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Japan PM apologises to Okinawans

Japan's new Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, apologises to the people of Okinawa for "the burden" of US bases, during a trip to the island. Ref. Source 1

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Japan protests to US over Okinawa 'assault'
Local Japanese News In English

Japan has lodged a formal complaint with the US after another incident in Okinawa allegedly involving a member of the US military. A US serviceman reportedly entered an apartment above a bar and hit a teenage boy. The man fell from a window and was taken to hospital, media reports said. (BBC)
Source: News On Japan

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Here is what I noticed after living in Japan for 3 years and my wife being Japanese. A lot of brief different topics.

The people who complain are often college students. Many of the protesters in Okinawa come from mainland Japan.

On votes in Japan, business owners support the US presence. College students and younger groups do not in general. A lot of the votes were decided by less then 1%.

Built into Japanese law, for a community to get the compensation payment for having a base from the Japanese federal government, they have to file a complaint. Otherwise, no payment. So many of the local government complaints are token complaints.

Following the tsunami in 2011, support for US Forces in Japan has grown. Now with China being more aggressive as well, support is continuing to grow. With the Chinese issue, this next election in Japan is leaning back towards the conservatives.

I am not claiming there are no problems, but those were several thing I noticed being there and from Japanese media.

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Are the protesters thinking that Japan should defend themselves against outside forces like China and North Korea? The US being there is what's keeping outside forces from wiping out Japan in my opinion.

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Fair, that is hard to say. Okinawa is a different animal that Japan to be honest. Remember that they had been their own nations up until the 1870s. It was its own nation also claimed by China. A lot of the culture here is a mix of both Japanese and Chinese, but a large part of them (in my opinion) view themselves as Okinawan not Japanese. There is no real movement of separation like in Hawaii, but it is a sense of who they are. They view themselves as quasi occupied by the US here. While we help the economy it is only a small part, bars, clubs, prostitutes (the ones for foreigners only), etc. I hate to say that but I am here and it is true. Okinawa is a tourist island, think the Hawaii of the East. It is filled with gambling, hotels, and other tourist places while the majority of the people live in a lower income simple state. It is kind of weird a mix of the old world you seen on Karate Kid and another that looks like a foreign Atlantic City. Since we have been placed on restrictions you see the three types of business I mentioned earlier are closing.

What someone alluded to earlier is while they may complain the way we established Japan's constitution after WW2 about not having a military it is a blessing to them. They pay for most of our buildings and electricity for the bases (little known fact) but the millions spent doing that are a drop in the bucket if they had to field and maintain a larger military. That fact alone has allowed them to recover much faster than Europe after World War II. They didn't receive as much damage but not having their Gross National Product cut in half with the burden of military cost has helped. Now the JGSDF (Japanese Ground Self Defense Force) and Coast Guard are really top tier militaries just a quarter of the size it would be if we were not here, no other nation has Ageius Cruisers in their coast guard. But having us here comes with its own political issues. While Japan may have issues with China and Korea, it is very possible that without our American bases here that the tactic from China would be vastly different than a military one in the region, possible something more pan-Asian.

We need the bases here to avoid the issues we had in World War II, plus the time of proxy wars with 3rd world nations are coming to a close. You can view the islands of Japan as the FLOB, forward line of battle should there ever be a conflict here.

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I didn't know Japan had divisions among its own people. So based on what you're saying are we there to protect the Japanese from themselves or from invasion? Besides all of that we aren't any closer to our known enemies (Russia, North Korea and China) than being in Japan.

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To be honest a little of both. The Japanese can protect themselves already. The couldn't launch a war of conquest anymore but that could put a hurting on people.

Our bases in Japan and Okinawa are less than 3 hours from the capitals of both North Korea and China as well as capabile to contact Russia's eastern fleet forcing them to a one front war having to push through Europe, that is the main reason we need them. Navies in this part of the world are almost useless. China has so many silkworm anti-ship missiles that anything on the western side of Japan will be negated should something pop off. This does not include that China just purchased its first few Aircraft Carriers.

Should we leave Japan to their own defense it is possible that a small war could break out about the natural gas around the various islands and Taiwan that we could not respond to. That would put us in a position that China could move quickly take Taiwan and a number of Japanese island with almost no cost of life (they have some neat weapons no one ever talks about). And we would be in the position of trying to figure out how to take them back without causing full scale war. Right now with us in Japan, China can't attack our bases or Japan because the other ally would jump in. There is a chance if we were not here that would not be the case.

Plus there is a solid chance if Japan had a stronger military they would have taken more drastic measures with North Korea's nuclear program. More like Israel when they bombed the Iraq nuclear reactor in 1981.

This is similar to why we are still sitting in South Korea as well. This is all my opinions of course I am not as well read up on the region as I used to be. My area of study is American Civil War.

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Name: Shimuno
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Comments: It is unfair that Okinawa must host the Americans for the sake of Japan. Their base should be in Japan.