Tag: Okinawa

This is yet another example that Okinawa has turned into South Korea circa 2002:

An overflow crowd of some 65,000 people packed a sports stadium Sunday to demand that U.S. forces leave Okinawa and drop a plan to move Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to a more remote area on the island.

Similar demonstrations were also scheduled in 41 of Japan’s 47 prefectures. More than 7,000 people gathered outside the Japanese parliament building in Tokyo to join the demand for a U.S. pullout and to bash Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

A recent rash of crimes, including the slaying of a 20-year-old woman that has been linked to a U.S. civilian base worker, have tapped into Okinawa resentment over the disproportionate number of U.S. troops here, compared with the rest of Japan, and a sense of abandonment and betrayal by the central government even after it regained control of the island in 1972.

With U.S. servicemembers, family members and others with SOFA status strongly encouraged to avoid the protest area, Gov. Takeshi Onaga called for a total withdrawal of Marines.

“I will never forgive the inhumane and brutal act that trampled women’s human rights. I am indignant,” said Onaga, who won election on an anti-base platform.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but it is interesting that the anti-US base Governor is only calling for an end to the US Marine presence on the island.  It would be interesting statistic to see if the Marines really do cause more crime than the other service branches on Okinawa?  It has already been shown that the US military overall commits far less crime per capita than the local population, but of course none of this matters to activists looking to use any crime they can to advance their political agenda.  It is an impossibility for such a large population of US military servicemembers on Okinawa to be completely crime free which means the activists will continue to find incidents to protest.

Even in the worst of times of US-ROK relations during the Roh Moo-hyun administration years there was never government officials driving around with blue lights on their cars looking to harass US servicemembers like what is currently happening in Okinawa:

 Japanese officials are patrolling areas in southwestern Okinawa in an effort to prevent crimes near U.S. military bases and entertainment districts.

The team, composed of about 40 staff members from Okinawa government agencies, was created after a former Marine working at Kadena Air Base was arrested May 19 in connection with the death of a 20-year-old Okinawan woman, Japanese broadcaster NHK reported Wednesday.

The patrol vehicles, which use blue rotating lights, are on the streets between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., the report said. The number of police officers patrolling the island prefecture is also expected to increase.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link, but this looks like pure political theater.  Some government official driving around with a blue light would have done nothing to prevent the tragic murder of Ms. Shimabukuro.

Police recommend murder, rape charges for base worker following #Okinawa woman's death: https://t.co/CJeXBSZcAG pic.twitter.com/BOke4H5wBY

— Erik Slavin (@eslavin_stripes) June 9, 2016

North Korea delivers a typically North Korean comment on murder of an Okinawan woman by a U.S. military contractor pic.twitter.com/KcLuCigcg5

— Anna Fifield (@annafifield) June 6, 2016

The resolution by lawmakers on Okinawa cannot be enforced, but it just shows that they will use any incident to make a political statement against the US military on Okinawa.  What I find interesting though is that this statement calls for only the US Marines to withdraw and not any of the other services:

Okinawa lawmakers unanimously adopted a protest resolution Thursday calling for the Marine Corps to withdraw completely from the island prefecture after a U.S. base worker was arrested in the death of a 20-year-old woman.

“Such a brutal act by a civilian military employee, who is a former Marine, was absolutely unacceptable,” says the prefectural assembly’s strongly worded declaration. It demands that all Marines leave the island that was returned to Japan from the U.S. post World War II military administration in 1972.

“Pains and sorrow of the family are immeasurable, and a torrent of anger is growing among people of Okinawa,” says the resolution, which was adopted during an emergency meeting by a majority from ruling parties that support anti-base Gov. Takeshi Onaga, while the opposition, including the Liberal Democratic Party, abstained.

The resolution also questions the effectiveness of preventive education by the U.S. military after past crimes by U.S. servicemembers, and demands a drastic reduction in the U.S. military presence on the island, the closure of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and the cancellation of a plan to move Futenma’s operations to Okinawa’s remote north.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read the rest at the link.

The alcohol ban and lockdown on Okinawa was put into affect after a drunk driving accident involving a US sailor injured two local Okinawans.  Now every sailor in Japan is paying the price:

Sailors in Japan are barred until further notice from non-essential, off-base activities and banned from drinking alcohol, Navy officials announced Monday following a recent spate of high-profile arrests of servicemembers and civilians.

The order covers all ranks and bans both on- and off-base alcohol consumption, according to a joint announcement from 7th Fleet and Commander Naval Forces Japan.

“These measures are not taken lightly,” said Rear Adm. Matthew Carter, CNFJ. “For decades, we have enjoyed a strong relationship with the people of Japan. It is imperative that each sailor understand how our actions affect that relationship, and the U.S.-Japan alliance as a whole.”

Sailors living off-base can commute to work and engage in “essential activities,” such as grocery shopping, gym use, child care and gasoline pickup, according to a Navy statement.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but is this going to be the standard every time an incident happens?  Lock everyone down and ban alcohol?  Unfortunately with such a large population of US servicemembers on Okinawa the expectation that there should be no incidents is unrealistic.  Especially when you consider that the actions of non-US servicemembers also gets blamed on the military as well.

This sounds much like how South Korea was during the Roh Moo-hyun administration at the peak of anti-Americanism in that country.  Curfews and lockdowns did not stop all incidents, they still happen today they just don’t get the attention they did under the Roh administration.  This is because the politics of anti-Americanism in South Korea changed due to the failure of the Sunshine Policy and increasing North Korean provocations.  Likewise the anti-Americanism in Okinawa is only going to end with a political change that curfews and lockdowns will not influence.

However, it is the easiest tool in the commander’s tool box to show they are doing something until a political settlement of some kind takes place on Okinawa.  In the meantime I don’t expect the curfews and lockdowns to end any time soon.

What is interesting about this curfew is that servicemembers cannot purchase alcohol, go to any bars or hold a party off base.  That is even stricter than most curfews USFK has come up with over the years and this is in response to a horrible crime that US military servicemembers had nothing to do with:

A midnight curfew and other tightened liberty restrictions will take effect Friday for all servicemembers on Okinawa, III Marine Expeditionary Force said Thursday.

The new rules, which III MEF said will remain in effect through June 24, follow the arrest last week of a civilian U.S. base worker suspected in the death of a 20-year-old Okinawan woman. Others covered by the status of forces agreement – including civilian workers and families of servicemembers – are being asked to abide by the restrictions, too.

A III MEF statement said the intent of the measures is “to observe a period of unity and mourning by curtailing off-installation activities” in response to two recent criminal acts that SOFA-status personnel have been accused of committing.

The restrictions include:

• All ranks, including officers, must be on base by midnight.

• Alcohol may not be purchased or consumed off base.

• Patronizing off-base bars and clubs is prohibited.

• Parties may not be held off base.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link.

The situation on Okinawa reminds me so much of the post-2002 environment in South Korea during the Roh Moo-hyun administration years when anti-Americanism was very popular.  It was so bad that US soldiers were being kidnapped off the subway and forced to make false confession on national TV.  Fortunately Okinawa hasn’t gotten that bad yet, but it is pretty clear that the US military on Okinawa is in a no win situation:

Every time a U.S. servicemember commits a crime in Okinawa, it’s big news.

If it’s a serious offense — such as the recent alleged slaying of a 20-year-old Okinawa woman by a former Marine — it can spark large protests by those who want the American military footprint on the island prefecture to shrink, if not disappear completely.

Over the years, the U.S. military has imposed a number of measures, such as curfews, sensitivity training and limits to off-base drinking, that have significantly reduced the rate of crime among the 50,000 American servicemembers, their families and Defense Department civilian employees.

But no matter what efforts U.S. makes to tamp down the anti-base sentiment, it may be facing a no-win situation. For many Okinawans, every crime is an affront that symbolizes resentment over the disproportionately large U.S. military presence on Okinawa and the prefecture’s complicated relationship with the rest of the country.

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga won election last year on an anti-base platform, and he subsequently launched a court battle that has stalled relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from busy Ginowan to the less-populated north.

Onaga has used U.S. crimes committed on the island to further fuel the fire, expressing indignation that the military’s efforts haven’t wiped out misbehavior completely, although it’s unclear what more can be done short of banning all U.S. servicemembers and civilian workers from ever leaving their bases.  [Stars & Stripes]

You can read more at the link, but the article goes on to explain how the crime rate for the US military is well below the civilian average on Okinawa despite having a high number of young males that statistics show commit the most crime and yet things appear to be getting worse.  That is because even if everyone was locked down on post the governor and the activists will never be happy because their ultimate goal is removal of US forces not better behavior.

I really do not see things improving on Okinawa until the planned relocation of 5,000 Marines from the island to Guam happens in the next few years.  If this is combined in a change in government in Okinawa this could lead to better civil-military relations on Okinawa much like we have seen now in South Korea.

Here we go again, hopefully the hotel has security cameras that caught exactly what happened in the hotel lobby:

(CNN)A U.S. serviceman has been arrested in the southern Japanese prefecture of Okinawa on suspicion of raping a Japanese tourist, local police have confirmed to CNN. The alleged attack took place in the serviceman’s hotel room in Naha, the prefectural capital.

The man, identified by Okinawan police as 24-year old Navy sailor Justin Castellanos, stationed at Camp Schwab in Okinawa, allegedly took the victim, a 40-year-old woman from the Japanese prefecture of Kyushu, to his room after finding her asleep, drunk, in the hotel’s lobby before raping her. [CNN]

You can read the rest at the link but it does bother me how the media names the accused sailor in the article before he even goes to trial. 

It looks like the Chinese just wanted to send a reminder to the Japanese that they have the capability to reach and touch them if need be:

Japan scrambled jets after 11 Chinese military planes flew near southern Japanese islands during what Beijing said was a drill to improve its long-range combat abilities, reports said Saturday.

The planes — eight bombers, two intelligence gathering planes and one early-warning aircraft — flew near Miyako and Okinawa on Friday without violating Japan’s airspace, the Japanese defence ministry said in a statement released on Friday.

Some of them flew between the two islands while others made flights close to neighbouring islands, the ministry said.

A Chinese air force spokesman said several types of planes, including H-6K bombers, were involved in Friday’s drill over the western Pacific, China’s Xinhua news agency reported.

Shen Jinke said such open sea exercises had improved the force’s long-distance combat abilities, according to Xinhua.

While there were no further comments from the Japanese ministry, the Yomiuri Shimbun reported that it was “unusual” for China to dispatch such a large fleet close to Japan’s airspace and the ministry was analysing the purpose of the mission.  [Korea Herald]

You can read the rest at the link.