Recently elected governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, has vowed to resolve to US military base dispute on the island of Okinawa. Since 1945 after World War II the United States military has maintained its presence in Japan and more specifically on the island of Okinawa where about half of the 54,000 Japanese stationed US soldiers are located.
Near the end of the war, the US invaded the island of Okinawa and caused mass Japanese casualties with the death of 110,000 Japanese soldiers and 100,000 civilian deaths in just 4 months. This battle of Okinawa left deep scars in the natives who survived the invasion and sparks tension in the current military occupation of Okinawa and Japan as a whole.
Headlines of US soldiers over the years have not helped the tensions in Okinawa, In 1956, an American plane crashed into a school, killing more than 200 people. In 1986, three American soldiers from the Futenma base were sentenced to six years in prison for raping a 12-year-old girl. In 2016, an American contractor at the US military base raped and murdered a 20-year-old Japanese woman.
The Japanese people believe the US military presence is too close to the island’s cities, specifically the US Futenma marine corps base, which is located around the Ginowan City urban area. Opponents of the US presence are coalescing around a plan to move said base to Henoko Bay on the east coast of the island. Governor Tamaki advocates for the relocation of Futenma base but believes that there are other alternatives to Heneko and is willing to work with the US to reach an agreement.
The people of Okinawa are letting the Japanese government hear their voice, on November 1 activists met in paddle boats nearby before they were dispersed by coast guard patrol boats. While more than 93,000 people petitioned the local government in September to hold a referendum on the plan to relocate the US base.
Militarily occupying Japan and its islands is geopolitically important for the United States to hold China and Russia in check with close military presence and possible blockade locations in the Pacific. China and Russia are widely considered the United States largest threats and competitors in the international scene and having Military bases geographically close to them is a big advantage and countermeasure for any possible conflict with either country.
To make Okinawa’s case – and to try to win support in Washington – Tamaki plans to travel to the US, including New York, in November. “I want the American people to understand the past, the present and the future in order to solve this problem,” he said.