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Current
Issues in Post-Reversion Okinawa
Challenges
to Land Ownership
In the present age,
questions of Okinawa's place in Japan continue to remain especially
troublesome, especially in consideration of the recent growth of Japanese
nationalism that attended the placement of the Kokutai (Japan National
Games) in Okinawa in 1987, and that surrounded the death of the Showa
Emperor in 1989. As shown by the burning of the Japanese flag at the
Kokutai by Chibana Shoichi, a resident and activist in Okinawa, many
Okinawans still resent Japan, and the inferior status placed on the
island and it's inhabitants. When landlords and farmers who lost their
land challenged U.S. control several years ago, the Japanese courts
ruled that Japan has no jurisdiction over U.S. military operations.
Environmental
Contamination and Degradation
Additionally, increased
numbers of low-birth weight babies and higher incidences of cancer and
leukemia in adults and children have been documented and linked to carcinogenic
military toxics, which include fuels, oils, solvents, and heavy metals.
Many of these toxics have infiltrated the land, water, and air in Okinawa,
and require massive funding for environmental cleanup, and yet the Status
of Forces Agreement (SOFA) signed between the U.S. and Japan contain
no provisions for environmental cleanup. On top of this, Okinawan residents
do not even have full disclosure on the locations and nature of these
toxics, since the SOFA contains no provisions forcing Japan to release
this information.
In 1996, for example,
residents found out about the firing by U.S. Marines of depleted uranium
shells into the ocean, despite laws prohibiting their use in Japan.
U.S. government officials are supposed to notify local officials of
such use, but many Okinawans doubt that such provisions are being followed.
Military exercises
in Okinawa with live ammunition have cause forest fires, soil erosion,
earth tremors, and accidents that have had continual negative impacts
on Okinawa's environment, which will require years to remedy. These
exercises obliterate natural ecosystems, and leave lands barren and
shell ridden for decades to come.
Noise pollution
also remains a large issue impacting the Okinawan people. Despite the
fact that in other parts of Japan, U.S. aircraft cannot land after 7
p.m., planes in Kadena Airbase can land at any time, causing deafening
noise due to the low-flying nature of the aircraft. In a 1996 report,
low-birth weights in babies near Kadena have been attributed to the
disruptive nature of airplane noise. Additionally, area school children
must also deal with these noise disruptions and the lack of concentration
that these aerial exercises engender.
Sex
Trade
With the development
of a sex and entertainment trade centralized around the military bases,
some 7,000 Filipinas have been recruited - often on entertainment visas
- as sex workers for military personnel. As victims of the socio-economic
conditions created by capitalism in their own country, their presence
in Okinawa is a direct result of demand created by the U.S. military
presence. Many of these young women come from poor, rural families,
and have often experienced violence and sexual abuse as children, before
being coerced into prostitution through economic hardship, given the
lack of meaningful alternatives.
Distorted
Local Economy and Land Use
Okinawa has twice
the unemployment rate of any prefecture in Japan, with military bases
covering 20% of the land area and 40% of the arable land, which could
be used to support local infrastructure. Overcrowding on the land outside
of bases stands in marked contrast to the generous facilities that many
military personnel on base are able to enjoy. Additionally, since Okinawan
residents are unable to enter the bases, transit must go around the
bases, adding miles to trips that would be relatively short if the bases
were not present.
Most employment
opportunities are geared towards the service sector as it relates to
the military bases, and additionally, about 8,000 local people work
on the military bases. Despite the fact that these are United States
military bases, however, both the Okinawan prefecture and Japan must
shoulder the burden of paying for the bases. The Okinawan prefectural
government pays for the cleanup of live ammunition drills and the Japanese
government pays for the electricity on military bases and for military
personnel highway toll costs. All in all, the government must pay approximately
$100,000 per year for each U.S. military personnel stationed in Okinawa.
Additionally, despite the separation of church and state in Japan, public
monies often go towards the development of entities like churches on
U.S. military bases.
Since Reversion,
however, Okinawa's dependence on the income derived from the U.S. military
bases has decreased from 15.4 % of the total economy to 4.9%. With this
change in the economic issues involved in the military bases, the question
of base removal has become more plausible and realistic, and many people
consider that a future without bases has become more of a possibility.
Treaties
and Military Crimes
One of the biggest
grievances of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) is the issue of
extraterritoriality, in the case of crimes committed by U.S. military
personnel. Often, upon committing a crime against an Okinawan resident,
U.S. military are exempt from being tried in a Japanese court and are
tried by U.S. military courts, unless military officials choose to cooperate
with local authorities. This is, of course, if they are even tried at
all. More often than not, military personnel are moved to another location,
or are not tried at all.
From 1972 alone,
more than 4,700 reported crimes have been committed by U.S. troops in
Okinawa. Since 1988, Navy and Marine Corps bases in Japan (primarily
located in Okinawa) have registered the highest number - 169 - of court-martial
cases for sexual assault of all U.S. military bases worldwide.
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