Yukio Hatayama Lied About Okinawa: What A Surprise!

The U.S. military bases in Okinawa which occupy 20% of the island have long been a continuous issue with the people of the prefecture feeling that they were being treated as second class not only by the U.S. military but the government in Tokyo who they felt ignored the pleas for some relief for hosting the bases on the island. In the run up to the August 2009 election Yukio Hatayama then leader of the Democratic Party (DPJ) Campaigned on the promise that the Marine Corps Futenma air station would be relocated outside of the prefecture. Hatayama and the DPJ won the election becoming the first true opposition party told power in post war Japan. Because of the U.S. Japan military alliance as I wrote earlier in Who Owns Okinawa the chances of having Futenma moved anywhere but where the U.S. wanted moved were zero.

The Cables Are From Wikileaks

On Dec. 10, the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo dispatched a cable that was classified "secret" and for American eyes only.

The cable said, "Five DPJ Cabinet members (Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano, Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada, Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa and Maehara) met on the evening of December 8 and agreed that they could not accept moving forward with the Futenma Relocation Facility (FRF) because of opposition from the DPJ's coalition partner, the Social Democratic Party."

According to the document, Maehara explained to Roos that Japan would seek a number of alternatives that might be acceptable to both the United States and the Okinawa people.

The cable has Roos talking about "a problem with Hatoyama telling (U.S. President Barack Obama) to trust him but not following through."

On Dec. 21, 2009, then Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka had a lunch meeting with Roos. Their discussion was included in a cable classified as "secret."

Yabunaka referred to the Dec. 17 meeting in Copenhagen between Hatoyama and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The cable has Yabunaka saying, "Prime Minister Hatoyama confirmed to the secretary in Copenhagen that if the (Japan) review of the FRF alternatives to Henoko did not yield viable proposals, (Japan) would return to the 2006 FRF agreement."