Grant Newsham, Asia Times: US Marines and Okinawa: Enough exasperation to go around
Okinawa is host to more than half of the 47,000 US troops stationed in Japan and opposition to the military presence has grown among residents.
US Marine Corps Commandant, General Robert Neller’s recent comments about re-thinking the plan to move 9,000 Marines to Guam and Hawaii from Okinawa no doubt exasperated Japan’s government.
However, there’s been plenty of exasperation to go around over the last 20 years when it comes to the US Marines and Okinawa.
(Note: Okinawa is host to more than half of the 47,000 US troops stationed in Japan and opposition to the military presence has grown among residents.)
Japan has promised repeatedly since 1996 to do the necessary to resolve the Okinawa opposition to US bases by moving the Marines’ Futenma Air Station to a quieter part of the island. The failure to do so was exasperating, though it happened often enough to get used to it.
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WNU Editor: Being one who has spent a lot of time in Asia .... I understand this sense of "exasperation". You have to adopt the word "patience" if you want to maintain your sanity.
If we will lose it anyway...trade for south China sea backdown demiliterization of the region. Then put the USMC on ships.
ReplyDeleteHa
ReplyDeleteAnon,
ReplyDelete"Don't blame the Japanese for wanting the American's gone, considering the never ending rapes of Japanese girls committed by the undisciplined American military"
Define never ending.
If you can list them and they are not considered countable infinite, then saying they are "Never ending" is histrionic hyperbole.
http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/cross_fac/iatl/reinvention/issues/volume1issue1/gray
https://www.quora.com/Why-are-the-rape-statistics-for-Japan-so-low
I am not finding too many rapes (Even 1 is too many). What I see that the press has shaped a cultural meme in your mind and you are now beholden to them.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/01/world/asia/japan-u-s-rape-sentencing/index.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1995_Okinawa_rape_incident
I don't know that the American presence in Japan actually increases the crime rate of Japan. When you live in Japan you learn that they too have people who kidnap women/ girls for years. They too have homeless and lots of them. They too have slums under bridges (Yokohama)
But, if you only read the media you want to read, well you get a rather skewed view.
Anon, you should get out more.