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The US-Japan ‘Alliance’, Okinawa, and Three Looming Elections

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 May 2025

Gavan McCormack
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World attention through the early months of 2010 focussed on the tiny hamlet of Henoko in Northern Okinawa as Prime Minister Hatoyama struggled to find a way to meet his (and the Democratic Party of Japan's) electoral commitment to see that no substitute for the existing Futenma Marine Air Station be constructed in Okinawa. Confronted by adamantine pressures from the US government, and surrounded by uncooperative (some would say even traitorous) bureaucrats who insisted there was no other way but to submit to the US-Japan agreement to construct a new base negotiated by the former LDP government. Hatoyama duly capitulated, reaching agreement on 28 May 2010 that the 2009 Guam International Agreement (or Treaty) would be implemented, and that Japan would pay $6.09 billion towards the cost of relocating 8,000 Marines and 9,000 of their family members from Futenma to Guam by 2014, while also constructing a “Futenma Replacement Facility” in the vicinity of Henoko, by the shores of the Oura Bay in Northern Okinawa. Details of the “location, configuration and construction method would be completed … no later than the end of August” by a joint committee of specialists.

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Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 8 , Issue 5 , February 2010 , e6
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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.
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Copyright © The Authors 2010

References

Notes

[1] “Guamu iten hiyo, keikaku to mo muri ga aru,” editorial, Ryukyu shimpo, 29 August 2010.

[2] “As a long delay in the transfer could adversely affect the bilateral alliance, the Japanese government has not ruled out the possibility of shouldering the infrastructure-building costs.” (US says it can't repay Japan to build infrastructures in Guam, “Associated Press, 27 August.)

[3] “Iten sokushin e ‘Futenma’ no zenshin o,” Yomiuri shimbun, editorial, 4 August 2010.

[4] Clynt Ridgell, “US EPA calls DEIS ‘Environmentally unsatisfactory,” Pacific News Center, 25 February 2010.

[5] “Menboku yusen, jimoto hairyo nashi,” Ryukyu shimpo, 24 August 2010.

[6] “Futenma hikojo isetsu mondai – hiko keiro no setsumei ayamari, Henoko, Futenma daitai shisetsu an,” Ryukyu shimpo, 24 August 2010.

[7] “Okinawa Nihongawa ruto kyohi,” Ryukyu shimpo, 25 August 2010.

[8] “Yuitsu no jitsugen kano na an” quoted on “Bei no tenkan tomadou seifu,” Okinawa Taimusu, 25 August 2010.

[9] “Futenma Replacement Facility Bilateral Experts Study Group Report,” 31 August 2010.

[10] Quoted in Masami Ito, “Futenma replacement report leaves runway question open,” Japan Times, 1 September 2010.

[11] “Okinawa kengikai Nichibei kyodo seimei minaoshi ketsugi o saitaku,” Ryukyu shimpo, 9 July 2010 (English version in Peace Philosophy, 9 July 2010).

[12] “Henoko ni jieitai jochu,” Ryukyu shimpo, 26 August 2010.

[13] “Jumin fuzai no Nichibei kyogi – Henoko hiko keiro de tairitsu,” Ryukyu shimpo, 25 August 2010.

[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] “Oura-wan ni 36 shinshu, ebi kani-rui, ken ni hozon hatarakikake e,” Ryukyu shimpo, 25 November 2009 (and photo, here).

[17] “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).

[18] 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.

[19] 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.

[20] Sakurai Kunitoshi, “The Guam Treaty as a modern ‘disposal’ of the Ryukyus,” The Asia Pacific Journal, 21 September 2009.

[21] Hideki Yoshikawa, “Dugong Swimming in Uncharted Waters: US Judicial Intervention to Protect Okinawa's ‘Natural Monument’ and Halt Base Construction,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 7 February 2009.

[22] Medoruma Shun, “Nago shigikai senkyo,” Uminari no shima kara, 8 September 2010.

[23] Quoted in “Ippyo no butaiura – 2010 nen no toitsu chiho sen,” Okinawa Taimusu, 26 August 2010.

[24] “‘Ken-nai’ dantai seron han'ei Nago shiji senritsu kohosha anketo,” Okinawa Taimusu, 6 September 2010.

[25] “‘2 homen kosho’ ni hihan,” Ryukyu shimpo, 19 August 2010.

[26] “Sajo no Henoko kaiki, chartozu,” part 23, Zoku, Ame to muchi no kozu, Okinawa Taimusu, 22 August 2010.

[27] “Kichi yonin no soji ni,” and “Kahan setai ga gunyo jinushi,” parts 11 and 12, Zoku, Ame to muchi no kozu, Okinawa Taimusu, 1 and 2 August 2010.

[28] “Kyogaku no kane nichijo ni shinto,” part 21, Zoku, Ame to muchi no kozu, Okinawa Taimusu, 20 August 2010.

[29] “Umetatete shiyuchi ka,” part 16, Zoku, Ame to muchi, Okinawa Taimusu, 9 August 2010.

[30] “Jimoto bundan no akumu futatabi,” part 9, Zoku, Ame to muchi no kozu, Okinawa Taimusu, 30 July 2010.

[31] “Kyogaku no kane nichijo ni shinto,” cit.

[32] “Hanpatsu fuji joken toso yonin ketsugi isoida ku gyosei-i,” part 1, Zoku, Ame to muchi no kozu, Okinawa Taimusu, 16 July 2010.

[33] On the Kan-Ozawa debate: Kentaro Kawaguchi, Kiichi Kaneko, and Hiroshi Ito, “Futenma relocation plan stuck between a rock and a hard place,” Asahi shimbun, 2 September 2010; also ongoing coverage in Ryukyu shimpo and Okinawa Taimusu.

[34] Quoted in “Futenma relocation plan,” editorial, Asahi shimbun, 4 August 2010.

[35] “Kan and Ozawa lock horns on key policy issues,” Asahi shimbun, 4 September 2010.

[36] “Americans ‘simple-minded’,” Japan Times, 26 August 2010.

[37] See my “Ampo's Troubled 50th: Hatoyama's abortive rebellion, Okinawa's mounting resistance and the US-Japan relationship,” part 2, The Asia-Pacific Journal, 31 May 2010.

[38] In a concession designed to win support of the local Communist Party, Iha's campaign adopted the slogan “Withdraw the Marines” (Kaiheitai tettai). It was broader than that of simply a return of Futenma without replacement and might expose him to the charges of anti-Americanism that the mainstream Okinawan movement has been at pains to avoid.

[39] “Okinawa fukureru seifu fushin,” Asahi shimbun, 8 August 2010.

[40] “Henoko hokokusho jitsugen funo no kara shomon,” Ryukyu shimpo, 2 September 2010.

[41] “U.S. Policy in the Ryukyu Islands,” Memorandum of Conversation, July 16, 1965. US National Archives, Record Number 79651. See discussion in Steve Rabson, “‘Secret’ 1965 Memo Reveals Plans to Keep U.S. bases and Nuclear Weapons Options in Okinawa After Reversion,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, 5-1-10, February 1, 2010.

[42] “Chijisen ni kimitsuhi? soho nattoku iku setsumei o,” Okinawa Taimusu, 23 July 2010. Also “Okinawa kenchiji senkyo e no kanbo kimitsuhi ryuyo mondai,” Uminari no shima kara (Medoruma Shun), 22 July 2010. On the eve of the collapse of the Aso government in 2009, 250 million yen in such “secret payments” was authorized and remains unaccounted.

[43] “Kimitsuhi tonyu hitei sezu,” Ryukyu shimpo, 21 August 2010.

[44] For a file of newspaper editorial coverage on this matter, see this link.

[45] Debito Arudou, “The Victim Complex and Kim's Killer Con,” Japan Times, 3 August 2010.