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Internationalizing the Okinawan Struggle: Implications of the 2006 Elections in Okinawa and the US

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Yoshikawa Hideki
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With the Bush administration in deep trouble on many fronts, the government of Japan is striving to carry out a reorganization that will integrate Japanese forces in American strategic actions throughout the Arc of Instability. For ten years, from 1996, Japan's longest unfulfilled promise has been to build a new base for the US marines in Okinawa to replace the inconvenient, obsolescent and politically charged Futenma. All efforts at construction have been blocked by a coalition of local Okinawan residents and citizens.

Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , January 2007 , e2
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
Copyright
Copyright © The Authors 2007

References

Notes

[1] For discussion of the election issues, see Eric Johnston, “Okinawan election with US base plan in the balance,” Japan Focus, November 10, 2006.

[2] According to the pre-election opinion survey conducted by Asahi Shinbun and Okinawa Times, November 14, 2006, 52 percent of the people were most concerned with economic revitalization while 26 percent were most concerned with base issues. However, according to the election exit poll conducted by Mainichi Shinbun and the Ryukyu Broadcasting Company (RBC), November 20, 2006, 30 percent of the voters based their decision on economic revitalization and 30 percent on base rearrangement and reduction. According to the same exit poll, 54 percent of the voters favored locating the Futenma Air Station outside Okinawa while only 18 percent of the voters supported the present construction plan.

[3] Personal communication with managers of construction firms in Okinawa.

[4] Mainichi Shinbun, November 20, 2006.

[5] Okinawa Times, November 20, 2006; Ryukyu Shimpo, November 20, 2006.

[6] Okinawa Times, November 20, 2006; Ryukyu Shimpo, November 20, 2006.

[7] Okinawa Times, November 21, 2006; Ryukyu Shimpo, November 2006.

[8] For an analysis on the relationship between Okinawa and the Japanese government in relation to the gubernatorial Election, see Gavan McCormack, “The Okinawan election and resistance to Japan's military first politics,” Japan Focus, November 15, 2006.

[9] Nihon Keizai Shinbun, November 20, 2006; Sankei Shinbun, November 20, 2006.

[10] Asahi Shinbun, November 20, 2006 and Tokyo Shinbun, November 20, 2006.

[11] Okinawa Times, November 20, 2006.

[12] Okinawa Times, December 1, 2006; Ryukyu Shimpo, December 1, 2006.

[13] Personal communication with anticonstruction protesters.

[14] Helen Marsh, Helen Penrose, Carole Eros, and Joanna Hughes, Dugong: Status Reports and Action Plans for Countries and Territories, UNEP/DEWA, 2002.

[15] Development with Destruction, a documentary film by the BBC World Earth Report, was aired worldwide in the fall of 2005.

[16] For A Summary of the 2005 Survey Results on Dugongs and Seaweed Beds over a Wide Area by the Ministry of the Environment, see http://www.env.go.jp/press/press.php?serial=5 596. The document is available only in Japanese.

[17] US & Japanese Conservation Groups Join in Legal Effort to Dave Okinawa dugong from extinction, press release by Earthjustice, September 25, 2003.

[18] Bob Egelko “Imperiled mammal threatened by plan for okinawa base: court in S.F. hears activists advocate applying U.S. law,” San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2004.

[19] Bob Egelko “Judge OKs using U.S. law to save sea creature: Okinawan dugong imperiled if Maine base is relocated,” San Francisco Chronicle, March 3, 2005.

[20] See the final version of the recommendations (which were adopted).

[21] Samantha Young, “Boxer pledges shift on global warming,” Associated Press on line, November 9, 2006.

[22] Ibid.

[23] Personal communications with environmental activists in the US.

[24] Memorandum For See Distribution from USF J/100, Unit 5068, November 5, 2001.

[25] Final Report: Task 5 Cultural Historical, and Archeological Documentation, MCB Camp Smedley D. Butler and MCAS Futenma, Okinawa by Virginia H. Goldstein and Alan E. Haun (1993). This report was obtained through the Freedom of Information Act by the Center for Biological Diversity.