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The End of the Postwar? The Abe Government, Okinawa, and Yonaguni Island
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
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*16 November 2014: Okinawa prefecture elects as new Governor Onaga Takeshi, who campaigned on the core policy of stopping construction of a base for the US Marine Corps in Northern Okinawa
*17 November 2014: Yonaguni Island town assembly votes to hold a referendum on the national government's project to construct a base for the Japanese Ground Self Defense Forces
*18 November 2014: Prime Minister Abe Shinzo announces his intention to dissolve the Lower House and conduct general elections on 14 December
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References
1 Justin McCurry, “Japan: teachers to call Senkaku and Takeshima Islands Japanese territory,” The Guardian, January 29 2014; Kyodo, “History texts to get an official spin,” Japan Times, November 14 2013.
2 “Statement on Prime Minister Abe's December 26 Visit to Yasukuni,” Press release, US Embassy, Tokyo, Japan.
3 Russel was serving as Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs (Yuka Hayashi, “US seeks Abe assurance he won't visit war shrine,” Wall Street Journal, January 23, 2014.)
4 Daniel R. Russel, testimony, Senate Committee on Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific, March 4, 2014.
5 Yuka Hayashi, Wall Street Journal, cit.
6 “Obama shi hatsugen de goyaku,” Ryukyu shimpo, 27 April 2014.
7 See, inter alia, Gavan McCormack, “The San Francisco Treaty at Sixty—The Okinawa Angle,” in Kimie Hara, ed, The San Francisco System and Its Legacies: Transformation and Historical Reconciliation in the Asia-Pacific, 2014
8 Client State: Japan in the American Embrace, London and New York, Verso, 2007. “Zokkoku mondai – Beikoku no hoyo to higashi Ajia de no koritsu,” in Magosaki Ukeru and Kimura Akira, eds, Owaranai “senryo”, Kyoto, Horitsu bunkasha, 2013, pp. 18-38.
9 “Japan's ”Positive Pacifism“: Issues of Historical Memory in Contemporary Foreign Policy,” Brown Journal of World Affairs (Brown University, Watson Institute for International Studies), Vol. XX, issue 2, spring-summer 2014, pp. 73-92.
10 Nakano Koichi, “Neoribe jidai no ea nashonarizumu,” Saraba dokusaisha, kensho, boso suru Abe seiken,“ Shukan kinyobi, rinji zokan, 17 April 2014, pp. 8-10.
11 A recurrent Abe theme. See: “Hatsugen goroku – shugiin giin Abe Shinzo koshiki saito.”
12 One 2014 study notes that, apart from its overwhelming representation in the Abe cabinet, Nihon Kaigi had some 35,000 members in 228 branches, including 229 Dietmembers and over 1,700 members of local district assemblies. “Abe seiken o kanzen shihai suru ‘Nihon kaigi’ no shotai,” Friday, 22-29 August 2014. Other studies vary slightly some of those figures but not the overall weight. The number of Dietmembers is given at 231 and 47 prefectural branches are noted in “Abe naikaku takaha giren kara 15 nin,” Asahi shimbun, 6 September 2014, and Tokyo shimbun gives the figure of 289 Dietmembers according to “Nihon saidai no uyoku soshiki ‘Nihonkaigi’ o kensho suru,” 31 July 2014).
13 “Kokumin tohyo jitsugen e kaikenha no ugoki kappatsuteki,” Asahi shimbun, 12 November 2014. The powerfully backed new organization plans to collect 10 million signatures to back its campaign for revision by 2016, i.e., within one year and 8 months).
14 “Futenma soki henkan o chijisen de Nakaima shi ga koyaku happyo,” Ryukyu shimpo, 19 October 2014.
15 Nakaima won with 335,000 votes in 2010.
16 “Henoko chushi 80% ”eikyo nai' Suga kanbochokan kaiken, honshi seron chosa, Ryukyu shimpo, 26 August 2014.
17 “Henoko isetsu ‘shukushuku to susumeru’ Onaga shi tosen ni kambo chokan,” Ryukyu shimpo, 17 November 2014.
18 “Umetate 22 nichi chakushu,” Okinawa taimusu, 20 November 2014.
19 See evidence of opinions of Walter Mondale (then US ambassador to Japan), William Perry (then Defense Secretary), and Joseph Nye (then Deputy Assistant Defense Secretary), in Heianna Sumiyo, “Kaiheitai no Okinawa churyu ‘Nihon ga yobo’ moto chu-Nichi Bei taishi no kojutsu kiroku,” Okinawa taimusu, 13 September 2014.
20 Heianna Sumiyo, ibid.
21 Nakazato Isao, “Minami no ejji kara Nihon o yusaburu henkaku no nami,” Sekai, November 2014, pp. 105-121, at p. 109.
22 “Kokunai shizen 19 dantai, Henoko ‘Minaoshi’ motomeru chushi fukume asesu sai jisshi mo,” Ryukyu shimpo, 11 November 2014. See also “Henoko minaoshi yosei,” ed, Okinawa taimusu, 14 November 2014.
23 Ryukyu shimpo, 5 May and 26 August 2014 (“Seron chosa: ‘Henoko chushi’ isetsu kyoko hantai hirogaru”). Just 19.8 per cent favoured continuation of the works. Even in the conservative bloc, 70.1 per cent of LDP supporters and 91.7 of New Komeito supporters said it should be stopped.
24 For my 1 July report (on You-tube), sailing around the Bay on the eve of this closure, see here.
25 “Kasetsu sanbashi chakushu, minshushugi ni hansuru banko da,” Okinawa taimusu, 21 November 2014.
26 “Henoko 85 sai josei kega, ichiji ishiki ushinau,” Okinawa taimusu, 21 November 2014.
27 “Kenkei ga Henoko shusai bogai, kasha, eiga kantoku o haijo,” Ryukyu shimpo, 21 November 2014.
28 “Kenkei ga Henoko shusai bogai,” op. cit.
29 “Kussaku sagyo ni chakushu, mohaya ‘kyofu seiji’ da, banko chushi min-i o toe,” Ryukyu shimpo, 18 August 2014, also posted on the web in English as “Abe administration signals future reign of terror in Henoko.”
30 Prime Minister Mori Yoshiro in 2000 said, “The teachers union in Okinawa is controlled by the Communist Party and opposes anything the government does. The two Okinawan newspapers are the same,” quoted in “Shimbun to kenryoku,” (4) “Kaiju fuhatsu tsuyomeru atsuryoku,” Okinawa taimusu, 9 April 2014.
31 “Kenmin no mina sama e,” letter from Governor Nakaima, n.d. (an “auspicious October day”) 2014.
32 “Consolidated Plan for Facilities and Areas,” April 2013.
33 “‘Gonen inai’ hitei chabangeki no zokko wa mu imi da,” Ryukyu shimpo, ed., April 2 2014.
34 “Marines won't leave Futenma till new base built: Wissler,” Japan Times, April 12, 2014. US Pacific Commander Admiral (Samuel J)) Locklear told a Senate Committee hearing the same. (“‘Gonen inai teishi hitei’ kyoko no tanpo to shonin no tsumi,” Okinawa taimusu, April 13 2014.)
35 “Gonen-nai teishi ‘kuso’ Henoko o minaosu jiki da,” editorial, Okinawa taimusu, 17 October 2014.
36 Those who placed highest importance on the base issue were 39.7 per cent according to one survey, 46.8 according to another, with “economy” second on 29 per cent and 21.9 per cent respectively (Okianwa taimusu, 7 November, and Ryukyu shimpo, 11 November respectively).
37 “‘Chiji, kakekomi shonin’ shugiin de kenmin no shinpan o,” Ryukyu shimpo, editorial, 6 December 2014.
38 “Three candidates to run in the gubernatorial election,” Ryukyu Shimpo, 24 July 2014.
39 There was some evidence of vacillation on Onaga's part early in the campaign. “Onaga-shi e asu shutsuba yosei ‘hokaku’ koeta ri-da-' keizai yushi,” Okinawa taimusu, 7 August 2014.
40 Businessman Taira Chokei, at the declaration of the poll, 16 November 2014.
41 Some pointed with suspicion to the “watering down” of Onaga's initial electoral pledge, from “withdraw the license to reclaim” (umetate shonin o tekkai suru) to determination “not to allow construction of any new base at Henoko out of respect for the voices of the Okinawan people who want the license cancelled” (shonin tekkai o nzomu kenmin no koe o soncho shi, Henoko kichi wa tsukurasenai) (“Yato, Onaga Takeshi shi ni ipponka, kenchijisen kohosha,” Ryukyu shimpo, 23 July 2014.) Yaeyama nippo on 3 November published a copy of the document dated January 2013 in which Onaga put his name (even if as witness rather than party) to a statement in which Ishigaki mayor Nakayama declared that he did not see the Kempakusho (then being organized) as ruling out a Futenma replacement within Okinawa. This revelation weakened the core Onaga claim that the Kempakusho had been unequivocal in ruling out Futenma replacement within the prefecture and that it had the endorsement of “all 41 local government heads.” (“Kennai isetsu hitei sezu,” Yaeyama nippo, 3 November 2014. See also “Onaga Takeshi,” Wikipedia, 9 November 2014.)
42 “aruyuru shuho o kushi shite, Henoko ni shin kichi wa tsukurasenai.”
43 “Futenma kichi no heisa, tekkyo, kennai isetsu dannen, Osupurei haibi tekkai o tsuyoku motomeru.”
44 “Zen Naha shicho, Onaga Takeshi shi ga kataru ‘Okinawa chiji sen’ shutsuba e no kakugo,” Nikkan gendai, 13 October 2014.
45 “Okinawa keizai hatten no saidai no sogai yoin.”
46 Shimabukuro Jun, “Min-i no kaizu - 2014 nen kenchijisen no igi,” Ryukyu shimpo, 13 November 2014. And see discussion in Sato Manabu, “Min-i ‘shinko taisei’ o taosu,” Ryukyu shimpo, 19 November 2014.
47 On “positive pacifism,” Gavan McCormack, “Japan's ‘positive pacifism’,” op. cit. On “rule of law,” Uchiyama Hiroshi, “‘Ho no shihai’ kataru Abe shusho no shiri metsuretsu,” Sekai, December 2014, pp. 29-32.
48 “Ketsudan to jikko – Futenma kichi no henkan, jitsugen e,” Okinawa taimusu (and Ryukyu shimpo), 14 October 2014.
49 “Nakaima shi shiji 19 nin,” Okinawa taimusu, 14 November 2014.
50 Exit poll detail according to a Japanese colleague quoting an informed source.
51 John W. Dower and Gavan McCormack, Tenkanki no Nihon e – pakkusu Americana ka pakkusu Ajia ka, Tokyo, NHK Bukkusu, chapter 3; Gavan McCormack, “Yonaguni: Dilemmas of a Frontier Island in the East China Sea,” The Asia-Pacific Journal – Japan Focus, 1 October, 2012. http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gavan-McCormack/3837
52 “Kenmin no chugoku insho 9 wari ga hiteiteki, Senkaku de akka,” Okinawa taimusu, 16 April, 2014.
53 Gavan McCormack, “Yonaguni: Dilemmas” op. cit.
54 “Chomin 3 dantai, Yonaguni e no rikuji haibi tekkai o,” Yaeyama Mainichi shimbun, 15 April, 2014.
55 “Zetsumetsu kigu made ‘52 shu seisoku’,” Okinawa taimusu, 15 April, 2014.
56 Response by Prime Minister Abe to question from Itokazu Keiko on possible adverse health effects of SDF radar on Yonaguni. 25 November 2014.
57 “Yonaguni rikuji yochi, hoshogaku 3 kagetsu de bai,” Okinawa taimusu, 15 April, 2014.
58 The evidence of Tsushima Island, roughly half-way between Fukuoka City in southwestern Japan and Pusan in Korea, suggests otherwise. When that city invited the SDF in 1959, its population was 70,000. Now it is around 35,000.
59 “Jumin tohyo 17 nichi jorei kaketsu e,” Ryukyu shimpo, 15 November 2014 and “‘Tozen’ ‘naze ima sara’,” Ryukyu shimpo, 18 November 2014.
60 The precedent for middle school students having right to vote was set in 2004, in a plebiscite on whether the island should accept incorporation in the larger island of Ishigaki or remain on its own. It chose the latter.
61 “Yonaguni cho gikai, jieitai jumin tohyo jorei an o saikaketsu,” RBC Ryukyu hoso, 28 November 2014.
62 “Yonaguni rikuji kikoshiki, haibi kakudai e no fuseki,” Ryukyu shimpo, April 20 2014.
63 “Yonaguni rikuji kikoshiki,” ibid.
64 Memo by Tasato Chiyoki, member of the Yonaguni town assembly, to then Okinawa gubernatorial candidate Onaga Takeshi, 17 October 2014 (copy courtesy Mr Tasato).
65 “Shimin no chikara ga atarashii rekishi o hiraku,” Ryukyu shimpo, 30 November 2000.
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