountain side of Higashi and Kunigami village, Okinawa. Subtropical natural forest and mountain stream remain, and the area provides habitats for over 4,000 species of wildlife. 11 animals and 12 plants are peculiar to the Yanbaru area. A large number of Threatened Species are listed in the Red List, 188 species in Okinawan Red List, and 177 in the Red List of Environment Ministry. Jungle Warfare Training Center and the Yanbaru Forest around the center have quite important natural environment and biodiversity including numerous endemic, endemic subspecific, and threatened species.


%u3000Northern half of the Jungle Warfare Training Center is scheduled for retiring to Japan. However, the construction of 6helipads (75m in diameter) and roads are required in return. If the helipads are constructed and military exercises carry out, it is considered to have serious adverse effect on forest and the wildlife living in the area.


Okinawa People call for the cancellation of helipads.


Natural environment and the wildlife living in the Jungle Warfare Training Center are of considerable value as World natural heritage. IUCN urged both Japanese and American governments to consider other alternatives, including Zero Option (option of no constriction), also to set up a protected area and management action plan for Okinawa Woodpecker and Okinawa Rail in the years of 2000 and 2004. The government should also call off the helipads constriction plan to the security and tranquil life of the people who lives in Takae, Higashi village,
situated next to the helipads.

[Site Fwd: Ten Thousand Things] Okinawa Governor Nakaima & Mayors Hand U.S. Military Base Closure/No New Base Request to Japanese PM Kan

Ten Thousand Things
Okinawa Governor Nakaima & Mayors Hand U.S. Military Base Closure/No New Base Request to Japanese PM Kan
Friday, February 11, 2011

(Governor Nakaima hands request to Prime Minister Kan, asking him to move the U.S. Marine Air Station Futenma off the island and to cancel a proposal for new base in Henoko. Photo: Ryukyu Shimpo.)

On Feb. 8, Governor Nakaima and a group of Okinawan mayors handed a request to Naoto Kan, asking the Japanese prime minister to move the US Marine Air Station Futenma off the island and to cancel the plan for a new "replacement" mega-base in Henoko, an environmentally sensitive area on the island. The mayors included Mayor Susumu Inamine of Nago City, Mayor Takeshi Asato of Ginowan City, and 9 other mayors from base-hosting communities.

Their request, the first formal request of 2011, follows a 15-year sit-in protest at Henoko; a 3-year protest at Takae in Yanbaru Forest; numerous statements, plebiscites, resolutions, elections, and mass protest rallies across Okinawa over the past fifteen years — all demanding the closure of Futenma and the cancellation of the proposal of a new U.S. base at Henoko.

(Message to US Marine Air Station Futenma painted on the roof of Ginowan City Hall. Photo: Ginowan City, via Futenma-Henoko Action Network)In March 2010, Satoko Norimatsu, a scholar of Okinawan issues and peace educator, asked:

"How many of these elections, plebiscites, resolutions, and mass-scale rallies do the central government and US Government need to hear about in order to REALLY get the message - one simple message that Okinawa (nor any other prefecture) does NOT want another base?"

Okinawans have tried to get their message through to Tokyo and Washington via lawsuits; articles and books; an advertisement in the Washington Post; statements across rooftops, in the sand, on t-shirts, painted on faces, spelled out in candlelight by human formation, on monuments; and flying from banners on boats and flag posts; through songs, photographs, and festivals; and global solidarity rallies with supporters wearing dugong masks and Okinawa woodpecker hats.

READ MORE

Text Fwd: Another Okinawa Battle

See also Ten Thousand Things

Wednesday, February 9, 2011

Petition from Okinawa to President Obama: Tell Prime Minister Kan to stop building helipads & save Yanbaru Forest in Okinawa!

_____________________________________

* Text fwd from Corazon Valdez Fabros on Feb. 10, 2011


Tokyo Notes

Another Okinawa Battle

Feb. 9, 2011


In June 2009, Okinawa Prefecture became the unexpected political graveyard of Yukio Hatoyama, who quit after months of struggling to bear the weight of a pledge he made to its citizens.

Hatoyama had come to power the previous September promising to tackle one of the great Cold War anomalies. For over half a century, constitutionally pacifist and neutral Japan had sheltered beneath the US military umbrella as a loyal (and in recent years increasingly proactive) ally. ‘We're still in Cold War mode,’ he lamented to me before he took power.

Two years later, the former prime minister appears to still recognise the long-term unsustainability of that arrangement. ‘The idea of having one nation’s military based on another’s soil and depending on its military is not something seen anywhere else in the world,’ he told the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan on February 2. ‘I felt that this was something the Japanese people couldn't avoid confronting.’

Today in Okinawa, reality is sharply at odds with Hatoyama’s good intentions. Activists there say the Japanese and US authorities have begun a new push to break the 15-year-old stalemate over replacing old US military facilities.

At Henoko, site of a proposed US military seaport that includes an 1,800-metre runway to replace the Futenma Marine Air Station in the middle of Ginowan City, a concrete wall is being erected to separate civilian and military land on the beach. That’s likely the first move toward construction.

Meanwhile, the citizens of Takae, a 160-household village in Yanbaru Forest, have been protesting round-the-clock against the renewed construction (since December 22) of six US helipads to accommodate the V-22 Osprey aircraft. The villagers say that forcible constructionthat forcible construction would pave the way for a similar strategy on Henoko. They’ve accused the authorities of harassment.

If anything has changed since 2009 it’s this: Democratic Party of Japan politicians are, perhaps, more vocal about Okinawa’s burden than their Liberal Democratic Party predecessors. ‘It doesn’t make sense’ to put 75 percent of US military facilities on 0.6 percent of Japan’s land, admits DPJ rising lawmaker Taketane Kiuchi. But there the hand wringing ends and the realpolitik begins: ‘We have already made a promise, country-to-country, so we have to go ahead with moving the base to Henoko,’ he adds.

Hatoyama agrees. ‘If the Henoko facility can't be built, the airbase in Futenma will be made permanent, and this is an option that we should avoid at all costs,’ he told the FCCJ audience.

The mainland press has been quick to back this scenario, and warn of a huge spike in military spending—held at 0.9 percent to 1.0 percent of Japan’s GDP for decades—if it begins uncoupling from the security alliance with the United States. Opting for the Hatoyama route meant that Japan ‘would have to increase its 5-trillion-yen defence budget by 10 percent annually for the next 10 years,’ warned Sentaku political magazine in February 2010.

The latest push on Okinawa also follows last year’s spatlast year’s spat between Japan’s coastguard and a Chinese trawler, which badly mauled bilateral relations and added to Japanese conservative paranoia about Beijing’s strategic aims in Asia. Conservatives in Japan are now increasingly vocal about China’s growing military clout, with some speculating that it is operating spies and provocateurs in Okinawa, the prelude to an eventual claim on the islands.

Hideshi Takesada, executive director of the National Institute for Defence Studies, recently told the Shingetsu Institute that Chinese professors in Japan have been ‘spreading Chinese government propaganda’ to their students, in line with Beijing’s interests. Takesada is apparently concerned that China will soon make a formal claim to Okinawa by citing old manuscripts of the Qing dynasty showing these territories as being tributary.

Such views may be taken as the inevitable if troubling by-product of Japanese anxiety as it accommodates uneasily to the growing Chinese bulk—or as something more foreboding. There are few peaceful historical precedents for such a huge transition of power and influence from one nation to another. But whatever happens, there seems little doubt that Okinawans will be asked keep bearing the weight of the US-Japan military pact—and may in fact be forced to shoulder more.

The pact keeps Okinawa largely out of sight and mind of the mainland, until a protest or particularly heinous crime on the prefecture pushes it back onto the nation’s front pages. It remains to be seen how Okinawans will react to the latest initiative; in his FCCJ speech, Hatoyama appeared to offer a coded warning to the administration of Naoto Kan. While advising the government to push ahead with the relocation, he added: ‘We can't be too optimistic about the government’s prospects (about the base on Henoko).’

‘Many things will depend on the construction methods—it should be made in such a way that is friendly to the environment, and it shouldn’t be permanent. The land needs to be returned to the people of Okinawa. What’s needed before then is frank and fair discussion,’ he said.

But the time for talking may have ended.

[Site Fwd: Peace Philosophy Centre] Takae in Crisis

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* M. S. in Japan also informed as the below on Feb. 1, 2011

'Like in Jeju, rspectively in Henoko and in Takae, the planned constructionhas been proceeded to the next stage.
http://henoko.ti-da.net/e3270781.html
http://d.hatena.ne.jp/hansentoteikounofesta09/20110110
Our administration seems to be determined to enforce both the plans, no matter what,in spite of demonstrations and opposition appeals now being carried out by citizens again and again.
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Peace Philosophy Center
Takae in Crisis
Feb. 01, 2011

Below photos are from the Takae blog. The Okinawa Defense Bureau's contractors forcibly started construction work at the end of last year, and today, several dump trucks and 50 - 60 workers came and threw bags of gravels over the fence at multiple entry points of Northern Training Area. There are not enough protesters to stop the construction work, and people in Takae and Okinawa are calling for action.

For Okinawans' struggle against US/Japan's plan to build six additional helipads for US Marine Corps use in the Northern Training Area (Jungle Warfare Training), please see the LINK HERE. These new helipads, where faster, heavier, noisier, and dangerous MV-22 (Osprey) will be using, will endanger the lives of local residents and further damage the pristine, and biologically rich and vulnerable Yambaru Forest in Nothern Okinawa.

Telephone and/or Fax and tell them to stop it.

Okinawa Defense Bureau 沖縄防衛局 098-921-8131

Japanese Ministry of Defense 防衛省03-5366-3111

Cabinet Secretary 内閣官房 03-5253-2111

Okinawa Prefecture 沖縄県知事公室基地対策課　

TEL：098-866-2460　FAX：098-869-8979

Higashi Village Office　TEL：0980-43-2201　FAX：0980-43-2457　

US Embassy in Japan: http://tokyo.usembassy.gov/t-main.html TEL: 03-3224-5000

Call the Diet members and political parties you support and/or voted for, and ask them to tell the Ministry of Defense and Okinawa Defense Bureau to stop the construction of new helipads

Sites Fwd: Oppression on the struggle in Henoko, Okinawa

* Caption by Peace Philosophy Center
Photo from "Henoko hama tsushin" blog. 14 US tanks landed on Henoko beach on the early morning of January 27. Dogongs move around in the reef at night, so landing before dawn poses great danger to them, according to the blog.
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Ten Thousand Things
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Henoko, Okinawa: 14 U.S. Marine amphibious assault tanks crush coral and anemone; trample sea grass; & disturb dugongs during feeding hours

A Henoko blogger posted this Jan. 27:

When I went to the beach after dawn today, I saw fourteen U.S. Marine amphibious assault tanks lined on Henoko beach which we Okinawans cherish so much.

According to a local witness, the tanks left dock landing ship(s) offshore. In the dark, with glaring searchlights on, the tanks disembarked moved towards the beach, in the direction of Camp Schwab.

These amphibious assault tanks have caused many accident; crushed coral; and trampled down the sea grass that the Okinawan Dugongs eat. The assault tanks disperse oil, soot, noises around the coral.

What a violent act to set fourteen tanks with their weaponry in the sea during the hours (rather than another time) when Okinawan Dugongs are active! Usually, the dugongs that live offshore of Henoko are active at night, inside the coral reef.

Therefore, even the adamant Okinawa Burea of Defense Policy could not make their environmental assessments until one hour after dawn to assess the serious impact the ecosystem of the sea where the dugongs live.

* Many thanks to M. Sato for this translation

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Peace Philosophy Center
Ministry of Defense files complaint against Nago
Jan. 29, 2011

On January 28, the Japanese Ministry of Defense filed a complaint against Nago City for their refusal to allow them to conduct a survey on the inhabitation of animals and plants off the coast of Henoko, Nago, on the basis of the Administrative Appeal Act. Nago's mayor Inamine Susumu has made his position clear that he opposes the US/Japan plan to build a new Marine base in place of Futenma Air Station over the cape of Henoko. Inamine disallowed such survey because it would be done on the premise that a new base would be built. Ryukyu Shimpo expects that if Inamine dismisses this complaint, the Ministry of Defense may file an administrative lawsuit against Inamine.

According to Nakachi Hiroshi, professor (administrative law) of the University of Ryukyus, the intent of the Administrative Appeal Act was to provide an opportunity for ordinary citizens to complain against deeds of administrative entities, and should not be applied to the state. Nakachi wonders if this is a political performance by the central government to indicate that they are making efforts to build a base despite the local opposition, but such performance should bring no political benefits to the government, Nakachi says. Nago will probably dismiss the complaint, and in that case, it is unknown whether the state will file a lawsuit against them. If they do, it will be reminiscent of the 1995 lawsuit by then Prime Minister Murayama Tomiichi against then Governor of Okinawa Ota Masahide, who refused to sign the contract to renew land lease for US military use, after hundreds of Okinawan military landowners refused to sign and their municipal leaders refused to sign on their behalf.

Okinawa's Governor Nakaima Hirokazu avoided stating a clear opinion on this issue. Nakaima won the election on the platform that he would call for Futenma Air Station to be moved outside the prefecture, but he failed to clearly express his opposition to the plan to build a replacement base in Henoko. With Nago and the state at the stalemate, Nakaima will have to make his position clear, sooner or later.

(In summary of discussion on Ryukyu Shimpo, pp. 1-2, on January 29, 2011)

[Site Fwd: Ten Thousand Things]Makishi Osamu: Photographs of Blue Coral & Clown Fish in Oura Bay off beautiful Henoko, Okinawa

Clown Fish

Blue Coral

Clown Fish(Photos originally posted at the Network for Okinawa website)

Ten Thousand Things

Saturday, January 29, 2011
Makishi Osamu: Photographs of Blue Coral & Clown Fish in Oura Bay off beautiful Henoko, Okinawa

More photos by Makishi Osamu of Blue Coral and adorable Kumanomi (Clown Fish) in Oura Bay off beautiful Henoko, Okinawa...