Massive protest in Okinawa over military bases.

In a city of ninety thousand, thirty thousand showed up to protest the US bases in Okinawa.

The catalyst for this latest protest seems to be a helicopter that crashed into a university building back in August. It did not kill any of the residents but the events that happened afterwards made the Okinawans feel that they did not have real power, that it was still occupied by the US.

International Herald Tribune
But what really galvanized residents of this sultry tropical island were images of young U.S. marines closing the crash site to Japanese police detectives, local political leaders and diplomats from Tokyo, but waving through pizza-delivery motorcycles...

..."At first when the accident happened, I did not get angry," Oguma said, shading herself under a parasol. "But then I learned that Japanese police could not enter the area. At that time I felt Okinawa is really occupied by the U.S., that it is not part of Japan."...

..."The behavior of the soldiers was really shocking," said Kelly Dietz, a Cornell University doctoral candidate in sociology who lives near the base, referring to the Americans. "I saw marines pushing people back, covering news cameras with their caps, pushing cameras down."
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Dietz, whose apartment is near where the helicopter's tail rotor landed, recalled watching a group of marines blocking access to a group of senior Okinawa police detectives.
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"People were getting very angry, they were shouting, 'What country are we in?'" recalled Dietz, a participant in the protest on Sunday.

There was a report about a month ago that the US was withdrawing 70,000 troops from around the world, I wonder if Okinawa will be one of those countries where troops will be removed?



[edit on 13-9-2004 by AceOfBase]
EDIT: spelling (sowed = showed)

[edit on 16-9-2004 by AceOfBase]

Okinawa,

My husband spent one year in Okinawa, military base, and he said Okinawa is a very nice place but the military base is what it brings the Island to his prosperous economy with the militaries� family living in the Island.

In the base when it comes to jobs the people of Okinawa have priority over Americans� dependants in jobs position.

I don't know what too said. The base does bring money to the Island.

According to this article, Japan is footing at least part of the bill for the bases.

Host nation support by Japan costs real money. The 48,000 U.S. troops in and around Japan have an annual price tag for Japanese taxpayers of about $4.5 billion, an amount Japan has been trying to reduce.


Here's another article from the Japanese press:

Japan-Press:
The Defense Agency has decided to request 240.2 billion yen for the next fiscal year as a "sympathy budget" for the U.S. forces. The amount is 3.8 billion yen less than that in FY2004, yet still enormous. Expenditures for small- and medium-sized businesses, a cornerstone of Japan's economy, are only about 170 billion yen. Thus, an extraordinary amount of tax money is requested for the U.S. forces. The total cost for the stationing of U.S. forces in Japan is far more than 600 billion yen, including the "sympathy budget". It is unacceptable that the Japanese government pays such a huge amount of money for the U.S. forces while drastically cutting funding for people's social welfare, education, and other services...

...Japan now provides money for everything except the salaries for U.S. personnel, paying for housing, sports facilities, schools, and other living-related facilities for U.S. personnel and for all the costs of U.S. military activities, from combat facilities to training expenses in Japan. The U.S. government regards Japan as "the most generous provider of" host nation support for U.S. forces. Joseph Nye, then assistant secretary of defense, said in a Tokyo seminar on September 4 in 1995 that it is cheaper to have U.S. troops stationed in Japan than in the United States.

[edit on 13-9-2004 by AceOfBase]

Whoa I though that US was giving money to Okinawa for having their base in the Area.

I guess the citizens of Okinawa has a valid reason why no to want US bases in the area.

God forbid if they start throwing stones and poking with sticks US will tag them terrorist and start shooting on them.

From the pictures of the protest that I've seen, it seemed to be very civilized.



They don't seem like the type of people to start throwing rocks at the troops.

I found a US government report that list the contributions that foreign governments make to provide for the US bases in their countries.

As you can see, a lot of money is being spent by the host countries on US overseas stationing costs.
Allied Contributions to the Common Defense

Japan is at number 1 with $4.6 billion per year. (79%)
Germany is at number 2 with $862 million (21%)
Korea at number 3 with $805 million (39%)
Italy at number 4 with $324 million (34%)
Kuwait at number 5 with $248 million (51%)
United Kingdom at number 6 with $133 million
Spain at number 7 with $119 million (55%)


www.dod.gov...


They also have a list of the percentage of the cost each country picks up for NATO

The US, UK and Germany seem to pick up the bulk of NATO costs:
www.dod.gov...

I'm amazed I could watch American Cable news two-thirds of the day and not see a protest this size against America at all.

If I recall the US base on Okinawa is a treaty thing linked to the surrender in 1945. That being said, the US base has done a POOR job of being a good neighbor on Okinawa. From theft to Rape, I would want them out too if I lived there.

Rant, I don't think it was a protest aginst America per say, but a protest against the base and the actions of the Marines.



[edit on 16-9-2004 by FredT]