Blue sky, blue ocean, colorful flowers and a unique culture. OKINAWA . If you hear about Okinawa , you can easily picture it as a tropical island. In fact, that is definitely true. Okinawa is located on the south-westernmost part of Japan prefecture of Japan Japan Okinawa is a tropical island. However, do you know what the number 18.4% portrays? In other words, roughly a fifth. The answer is the amount of area which U.S military bases occupy on this small island, Okinawa . In addition, surprisingly about 75% of the total land area exclusively used by U.S. forces in Japan is located in Okinawa . Unfortunately, these U.S military bases cause many problems such as noise pollution, crimes and so on in Okinawa . Due to these problems, many people in Okinawa have felt for a long time that Okinawa should immediately move U.S military bases from Okinawa to elsewhere for safety. The final straw that resulted in this opinion was caused by an incident in 1995 when a 12-year-old girl was raped by three U.S military man. After that incident, about 85,000 people in Okinawa got together and held a convention against the U.S military bases. About 70% of people there demanded to move the bases from Okinawa immediately (Ryukyu Shimpo). I mostly agree with that opinion. However, is it really the right decision to move these immediately without thinking? At that time, I said “no,” because if they move bases from Okinawa right now without thinking so much, some problems may emerge such as the fact that economy depends on them and that they are an important part of Okinawa culture after WW2 to today. A plan for the future removal of all U.S. military bases in/on? Okinawa should be made when Okinawa develops a solution that allows it the ability to keep and maintain a steady economy without support from the U.S military bases.
At first, before presenting furthermore, here is a little bit of historic background and reasons why U.S military bases are in Okinawa. 67 years ago, Okinawa was the WW2’s final battlefield between the U.S and Japan in 1945. Through that battle, over 200,000 people, including both countries’ armies and civilians in Okinawa lost their life. After that battle, Okinawa had been placed under the control of the U.S administrations for 27 years until 1972. Geographically, “Okinawa is situated in a critical location connecting mainland Japan, mainland China, and the nations of Southeast Asia, it is anticipated that Okinawa will become a center for exchange between Japan and the various nations of East and Southeast Asia,” (Okinawa convention bureau). “As a result, Okinawa came to play a role as the ‘Cornerstone of the Pacific’ for the US Forces,” (Okinawa prefecture).
Secondly, Okinawa really depends on U.S military bases economically. There are statistics which show this claim. In 2007, total revenue from sources outside of the prefecture in 2007 was 23.741 billion yen, and about 9 percent (2.088 billion) of this revenue was found to be dependent on the revenue related to the U.S forces in Okinawa (Okinawa prefecture, 2007). This is the third-highest market share of all industries in Okinawa. For this reason, it is clear how much the government in Okinawa depends on the revenue related to the U.S forces, and also how important that is for Okinawa. “In 2007, the municipality with the highest dependence rate on U.S. military bases in Okinawa Prefecture was Ginoza Village at 35.5%. This was followed by Kin Town with a percentage of 26.5%. The amount of land the U.S. military uses privately amounts to 679 billion yen and 524 billion yen was spent by the U.S. military as compensation of employees. This revenue, in addition to the land expenses incurred by the U.S. military bases (9.8 billion yen) along with the living expenses of all U.S. military personnel (69.7 billion yen), as results in 1,698 billion yen for the economy in Okinawa. In reality, 8,987 people work within the base, and they got salary and live with these.” (Okinawa prefecture, Military Base Affairs Division) Thorough these statistics, we can see that how much Okinawa depends on U.S military bases in economic field.
To solve these problems, it would be best to promote Okinawa as a tourist destination for Japanese and other foreigners alike. From the statistics, total revenue from sources outside of the prefecture in 2007 was 23.741 billion yen, and 18.1 percent (4.281 billion) of this revenue was found to be tourism revenue (Tourism Planning Division of Okinawa, 2007). This is the second-highest market share of all industries in Okinawa, and one can expect that it will be become much higher each year. In reality, the total number of tourists who visit Okinawa is getting higher each year; however, the number of tourists from foreign countries is still low. As such, it would be great to expand the appeal of Okinawa to people from all over the world and to increase the number of tourists from Japan and foreign countries. The increase in tourists would allow Okinawa to bring forth a new culture. Also, as a result, Okinawa would be able to maintain and develop an even more foreign atmosphere from tourists all over the world. For these reasons, it is clear how much revenue the Okinawan government can earn from the tourism industry and also how important the tourism industry is to Okinawa. If it were become true, Okinawa government doesn’t need to depend on U.S military bases anymore, and becomes independent to steady their economy.
In conclusion, Okinawa should not remove the U.S military bases immediately to somewhere else for safety, because the government in Okinawa really depends on U.S military bases economically such as the amount of revenue it receives from them. Moreover, to move the U.S military bases immediately would mean to lose a part of American culture which is very important part to Okinawa, because after WW2, the culture of Okinawa was really influenced by American culture through the U.S military bases. Furthermore, the most serious problem is that Okinawa has no plan to compensate for these losses in the problem the U.S. military bases really were removed. For these reasons, Okinawa should not move U.S military bases to somewhere else immediately since they have no idea about the problems that may arise. However, one day, Okinawa will find good solutions to solve these problems. I hope the Japanese government takes action to move the bases from Okinawa for our safety. We, the people in Okinawa, dream of a day in which U.S military bases don’t exist in Okinawa and are able to live in peace.
I'm so sorry for my late update!:(((
