Does America Really Care About Okinawa?

In 1996 the United States and Japan came an agreement about the U.S. bases located there among them was the Futenma Marine Air Station located in the middle of the city of Ginowan. The proposal was to move the air base to Nago city on the northeast  coast of Okinawa.  Unfortunately the citizens of Nago city want nothing to do with that Marine air station or its relocation.  That hasn't stopped the Japanese or American governments from  pressuring Nago city into accepting the relocation.  Frustrated, the mayor of Nago has taken his fight to America.


 “The very principle of democracy is that local citizens should make decisions,” Inamine told AFP.

“If this happened anywhere else in the world, I’m sure that this would not be acceptable. So why should it be okay for Okinawans to suffer this burden?” he said.

Okinawa, a subtropical region strategically close to areas disputed with China, was administered by the United States until 1972 and remains the home of half of the 47,000 US troops in Japan, which was stripped of its right to maintain a military following World War II.

In hopes of easing local grievances, the United States and Japan agreed in 1996 to dismantle the Futenma air station which lies in the crowded city of Ginowan and move it to sparsely populated Nago but the plan has been delayed by protests.

What apparent is that the people of Okinawa just don't count in the decision making process. No matter what they want the Japanese and American governments are going to ignore their concerns.