by the Study Group on Okinawan External AffairsOn Friday 13 November, US President Obama flew in to Tokyo. The unresolved issue of “replacing” Futenma US Marine Air Station has been removed from the talks agenda, because the two sides cannot agree on how to resolve it. Festering for more than 13 years, the issue has risen gradually to a head since the Hatoyama Government … [Read more...] about Okinawan Message to President Obama: Withdraw the Marines
Okinawa
Japan to use 610 billion yen for a bogus ‘relocation’ of U.S. Marines to Guam from Okinawa
The Diet on May 13 approved an agreement that requires Japan, supposedly a sovereign nation, to pay the cost of constructing a foreign country's military base outside Japan as part of a plan to "relocate" a part of the U.S. Marine Corps to Guam from Okinawa.Under the agreement, Japan will pay about 2.8 billion dollars for the construction of U.S. base-related facilities in … [Read more...] about Japan to use 610 billion yen for a bogus ‘relocation’ of U.S. Marines to Guam from Okinawa
The US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement and Okinawan Anger
FROM JAPAN FOCUSThis article, and the subsequent exchange with Major Nathan C. Hurst, originated in a symposium on the US global military posture that appeared at Mother Jones. As the article was being posted, we learned that on the night of October 24 another US plane, this time a small Cessna 172 had crashed in Okinawa after clipping high-voltage wires, and burst into flames. … [Read more...] about The US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement and Okinawan Anger