US for OKINAWA Announces a Study Program for Biodiversity and a Base Free Henoko

US for OKINAWA, a peace action network formed by U.S. and other citizens from around the world living in Japan to support calls for the closure of Futenma Air Base and the halt to new base construction in Henoko, is pleased to announce it is organizing its second study program to Okinawa this year from September 22-26th. The program, titled the “Okinawa Peace Project” will allow participants to witness
Futenma and Kadena Air Bases firsthand, and to enjoy diving, snorkeling and kayaking activities in Oura Bay, site of the planned new base construction. The pristine bay is home to rare forms of biodiversity, including blue coral and the Okinawa dugong, that will be threatened or destroyed by plans to fill in a large swathe of the bay in order to construct the new base.

Given that the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP 10) will be held in Japan this year, the United Nations has designated 2010 as the International Year of Biodiversity, and the WWF has named it the International Year of the Dugong, US for OKINAWA aims to raise awareness of the grave environmental risk posed to Henoko from further militarization of Okinawa. US for OKINAWA will organize an action in Henoko on Saturday, September 25th to appeal to COP 10 members to
protect the biodiversity of Henoko.

US for OKINAWA will also use this occasion to express its support for the candidacy of Yoichi Iha in the upcoming November 28th elections for governor of Okinawa. As mayor of Ginowan City, Mr. Iha has demonstrated outstanding and unwavering dedication to the principles of citizen safety and security,
transparent and democratic politics, and peace in Okinawa and the entire East Asia region. Without a doubt, he will serve as governor of Okinawa with unparalleled excellence and integrity.

Local citizens and members of the media are invited to to join US for OKINAWA at various stops in our study program while in Okinawa. For more details of our activities on Saturday, September 23 rd and 25th, please see below.

9/23
08:30 Visit Kakazu no Takadai (view of Futenma Air Base)
10:00 Visit Kadena Base and Information center

09/25
08:30-09:30 Visit to Dugong Hill (Henoko)
15:00-16:00 Beach Clean-up activity at Henoko
16:00-17:00 COP 10 Action “Protect the Dugong” at Henoko!
18:30-19:30 Candle Action in front of Camp Schwab gate

For details of events and activities on September 24th, please contact Emilie McGlone at us.for.okinawa@gmail.com or 080-1295-7612 after September 22nd.

US for OKINAWA was founded in January of 2010 by Peace Boat staff members from the United States citizens residing in Japan. In cooperation with Peace Boat, US for OKINAWA organized its first study program to Okinawa in April of this year. Peace Boat is a Japan-based international non-governmental
and non-profit organization that works to promote peace, human rights, equal and
sustainable development and respect for the environment. Info: www.peaceboat.org

Visit to Dugong Hill (Henoko)
Beach Clean-up activity at Henoko
COP 10 Action “Protect the Dugong” at Henoko!
Candle Action in front of Camp Schwab gate

Kyoto Professor Negotated Secret nuclear trade-off deal for Okinawa: NHK documentary Monday night.

Wakaizumi negotiating secret deal with the U.S. (Image courtesy of NHK)

According to the original agreement between Japan and the U.S., Okinawa would be reverted to Japan in 1972 without the presences of nuclear weapons. However, behind the scenes, a Kyoto Sangyo professor, Wakaizumi Kei convinced then Prime Minister Sato Eisaku that Okinawa would not be handed over to Japan unless Japan allowed U.S. nukes on Japanese soil. In 1969, Sato gave Wakaizumi the green light to draft a secret proposal where Japan would eventually concede the condition calling for a nuke-free Japan, in order for it to be reverted to Japanese sovereignty as planned.

On Saturday night, NHK showed a documentary "The Truth Behind the Reversion of Okinawa" detailing these behind the scenes negotiations. It is based on the 1994 memoirs of late confidential agent Wakaizumi entitled, I wish I could believe there were no other options (Tasaku nakarishi woshinzamuto hossu). After 25 years of silence, he revealed documents which verifying the existence of a secret agreement on nuclear weapons between the U.S. and Japan. NHK will air the program in English and Japanese on Monday, June 21st at 8pm, Tokyo Time. That NHK would show a documentary about such a controversial topic certainly is proof that the majority of Japan is disillusioned by and fed up with the games being played with Okinawan lives.

In an introduction to a November 2009 article that appeared in the Asia-Pacific Journal, research professor for Hiroshima Peace Institute Yuki Tanaka demands that any agreement like this based on nuclear deterrence be considered a "crime against humanity":

The revelation of the details of the secret agreements on nuclear weapons in itself cannot bring about a decisive solution to Japan’s nuclear problems, above all since irrefutable evidence has long been available in U.S. documents and circulated widely among Japanese journalists and researchers. The most important question is not the secrecy concerning the U.S. nuclear weapons program in Japan, but the foundations of that secrecy, i.e., Japanese support for the U.S. policy of nuclear deterrence. In the absence of a clear DPJ policy on the issues, it can be expected that similar secret deals will be made to sustain Japanese support for the U.S. policy of nuclear deterrence, including the presence of U.S. nuclear weapons in Japan....

Thus, the question that requires urgent attention is not whether U.S. nuclear weapons have been or will be brought into Japan secretly, but the entire structure of U.S. nuclear deterrence deployed in Japan. It is precisely this structure that leads American policymakers to view Japan as a “vassal state”; without transforming this policy it will remain impossible Japan’s democracy and freedom of information to function autonomously. If Japan’s new Democratic Party government genuinely wishes to establish an “equal partnership” with the U.S. based upon the principle of national “independence,” it must seriously consider freeing Japan entirely from the U.S. nuclear umbrella and its nuclear deterrence strategy.

It is important to recognize nuclear deterrence policies for what they are: a “crime against peace” as explicated in the Nuremberg principle. This is because “nuclear deterrence” effectively means planning and preparation to commit indiscriminate mass killing, or in other words a “crime against humanity,” using nuclear weapons. In this regard, “nuclear deterrence” is no different from the “nuclear terrorism” that the U.S. and other nuclear powers so strongly condemn.

Okinawa has been the pawn of U.S. and Japan policy games for long enough. It is time to end Okinawa's status as a "vassal state" by halting the secret deals. It is time that the Okinawan people be able to take control of their own destinies.

For more information about the NHK documentary in Japanese, click here. You can watch a preview of the documentary if you click on the grey button on the top right of the page which has a green play button on the left of it (The button reads: 番組予告動画を見る). For information in English, click here.

-Posted by Jen Teeter

U.S. Military's Asia-Pacific Manifest Destiny

I hope to start outlining U.S. military build up in the Asia-Pacific region, and specifically in Japan 

So far there are 4 sections: ASIA-PACIFIC REGION , JAPAN, TINIAN, and GUAM.

ASIA-PACIFIC REGION

The following is an outline of an article by Rick Rozoff at Global Research which details the buildup of the U.S. military in the Asia-Pacific region. Other sources are also included, but unless otherwise noted the data is from the Rozoff article.

Naval Fleets
-6 navel fleets and eleven aircraft carrier strike groups, making it the largest navy in the world.- all 10 of the world's Nitmitz class nuclear-powered supercarriers
- as many aircraft carriers as all other nations combined.
- 70-80 planes and 10-12 naval expeditionary strike groups, ready for deployment on these air craft carriers

Seventh Fleet based in Japan
- it is the largest of U.S. forward-deployed fleets.
- 40-60 ships
- 25-350 aircraft
-20,000-60,000 Navy and Marine Corps personal (11,000 Navy personal on the fleet and and extra 35,000 in Japan according to AEI)
- dispatched every where from Russia Kurile Islands to South China Seas to Indian Ocean

U.S. Mutual Defense Treaties with/ Bases and Missile Defense Systems in:
-Australia
-Japan
-South Korea
-Thailand (Taiwan will receive 200 Patriot anti-ballistic missiles and 8 warships that can be upgraded to fire Standard Missile-3 interceptors)
- New Zealand (no bases or missile defense systems)

Military cooperation w/Asia-Pacific Nations:
-Austraila gave permission to U.S. military to make use of all of its logistics
- New Zealand announced in April that it will remove the ban on the docking of nuclear-powered warships and subs and that joint U.S. military exercises would resume
- U.S.-India joint military exercises in Malabar since 1992 (Japan joined in in 2009)
- U.S., Australia, Britain, Malaysia, New Zealand, and Singapore began Exercise Bersama Shield 2010 on the Malaysian peninsula

Afghanistan War Troops from:
- Australia (1,500 soldiers)
- Japan (supplied naval troops until last year)
- Mongolia
- New Zealand (200 troops)
- Singapore
- South Korea
- Mongolia
- 46 nations in total

(Rozoff article data end)
---
JAPAN

Okinawa
- Okinawan economy not dependent on U.S. bases.  Bases account for less than 10% of Okinawan economy.[8]

Iwakuni Base(map)
- by 2014 59 jet fighters based in US Naval Air Facility Atsugi, Kanagawa (map) will move to Iwakuni Base, making the base twice larger, the biggest air base in Far East Asia.
- 4,000 people (1,900 military personnel and families) will also be moved from Atsugi to Iwakuni
- Citizen opposition group Peace Link, Rim Peace Iwakuni and another local group distributed 2,000 handouts passers-by in 20 minutes on May 5, 2010 (video by Yamaguchi Broadcasting Station in Japanese)

Tokunoshima (map)
- U.S. Marines asking to deploy MV-22 Osprey tilt-roter aircraft on Tokunoshima [1] which is only 200 kilometers away from Okinawa and approximately 400 kilometers form China
- at least 80% of Tokunoshima residents oppose the placement of bases on Tokunoshima (based on petition signatures) [2]
- 34 people killed 4 separate Osprey accidents (July 20, 1992-7 deaths;April 8, 2000- 19 deaths; December 11, 2000- 4 deaths [3]April 9, 2010-Afghanistan- 4 deaths[4])
- Osprey has been used in Iraq[5], Afghanistan[4] and Honduras[6]
- 5,000 rally in Kagoshima City protest the bases relocation plan on May 8, 2010. 3 Kagoshima Prefecture mayors united with the people at rally [7]

TINIAN
-Two-thirds of Tinian is currently leased by the U.S. military as part of the CNMI commonwealth negotiations. [8]


GUAM (map)
Most of the information here was found in LisaLinda Natividad's and Gwyn Kirk's article

- Guam's indigenous Chamorro people arrived on island over 4000 years ago and traded with other islands throughout Micronesia and were self-sufficient [8]
- Spain colonized Guam until 1898 Treaty of Paris when Guam and other colonies in the Pacific were arbitrarily ceded over to the U.S. and other nations, ignoring cultural and political histories of the people.
- President McKinley gave the Navy control over the island [8]
- During WWII, Japan fiercely occupied the island, giving the U.S. navy an opportunity to "reclaim" the island and occupy ancestral Chamorro lands with even more military bases, significantly harming Guam's self-sufficiency.
-After the 1950 Organic Treaty of Guam, the U.S. now refers to Guam as unincorporated territory of the U.S. with one non-voting delegate in the U.S. congress. Its citizens have no voting rights in U.S. presidential elections.
- Julian Aguan reports that the"Bravo" nuclear bomb, one of 60 nukes dropped on the people of the Marshall Islands, exploded only 1200 miles from Guam and is the equivalent of 1.6 or 1.7 Hiroshima bombs every day for 12 years. Guam received downwind exposure from the bomb [10] and have not received compensation for their suffering.
- U.S. bases occupy 1/3 of Guam (Andersen AFB and annexes, US Naval Base and its annexes)
- At present, 90% of Guam's food is imported [8]
- "Guam ranked No.1 in 2007 for recruiting success int he Army National Guard's assessment of 54 states and territories."[9]
- "Death rate for troops from Guam and other U.S. Pacific island territories is higher than any other state or territory"[9]
- Poverty rates on Guam is 25%; 38-41% qualify for food stamps[8]
- U.S. Department of Defense hopes to: relocate 8,600 Marines from Okinawa to Guam and 1000 military personnel from South Korea by 2014; provide additional live-fire training sites, expand Andersen Air Force Base, develop a Marine training base; create berthing for a nuclear aircraft carrier on U.S. Naval base; and erect a missile defense system on the island.[8]
- Japanese government under Aso Adminsitration agreed to contribute $6 billion towards construction of Henoko base and relocation of Marines to Guam[8]
-Military contractors from the U.S.,  Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines are lining up for a piece of the Guam military build-up prize.
- Proposed build-up raises several concerns:
- an additional 80,000 people (47% increase) will be a significant burden on infrastructure, land, and service burden.
- military will take up 2,200 acres of land, one potential site being the oldest Chamorro village  of Pagat which is registered for historical preservation.
- U.S. military will detonate and remove 70 acres of coral reef to make the nuclear aircraft carrier berth in Apra Harbor(map)[8]
- Guam Citizens organize weekly radio program "Beyond the Fence" to raise awareness of military build up on Guam [11]
-I Nasion Chamoru,Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice,Tao’tao’mona Native Rights, Guahan Indigenous Collective, Fuetsan Famalao’an, and We Are Guåhan are some of many Guam based groups mobilizing against the buildup. Famoksaiyanis a California-based Guam diaspora group active in opposing build up.
- Hurao Cultural Camp teaches young children Chamorro language and culture.

[1] Kyodo News, Hatoyama eyeing deployment of MV-22 Ospreys on Tokunoshima: sources (May 1, 2010)
[2] Kyodo News, 80% of Tokunoshima residents are against hosting U.S. base (May 5, 2010)
[3] Wired, Saving the Pentagon's Killer Chopper-Plane (July 2005)
[4] CNN Wire Staff,ISAF: 4 killed in U.S. aircraft crash in Afghanistan (April 9, 2010)
[5] Rotor and Wing,Military/Utility: Osprey Heads to Iraq (April 2007)
[6] Bell Boeing ,Osprey Delivers for Honduran villagers (June 2009)
[7] Kyodo News, 5,000 rally in Kagoshima to oppose U.S. base relocation plan (May 8. 2010)
[8]LisaLinda Natividad and Gwyn Kirk, "Fortress Guam: Resistance to US Military Mega-Buildup," The Asia-Pacific Journal, 19-1-10, May 10, 2010.
[9] Blaine Harden, Washington Post, Guam's Young, Steeped in History, Line up to Enlist, U.S. Territory Pays High Cost in War Deaths (January 27, 2008)
[10] Democracy Now!, Guam Residents Organize Against US Plans for $15B Military Buildup on Pacific Island, Juan Gonzalez interviews Julian Aguan (October 9, 2009)
[11]KPRG, Public Radio for Guam, Beyond the Fence Radio Show (2010)

This post will be reposted indefinitely as updated/edited

Okinawans to Hatoyama: "We have the right to say NO!"

Okinawan protesters demonstrated their resistance to his proposal at every stop on Hatoyama's visit to their island. A Kyoto Action member followed Hatoyama's trail today and posted these at his blog:

9 a.m. - 400 people gather at the Okinawa Prefecture Office

Prefectural Assembly members remind the Hatoyama Administration: "Keep your campaign pledges!"

Futenma Volunteer Group and Ti-da Organization oppose bases at Futenma

2 pm - 200 people young and old gather at Futenma Elementary school expressing outrage at Hatoyama's about face

4 pm - Protesters at Camp Schwab insisting, "We have the right to say NO!"

Meeting with Mayor Inamine at Nago City. 300 protesters watch the meeting through the glass (Hatoyama is standing to the left. Mayor Inamine made clear his absolute opposition to the Hatoyama proposal: "We absolutely cannot accept such a plan.")

Emergency Appeal to Hatoyama: Listen to the Voices of the Okinawan People

Today Kyoto Action held an emergency appeal to Prime Minister Hatoyama--urging him to listen to the voices of the Okinawan people.

Kyoto Action members gathered in front of Takashimaya Department Store in the busiest shopping district in Kyoto and distributed flyers about Hatoyama's trip to Okinawa, his first trip to the island prefecture since taking office. Although Hatoyama previously promised he would not permit the construction of new bases in Okinawa, he has since done an about face: proposing the construction of a new base on Tokunoshima island and also the expansion of Camp Schwab in Henoko.

The site Kyoto Action chose is the most difficult place in Kyoto to distribute information. Most passersby are preoccupied with shopping and tend to ignore protesters. However, today it seemed as though Kyoto Action members were handing away free newspapers. People approached them first--asking for more information about the situtation in Okinawa--rather than the other way around. Members succeeded in passing out 450 flyers with the following information in only an hour:

“We don’t need military bases!” rang the voices of over 90,000 people who participated in the Prefecture-wide rally on April 25th. Okinawan citizens raised their voices, demanding that Futenma, known as the world’s most dangerous military base, be returned to the Okinawan people, and that plans to move bases to other places in Okinawa such as Henoko or White Beach, be cancelled. According to a census, over 90% of Okinawa prefecture residents are opposed to the relocation of bases. 75% of US bases in Japan occupy Okinawa. We can not allow any more bases to be pushed on Okinawa and the lands which the bases occupy must be returned to Okinawa at once.

Ever since the Liberal-Democratic Party decided on a plan to relocate the Airfield at Futenma to Henoko 13 years ago, there have been movements in Okinawa in opposition. Why must yet another military base be built in Okinawa? While emphasizing how dangerous Futenma Air Field, they want to build another one in Okinawa? This irrational plan is what the LDP was trying to force onto Okinawa. Yet, despite pressure to accept the plan, the Okinawan people relentlessly struggled against it, and eventually the Henoko plan was retracted.

However, PM Hatoyama, while saying he will not build another base in Okinawa, is resurrecting the idea of constructing bases in Okinawa again after being denied by the U.S. government. These proposals are practically the same as the LDP’s.- to create a base off the shore from Henoko or at White Beach. This will end up destroying nature and building yet another dangerous base in Okinawa. This is absolutely ludicrous. “We are going to build a base even if Okinawans oppose it.” This seems to be the opinion of some members within the Democratic Party of Japan. We should not be listening to the U.S. government any longer. Isn’t it the voices of the Okinawan people who have been suffering under the pressure of the bases for 65 years since the end of the war whose voices need to be heard? We must join together and oppose the bases in Okinawa!

Today, after meeting with Governor Hirokazu Naikama, a pale-faced Hatoyama dressed in a yellow, short-sleeved Okinawan print shirt, told members of the media at a press conference that he owed an apologies to the Okinawan people for causing them to suffer while searching for a solution and asked for the Okinawan people's understanding in his inability to relieve the burden of the bases.

Prime Minister Hatoyama answering questions about the deterrent power

of the Marines at a press conference after meeting with Okinawan Governor Naikama

For a previous TTT posts about Kyoto Action, click here for a summary of the group's action and here for information about the April 25th Solidarity Demonstration and a video.

- Jen Teeter

Kyoto Solidarity Rally and Prime Minister Hatoyama to visit Okinawa Governor Hatoyama hopes to meet Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima May 4th

This just in: NHK just showed clips of Prime Minister Hatoyama, dressed in an light yellow Okinawan-print shirt, presenting his thoughts on bases in Okinawa after meeting with Okinawa governor Hirokazu Naikama. He emphasized the inevitability of some bases remaining in Okinawa and is suggesting that Futenma Airfield be relocated to Tokunoshima and Camp Schwab. In response, Nakaima stated that Hatoyama is clearly ignoring the voices of the people.

Over 100,000 people joined together in Okinawa to protest against U.S. bases this past Sunday, April 25th. Around 400 people participated in a solidarity open-air tea party, demonstration, and rally where community members could enjoy Okinawan food and music while discussing the occupation of U.S. bases in Okinawa. The following is a video with highlights from the event organized by Kyoto Action (For a previous entry on Kyoto action, click here):



More photos and information in Japanese can be found at the Kyoto Action website.

Coverage in Japanese can be found at Kyoto Shinbun, Asahi Shinbun, and the Mainichi Shinbun.

Despite Prime Minister Hatoyama's proclamation that he will not allow new bases to be built in Okinawa, he is now reconsidering those plans. He is meeting with 3 mayors from Tokunoshima in Tokyo when he returns. Kyoto Action wants to make sure that we all keep an eye on PM Hatoyama in his negotiations and make sure that bases are no longer pushed on Okinawa.

To that effect, there will be an emergency action today (May 4th) in front of Takashimaya Department Store in Kyoto from 5:30pm. Participants will get the chance to engage in dialogue about the bases, receive information, or help pass out information about the danger of U.S. bases and collect petition signatures. Here is a translation of the flyer for those who can not attend:

“We don’t need military bases!” rang the voices of over 90,000 people who participated in the Prefecture-wide rally on April 25th. Okinawan citizens raised their voices, demanding that Futenma, known as the world’s most dangerous military base, be returned to the Okinawan people, and that plans to move bases to other places in Okinawa such as Henoko or White Beach, be cancelled. According to a census, over 90% of Okinawa prefecture residents are opposed to the relocation of bases. 75% of US bases in Japan occupy Okinawa. We can not allow any more bases to be pushed on Okinawa and the lands which the bases occupy must be returned to Okinawa at once.

Ever since the Liberal-Democratic Party decided on a plan to relocate the Airfield at Futenma to Henoko 13 years ago, there have been movements in Okinawa in opposition. Why must yet another military base be built in Okinawa? While emphasizing how dangerous Futenma Air Field, they want to build another one in Okinawa? This irrational plan is what the LDP was trying to force onto Okinawa. Yet, despite pressure to accept the plan, the Okinawan people relentlessly struggled against it, and eventually the Henoko plan was retracted.

However, PM Hatoyama, while saying he will not build another base in Okinawa, is resurrecting the idea of constructing bases in Okinawa again after being denied by the U.S. government. These proposals are practically the same as the LDP’s.- to create a base off the shore from Henoko or at White Beach. This will end up destroying nature and building yet another dangerous base in Okinawa. This is absolutely ludicrous. “We are going to build a base even if Okinawans oppose it.” This seems to be the opinion of some members within the Democratic Party of Japan. We should not be listening to the U.S. government any longer. Isn’t it the voices of the Okinawan people who have been suffering under the pressure of the bases for 65 years since the end of the war whose voices need to be heard? We must join together and oppose the bases in Okinawa!

Shoichi Kina Speaks about U.S. Military Expansion in the Documentary ANPO

The film ANPO is a sequel to Wings of Defeat, which includes rare interviews with surviving kamikazi pilots. It portrays the movement against U.S. bases through the eyes of artists and musicians:

ANPO opens as a squadron of F-16 fighter jets thunder directly over local traffic to land on Kadena, the largest U.S. airbase in Asia. Ten miles south, the urban homes that crowd Futenma Marine Corps Air Station shake from the numbing drone of C-130 cargo planes whose novice pilots repeatedly practice “touch-and-go” take-offs and landings. The U.S. base at Futenma is one of 30 bases in Okinawa, an island that makes up only 1% of Japan’s land mass while shouldering the burden of 75% of the U.S. military installations in Japan. That presence includes over 28,000 American troops, rivaling  the number deployed to the active war zone of Afghanistan. America’s military presence was negotiated in 1951 under the terms of the lopsided U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty, known in Japan as “ANPO.”  Under its provisions, American soldiers who rape Japanese women and girls are often protected from local prosecution. Prime farming lands have been confiscated from farmers to extend air force jet runways. Civilians are killed in hit-and-run accidents by drunken US servicemen with few held to account. In one particularly egregious case, a woman collecting shell casings to sell was shot in the back and killed by a US soldier who served no time for her death.

Protests by Japanese enraged by the onerous terms of the security treaty have generally been ignored by Japan’s ruling party. Yet for a brief window of time during the summer of 1960, shopkeepers, children and housewives joined a coalition of artists, farmers, students, laborers, and intellectuals in a series of massive demonstrations to block the renewal of the treaty. Tens of thousands of protestors marched on the Japanese parliament to demand an end to the unequal partnership with Washington. Among the protesters was a small cadre of Japan’s most talented artists. They used the creativity of their paintings, film, photography, manga, and music to give a powerful voice to the protests and to document the many ways in which the American military presence has intruded upon Japanese life and sovereignty.

Please spread the word about this film and post this clip on your websites!