American forces in Japan

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American forces in Japan

 

Feb 13th 2008
From Economist.com

 

Oversexed and over here, for better or for worse

THE alliance forged after the second world war between the United States and Japan?the linchpin of Asia's security?has swivelled to face shifting threats. First came the Soviet Union, assumed capable of launching a massive tank-and-infantry invasion of Japan via its northern island of Hokkaido. After the Soviet collapse, China’s economic, diplomatic and military rise became the overarching obsession. Now the alliance centres on a pesky North Korea, with its handful of nuclear bombs and growing missile-technology

 

But one constant remains, to which the alliance is ever hostage: the American soldier and the regular brutalities he commits on Japanese soil. on February 11th a marine sergeant was arrested on suspicion of having raped a 14-year-old girl on the southern island of Okinawa. The incident has sparked huge media coverage in Japan. Even the prime minster, Yasuo Fukuda, not usually one for speaking in absolutes, said: “This can never be forgiven.”

 

About 48,000 American troops are based in Japan, nearly half on crowded Okinawa. The island has had its share of grief in living memory. Near the end of the second world war, American marines launched an immense amphibious assault during which about one-quarter of Okinawa’s civilian population of about 400,000 were killed?many forced by Japanese troops to commit suicide.

 

For decades, Okinawa was in effect an American colony. The United States handed back administration of Okinawa only in 1972. Its military is the island’s biggest employer, but Okinawa and its adjacent islands remain the most backward parts of Japan. Meanwhile, military bases?notably the huge marine air-base of Futenma?are cheek-by-jowl with cities. For residents, that means noise, danger of accidents (in 2004 a helicopter crashed into a university on the base’s perimeter) and the risk of serious crime.

 

Indeed, the latest incident is being compared to a notorious case in 1995, when three servicemen from Futenma brutally raped a 12-year-old schoolgirl. In opposition to America’s military presence, Okinawans took to the streets in huge numbers. Under pressure, Bill Clinton proposed ceding the base as soon as an alternative could be found in a less crowded place. A floating heliport off Okinawa’s east coast will replace Futenma (assuming local and environmental objections can be overcome), but America and Japan continue to wrangle over relocation costs.

 

The rape raised questions about how to orient the alliance in a post-cold-war world. Under the planned realignment, Japan will take more responsibility for its own security, while American forces will retain their ability to respond quickly to regional emergencies?everything from terrorist threats to an invasion of Taiwan by China.

 

As a result, many American servicemen are on their way out of Japan. Eight thousand marines are due to leave Okinawa for Guam, an American dependency, by 2014, leaving the heliport a lightly-manned forward base for emergency response. That is one reason to think that this accusation will not have the political repercussions of the 1995 case.

 

Since then, too, the United States has become more sensitive. once, it demanded the right to try servicemen accused of local crimes; now it promises to help Japanese authorities pursue a case against the sergeant.

 

Still, the American presence in Japan remains contentious. on the same weekend as the alleged rape, an election was held for mayor of Iwakuni, near Hiroshima, where a whole American air wing is due to be relocated from other parts of Japan (a consequence of the realignment). To the relief of Mr Fukuda and his government, a candidate in favour of realignment won. But that was thanks largely to the central government’s threat to withhold huge dollops of money if the result went the wrong way. Such is the corrosive effect on domestic politics of the Ameri

 

As for the security threats facing the alliance: on the same weekend, a ghost rose up eerily from the past. A Russian strategic bomber from the cold-war era, a Tu-95 (known to NATO as “the Bear”), flew provocatively into Japanese air space 400 miles (640 kilometres) south of Tokyo, the Japanese government claimed. Japanese fighter jets were scrambled.

 

Reports later emerged that the same bomber, or a companion, buzzed the Nimitz, an American aircraft-carrier in the Pacific. American jets were also launched. Russia would like people to know that the Bear is back. And that is another reason to think that Japan’s political establishment, despite Mr Fukuda’s strong words, is not keen for this latest rape case to poison the security relationship with America.