[Today's News] from [THE WALL STREET JOURNAL]
[Asia]
Japan Lawmaker Pushes to Scale Back U.S. Bases
Son of an American Serviceman Seeks to Reduce Military Presence in Okinawa, Highlighting Ruling Party's Policy Review
By YUKA HAYASHI
OKINAWA, Japan -- As Japan's new ruling party begins to question its military alliance with the U.S., one freshman lawmaker whose personal history reflects the longstanding ties between the two nations is already pressing the issue.
Denny Tamaki, a newly elected member of the Democratic Party of Japan, is the son of a local woman and a U.S. serviceman. His main goal is to sharply shrink the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, a remote southern island that hosts roughly half of some 45,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.
"It's about time the Japanese government let Okinawa go back to its original self," says the former radio talk-show host, 49 years old. Despite his fondness for American music and movies, Mr. Tamaki argues it is time the two grew more distant. "I am an embodiment of Okinawa's postwar history," he says. "No one is more qualified to tackle the base issues."
Mr. Tamaki represents the complexities behind altering an agreement that has extended the umbrella of U.S. military might over Japan for more than six decades. The DPJ, which scored a landslide victory over the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in national elections on Aug. 30, has promised to make Japan's relationship with the U.S. "equal," and to review an existing agreement to realign U.S. forces in Japan.
The DPJ had softened its stance ahead of the elections, but since then it has made it clear that Okinawa is a priority. Katsuya Okada, the DPJ's new foreign minister, said last week that the issue of one base, the U.S. Marine helicopter facility in Futenma, Okinawa, needs to be discussed by year-end.
Still, in his recent phone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama said the bilateral relationship with the U.S. would continue to be the "foundation" of Japan's foreign policy and that the DPJ won't seek drastic changes rapidly.
"We're not going to prejudge where they are until we begin to sit down with them," said Geoff Morrell, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, in a briefing this month. It isn't clear if the base issue will be discussed when Messrs. Hatoyama and Obama meet on Wednesday.
If the DPJ is serious, says Masaaki Gabe, professor of international relations at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, the party will start reducing spending related to the U.S. military realignment in the fiscal year starting April 1.
Determining the future of the Futenma air station, amid urban sprawl in central Okinawa, is an immediate challenge. A 2006 agreement calls on the U.S. to move 8,000 Marines to Guam by 2014 and move the helicopter facility to another part of the island. Critics want to move it completely off the island, if not from Japan itself.
Many Okinawans worry the departure of U.S. personnel could worsen Okinawa's economy. "Of course, we all wish the bases weren't here," says Kiyomitsu Nakama, the 60-year-old owner of a motorcycle shop near Kadena Air Base. "But so many people depend on the bases for our living, and our economy would crumble without them."
The U.S. has used Japan as a primary host for its military presence in East Asia. The Japanese government spends roughly $2 billion a year to help cover the costs. The presence of U.S. forces let Japan keep its own military small and focused on self-defense, freeing up resources to help fuel its postwar boom.
Mr. Tamaki and allies believe the bases limit economic development because their presence spurs government aid, but local industries haven't grown. "We need to wean our economy from its dependence on the bases," Mr. Tamaki says. He wants to build a railway on the land to help ease rural joblessness.
Mr. Tamaki was raised by his mother in Okinawa and knows little about his father. As a child, he was often teased by strangers for his reddish hair and hazel eyes. They called him "Americaah," an often derogatory term, and some threw rocks at him, he said. That didn't keep him from adoring American culture, glimpsed through open-base Fourth of July parties and later the music of Aerosmith and Kiss played at local bars.
As he grew more involved in politics, he became increasingly aware of the hard feelings caused by the bases. Okinawa's main island hosts 34 U.S. facilities that together take up about 20% of its land, leading to occasional clashes. A military helicopter crashed on a college campus near Futenma in 2004, and a series of attacks on local women by American soldiers caused an uproar.
Despite his stance, Mr. Tamaki is convinced his job in parliament will soon give him an opportunity to visit the U.S. for the first time. "Deep down, I always knew I would someday go to the States to look for my father," he says.
[Asia]
Japan Lawmaker Pushes to Scale Back U.S. Bases
Son of an American Serviceman Seeks to Reduce Military Presence in Okinawa, Highlighting Ruling Party's Policy Review
By YUKA HAYASHI
OKINAWA, Japan -- As Japan's new ruling party begins to question its military alliance with the U.S., one freshman lawmaker whose personal history reflects the longstanding ties between the two nations is already pressing the issue.
Denny Tamaki, a newly elected member of the Democratic Party of Japan, is the son of a local woman and a U.S. serviceman. His main goal is to sharply shrink the U.S. military presence in Okinawa, a remote southern island that hosts roughly half of some 45,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan.
"It's about time the Japanese government let Okinawa go back to its original self," says the former radio talk-show host, 49 years old. Despite his fondness for American music and movies, Mr. Tamaki argues it is time the two grew more distant. "I am an embodiment of Okinawa's postwar history," he says. "No one is more qualified to tackle the base issues."
Mr. Tamaki represents the complexities behind altering an agreement that has extended the umbrella of U.S. military might over Japan for more than six decades. The DPJ, which scored a landslide victory over the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party in national elections on Aug. 30, has promised to make Japan's relationship with the U.S. "equal," and to review an existing agreement to realign U.S. forces in Japan.
The DPJ had softened its stance ahead of the elections, but since then it has made it clear that Okinawa is a priority. Katsuya Okada, the DPJ's new foreign minister, said last week that the issue of one base, the U.S. Marine helicopter facility in Futenma, Okinawa, needs to be discussed by year-end.
Still, in his recent phone conversation with U.S. President Barack Obama, new prime minister Yukio Hatoyama said the bilateral relationship with the U.S. would continue to be the "foundation" of Japan's foreign policy and that the DPJ won't seek drastic changes rapidly.
"We're not going to prejudge where they are until we begin to sit down with them," said Geoff Morrell, a U.S. Defense Department spokesman, in a briefing this month. It isn't clear if the base issue will be discussed when Messrs. Hatoyama and Obama meet on Wednesday.
If the DPJ is serious, says Masaaki Gabe, professor of international relations at the University of the Ryukyus in Okinawa, the party will start reducing spending related to the U.S. military realignment in the fiscal year starting April 1.
Determining the future of the Futenma air station, amid urban sprawl in central Okinawa, is an immediate challenge. A 2006 agreement calls on the U.S. to move 8,000 Marines to Guam by 2014 and move the helicopter facility to another part of the island. Critics want to move it completely off the island, if not from Japan itself.
Many Okinawans worry the departure of U.S. personnel could worsen Okinawa's economy. "Of course, we all wish the bases weren't here," says Kiyomitsu Nakama, the 60-year-old owner of a motorcycle shop near Kadena Air Base. "But so many people depend on the bases for our living, and our economy would crumble without them."
The U.S. has used Japan as a primary host for its military presence in East Asia. The Japanese government spends roughly $2 billion a year to help cover the costs. The presence of U.S. forces let Japan keep its own military small and focused on self-defense, freeing up resources to help fuel its postwar boom.
Mr. Tamaki and allies believe the bases limit economic development because their presence spurs government aid, but local industries haven't grown. "We need to wean our economy from its dependence on the bases," Mr. Tamaki says. He wants to build a railway on the land to help ease rural joblessness.
Mr. Tamaki was raised by his mother in Okinawa and knows little about his father. As a child, he was often teased by strangers for his reddish hair and hazel eyes. They called him "Americaah," an often derogatory term, and some threw rocks at him, he said. That didn't keep him from adoring American culture, glimpsed through open-base Fourth of July parties and later the music of Aerosmith and Kiss played at local bars.
As he grew more involved in politics, he became increasingly aware of the hard feelings caused by the bases. Okinawa's main island hosts 34 U.S. facilities that together take up about 20% of its land, leading to occasional clashes. A military helicopter crashed on a college campus near Futenma in 2004, and a series of attacks on local women by American soldiers caused an uproar.
Despite his stance, Mr. Tamaki is convinced his job in parliament will soon give him an opportunity to visit the U.S. for the first time. "Deep down, I always knew I would someday go to the States to look for my father," he says.
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