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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 07 May 2025
Five decades after the adoption of the (revised) US-Japan Security Treaty, and two decades after the end of the Cold War, Cold War assumptions still underpin the relationship between the world's leading industrial democracies. A belated Japanese attempt to change and reform the relationship in 2009-2010 ended in failure and the collapse of the Hatoyama government. Whether the Kan government can do better, remains to be seen. The “Client state” relationship that I wrote about in 2007 proves difficult to transcend. The “Okinawa problem” has emerged as a crucial bone of contention, not only between the US and Japanese governments but between the people of Okinawa and both governments. This paper addresses the implications of the now 14-year long attempt to resolve the Okinawan demand for closure and return of Futenma Marine base in Ginowan City.
1 Terashima Jitsuro notes that as of 2009 US-China trade ($366 billion) was two and a half times greater than US-Japan trade ($147 billion) and US visitors to China (1.7 million) two and a half times greater than US visitors to Japan (700,000). (Terashima Jitsuro, “Noriki no ressun, 100, tokubetsuhen, Nichibei domei no shinka sareba naranai, Futenma meiso no soketsu to kongo,” Sekai, August 2010, pp. 102-112, at p. 109.)
2 The US now has roughly 5 per cent of the world's population and about 25 per cent of its wealth. China, however, at roughly 5 trillion dollars, in 2010 displaced Japan as the world's second largest economy, and it continues to grow at around 10 per cent yearly. If that growth were to continue even at a somewhat reduced rate, say 7 per cent, its economy would double in 10 years and quadruple in 20 years. By then – and unless the US and/or Japan discover some formula for economic growth that now seems improbable - China would be roughly equal that of the US, the GDP of both being roughly 20 trillion dollars.
3 Military analyst Ogawa Kazuhisa, quoted in Saito Mitsumasa, “American Base Town in Northern Japan. US and Japanese Air Forces at Misawa Target North Korea,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 40-3-10, October 4, 2010.
4 Nishitani Osamu, “Jihatsuteki reiju o koeyo – jiritsuteki seiji e no ippo,” Sekai February 2010, p. 126.
5 Hatoyama Yukio, “My political philosophy,” Voice, September 2009 (13 August 2009), and in English in Financial Times.
6 “Pentagon prods Japan on Futenma deadline,” Japan Times, 8 January 2010.
7 Yamaguchi Masanori, “‘Hato wa sagi ni saseta’ ote media no ‘Nichibei domei no fukashin’ hodo,” Shukan kinyobi, 11 June 2010, pp. 24-25.
8 Shinohara Hajime, “Toranjishon dai ni maku e,” (interview) Sekai, November 2010.
9 For details see my various essays, mostly available at the Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus.
10 “Oura-wan ni 36 shinshu, ebi kani-rui, ken ni hozon hatarakikake e,” Ryukyu shimpo, 25 November 2009.
11 “Henoko ni shinshu? Kaiso 4 shu ‘umetatereba zetsumetsu no osore,” Asahi shimbun, 16 July 2010 (English text: “4 new types of seaweed found at Henoko,” Asahi shimbun, 17 July 2010).
12 Tomoyuki Yamamoto, “Conservationists say Futenma move threatens rich marine life,” Asahi shimbun, 30 September 2010.
13 The “I”-shaped design would require marginally less landfill, 18.9 million cubic metres. WWF (World Wildlife Fund), Japan, “Futenma hikojo daitai shisetsu jigyo ni kakawaru kankyo eikyo hyoka junbisho ni taisuru ikensho,” 13 May 2009; also Urashima Etsuko, “Okinawa Yambaru, kaze no tayori, (10), Ikusa yo wa tsuzuku,” Impaction, No 170, August 2009, pp. 128-141, at p. 137.
14 Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting and Norimatsu Satoko, “Assault on the Sea: A 50-Year U.S. Plan to Build a Military Port on Oura Bay, Okinawa,” The Asia Pacific Journal, 5 July 2010.
15 “Futenma hikojo isetsu mondai, ‘iho’ to 344 nin teiso Futenma asesu yarinaoshi sosho,” Ryukyu shimpo, 20 August 2009.
16 Sakurai Kunitoshi, “Ronsho ketsujo surikae mo- tayosei toshi ni towareru shinka,” Ryukyu shimpo, 23 August 2010 (see also the Sakurai comment quoted in Ryukyu shimpo, 25 August 2010. See also Sakurai Kunitoshi, “The Guam Treaty as a modern ‘disposal’ of the Ryukyus,” The Asia Pacific Journal, 21 September 2009.
17 In 2008 a San Francisco federal court judge ruled that the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) had violated the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA) by failing to “take into account” in its planning the effects of base construction on the dugong of Oura Bay, and in 2009 344 Okinawans launched a suit in the Naha District Court to have the assessment declared invalid.
18 Kent E. Calder, Embattled Garrisons: Comparative Base Politics and American Globalism, Princeton University Press, 2008.
19 “Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security between Japan and the United States of America,” January 1960, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, link.
20 Yanagisawa Kyoji (former Director of National Institute for Defense Studies), “Futenma no kakushin – kaiheitai no yokushiryoku o kensho seyo,” Asahi shimbun, 28 January 2010.
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