Ｊａｐａｎ Ｆｏｃｕs
Introduction by Steve Rabson
Nago Mayor Inamine Susumu has visited the United States twice recently to meet with government officials and hold press conferences to convey overwhelming opposition in Okinawa to the construction of a U.S. Marine air base in his city: as shown in local referenda, elections for a new governor and on-site protests. Like former Governor Ota Masahide who visited the U.S. in the 1990s, Inamine presented hand-outs and visuals documenting the disproportionate burden of U.S. military bases borne by Okinawa residents. Now Mayor Inamine’s office has prepared a thorough and easily-accessed presentation in English and Japanese on the history and scope of the U.S. military presence in Nago and the devastating impact the proposed air base would have on residents and the environment. It provides the essential facts to inform anyone with an interest in this issue at the center of Japan-Okinawa-US relations.
Page 2-3 - Henoko Oura Bay, Gifts from Nature
Page 4-5 - Construction Project of Futenma Replacement Facility (in Henoko)
Additional news from Nago city is available here.
A Japanese version and additional coverage is avaliable here.
Asia-Pacific Journal articles on related themes:
Hideki Yoshikawa, Urgent Situation at Okinawa's Henoko and Oura Bay
Jon Mitchell, Nuchi Du Takara - Okinawan Resistance and the Battle for Henoko Bay
Gavan McCormack and Urashima Etsuko, Okinawa's "Darkest Year"
Steve Rabson is Professor Emeritus of East Asian Studies, Brown University. His books are Okinawa: Two Postwar Novellas (Institute of East Asian Studies, University of California, Berkeley, 1989, reprinted 1996), Righteous Cause or Tragic Folly: Changing Views of War in Modern Japanese Poetry (Center for Japanese Studies, University of Michigan, 1998), Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese Literature from Okinawa, co-edited with Michael Molasky (University of Hawaii Press, 2000), The Okinawan Diaspora in Japan: Crossing the Borders Within (University of Hawaii Press, 2012) and Islands of Resistance: Japanese Literature from Okinawa, co-edited with Davinder Bhowmik (forthcoming from University of Hawaii Press, 2015). He was stationed in Okinawa as a U.S. Army draftee in 1967-68. He is an Asia-Pacific Journal Associate.
