TOKYO (AP) — Okinawa on Sunday is marking the fiftieth anniversary of its return to Japan after 27 years of American rule on Might 15, 1972, amid protests in opposition to a continued heavy U.S. army presence and lack of help from the mainland.
Ceremonies shall be held concurrently however at two areas — one within the island prefecture’s capital of Naha and the opposite in Tokyo. The separate ceremonies symbolize the deep divide in views on Okinawa’s historical past and ongoing struggling.
Solely Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and his minister in control of the islands are in Okinawa, the place tons of of protesters staged a rally Saturday demanding a speedier discount of U.S. army forces amid rising concern that Okinawa might turn into a frontline of battle amid rising China tensions.
Extra protests have been deliberate Sunday on Okinawa’s outer islands.
Resentment and frustration run deep in Okinawa over the heavy U.S. presence and Tokyo’s lack of effort to barter with Washington to stability the safety burden between mainland Japan and the southern island group.
Due to the US. bases, Okinawa faces burdens together with noise, air pollution, accidents and crime associated to American troops, Okinawan officers and residents say.
Including to Okinawa’s fears is the rising deployment of Japanese missile protection and amphibious capabilities on Okinawa’s outer islands, together with Ishigaki, Miyako and Yonaguni, that are near geopolitical hotspots like Taiwan.
Okinawa was the location of one of many bloodiest battles of World Struggle II, which killed about 200,000 folks, practically half of them Okinawan residents.
Okinawa was sacrificed by Japan’s imperial military to defend the mainland, and lots of Okinawans are skeptical that the Japanese army would defend them in future conflicts, consultants say.
The U.S. army saved its troop presence on the island group for 20 years longer than most of Japan, till 1972, because of Okinawa’s strategic significance for Pacific safety to discourage Russia and communism.
Many Okinawans had hoped that the islands’ return to Japan would enhance the financial system and human rights scenario in addition to base burdens.
At the moment, a majority of the 50,000 U.S. troops primarily based in Japan underneath a bilateral safety pact and 70% of army amenities are nonetheless in Okinawa, which accounts for less than 0.6% of Japanese land. The burden has elevated from lower than 60% in 1972 as a result of unwelcomed U.S. bases have been moved from the mainland.
The largest sticking level between Okinawa and Tokyo is the central authorities’s insistence {that a} U.S. marine base in a crowded neighborhood, the Futenma air station, ought to be relocated inside Okinawa as an alternative of shifting it elsewhere as demanded by many Okinawans.
Tokyo and Washington initially agreed in 1996 to shut the station after the 1995 rape of a schoolgirl by three U.S. army personnel led to an enormous anti-base motion.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki earlier in Might submitted a petition to Kishida’s authorities and U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel demanding a major discount of the U.S. army in Okinawa, the fast closure of the Futenma base and the scrapping of a brand new base in Henoko.
Financial, academic and social improvement in Okinawa lagged behind as Japan loved a postwar financial surge that was helped by decrease protection spending due to the U.S. army presence in Okinawa.
The central authorities’s improvement fund because the reversion has improved Okinawa’s infrastructure however the progress of native business that was largely hampered in the course of the U.S. rule remains to be largely restricted to tourism.
At the moment, Okinawa’s common family revenue is the bottom and its unemployment is the very best of Japan’s 47 prefectures. If land taken by the U.S. army is returned to the prefecture for different use, it might produce 3 times extra revenue for Okinawa than the island now makes from bases, Tamaki stated not too long ago.
Okinawan authorities recurrently face denials by the usside in prison and environmental investigations.
