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Okinawans Grow Tired of American Military, US Newspaper Reports
Infuriated by a string of harassing incidents, People in Okinawa, a Japanese territory used as an American military basis for 56 years, have pitched growing decries about continued US military presence in the island, according to a report by the New York Times on Tuesday.
"In fact, the collision of a Chinese fighter jet and a (U.S.) Navy spy plane that began its mission at the Kadena Air Base here provided yet another in a string of incidents...that has fueled a strong sense that the Americans are a nuisance, and simply unwanted," the newspaper reported from Naha, Okinawa.
Okinawa, about 1,000 miles southwest of Tokyo, has been serving as one of the most important bases of operations for the United States in the Pacific region, where about 18,000 U.S. marines and other military personnel are stationed.
"Every time there is a problem with the U.S. military, whether it actually happens here or not, we feel it," the newspaper quoted Hideharu Oyodomori, a local beauty salon owner, as saying.
But even before the spy plane incident, other troubles had already generated mounting pressures on the Japanese government to scale back the U.S. Marine Corps presence and to apply stricter rules governing marine behavior in Okinawa, the New York Times reported.
On January 9, a 21-year-old marine was arrested after he was reported to have lifted the skirt of a high-school girl and trying to take her picture. The incident occurred in the same town, Kin, where three marines raped a 12-year-old girl in 1995, an event that aroused strong indignation among the Okinawans against the Americans.
Just one week after the January 9 arrest, the newspaper went on to say, two arson incidents took place in Chatan, and a marine was later arrested in connection with those attacks.
Less than a month after that came the sinking of a Japanese fisheries research boat off Hawaii after it was hit by an American nuclear submarine, killing nine Japanese civilians.
Although the submarine accident had no direct link to Okinawa, it galvanized anti-American feelings among local people and politicians, the newspaper said.
In a span of a few weeks, the Okinawan prefectural assembly and the municipal assemblies of both Kin and Chatan denounced the Americans' behavior. the regional assembly even demanded, for the first time, a reduction in the marine presence.
To make things worse, an e-mail message by Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, the U.S. Marine commander for Japan, was leaked and published in a local newspaper, which criticized Okinawan political leaders who "falsely claim to be our friends," calling them nuts, "and a bunch of wimps."
"In a way, we had been reserved about demanding a reduction of the marines and other U.S. military forces, but we can no longer bear it," Okinawan Governor Keiichi Inamine, who has long been a supporter of the U.S. presence in Okinawa, was quoted as saying during a recent meeting with Japan's foreign minister.
"We live in peace and are secure enough without needing the American military here," said Masatoshi Uehara, a 41-year-old butcher at Naha's sprawling central market. Uehara's opinion reflects that of many native Okinawans, the New York Times reported.
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