Sunday, September 20, 2026
News and Views from the Global South
JAPAN-U.S.: Bases Issue Shows Tokyo’s Dependence on Washington
Suvendrini Kakuchi
- The extent of Japan’s dependence on the United States is becoming increasingly clear with the Tokyo government’s determined bid to keep U.S. bases on its soil despite fierce opposition from the public.
“It is time for the Japanese government to tell the public how important the U.S.-Japan security pact is for Japan,” U.S. Defence Secretary William Perry said recently, reacting to the backlash against U.S. troops stationed in Okinawa.
Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama this week urged Okinawa Governor Masahide Ota — who has vehemently refused to sign a document that would force landowners to extend the leases of the U.S. bases — to reverse his position.
Murayama even went a step further when he told reporters: “If Mr Ota refuses I think I have no other choice but to sign the documents on his behalf.”
Political observers saw Murayama’s unprecedented move as a significant one, considering that the government had in the past been reluctant to admit Japan’s dependence on the United States.
And it is all the more dramatic because Murayama belongs to the Social Democratic Party, the traditional opponent of the U.S.- Japan security pact which had always been supported by the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP).
Okinawa, a tiny island off southern Japan, is home to 75 percent of the 47,000 U.S. soldiers based in the country. It was the site of a fierce land battle between the Japanese Imperial Army and U.S. forces at the end of World War II.
The locals have long resented the large U.S. military presence in Okinawa. Ota wants the Japanese government to share the burden of the U.S. bases by moving some of them to the mainland.
For years Tokyo tried to avoid the issue. But the rape of a 12- year-old girl allegedly by three U.S. servicemen in September sparked angry public protests, prompting the government to take a serious look at the problem.
The cancellation of U.S. President Bill Clinton’s visit here last week dealt a hard blow to Murayama’s effort to allay the people’s concern over the matter. The two leaders were scheduled to make a joint statement focusing on the U.S. pledge to reduce its forces on the island.
But since Clinton’s visit was put off, Murayama had to find other ways to get the lease document signed. “It is a tough but necessary choice to maintain the Japanese-U.S. security alliance,” said chief cabinet secretary Koken Nosaka.
While Okinawa gives the United States great leverage in Asia, Perry wants Tokyo to explain to the deeply resentful Japanese public that the U.S. bases would help defend their country against foreign attacks.
Japan’s pacifist post-war constitution prohibits it from developing a strong army. During the Cold War, the country considered the former Soviet Union its main enemy. Today it sees North Korea and China as potential security threats.
Perry stressed that the U.S. bases in Okinawa would also help Japan regain the trust of Asian countries that it brutally colonised in the past and be accepted by the rest of the world.
“The security pact is very important to Japan because it provides the country with a vital shield. Government policy works on the basis that public sentiment must not run against national interests,” says military analyst Kazuhiko Ogawa.
Despite their uneasiness about possible attacks from their East Asian neighbours, the Japanese public has always found it difficult to accept their country’s role in supporting U.S. military efforts during international conflicts.
During the Gulf War, for example, Okinawa was an important naval base where U.S. warships stopped for refuelling before heading to the conflict zone.
Okinawa has also provided U.S. soldiers with arms, fuel and even entertainment despite widespread protests by the Japanese public.
The Japanese government has tried to downplay the issue, preferring to highlight the need to defend the country against potential enemies. Officials fear any moves to criticise the United States would erode the security pact that forms the backbone of peace in the region.
The government now plans to expand its financial support for the bases. Several lawsuits seeking the closure of the bases, for reasons such as the noise caused by fighter jets, have been dismissed for lack of legal grounds.
Analysts expect the government to contain the current rumpus by shifting some of the U.S. troops out of Okinawa temporarily and then moving them back to the island later.
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JAPAN-U.S.: Bases Issue Shows Tokyo’s Dependence on Washington
Suvendrini Kakuchi
- The extent of Japan’s dependence on the United States is becoming increasingly clear with the Tokyo government’s determined bid to keep U.S. bases on its soil despite fierce opposition from the public.
(more…)
Print
|
JAPAN-U.S.: Bases Issue Shows Tokyo’s Dependence on Washington
Suvendrini Kakuchi
- The extent of Japan’s dependence on the United States is becoming increasingly clear with the Tokyo government’s determined bid to keep U.S. bases on its soil despite fierce opposition from the public.
(more…)
Print
|
JAPAN-U.S.: Bases Issue Shows Tokyo’s Dependence on Washington
Suvendrini Kakuchi
- The extent of Japan’s dependence on the United States is becoming increasingly clear with the Tokyo government’s determined bid to keep U.S. bases on its soil despite fierce opposition from the public.
(more…)
Print
|
