It is well know that a large portion of the Japanese population demand a major reduction in the amount of U.S. military bases in Japan.
The U.S. military on Okinawa has been a sore point for years.
Many of the bases, such as Yokota Air Base, Iwakuni Marine Air Base and Naval Air Facility Atsugi on mainland Japan and Futenma and Kadena Air Bases on Okinawa, are located in the vicinity of residential districts, and local citizens have complained about excessive aircraft noise.
The U.S. and Japan agreed in 2006 to move Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to another part of the Okinawa Island in five years. That agreement also called for 8,000 Marines to be moved off Okinawa to the U.S. territory of Guam. The plan came after 15 years of negotiations but Japan’s new government now wants to reconsider it.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) won a historic election in August, 2009, in part by calling for a review of that 2006 agreement. Four DPJ members from Okinawa won parliamentary seats with promises of reducing the US troop presence on the island.
U.S. Defense Secretary Gates has said that the U.S. and the Japanese government have an agreement and he wants them to keep that agreement.
The U. S. government’s plan to fortify Guam, upgrading its military infrastructure on the island into a strategic staging post, would allow rapid access to potential flash points in the Western Pacific.
For over 50 years the U.S. has provided Japan a protective shield on the sea, on land and in the air. If there is something that disturbs Americans more than anything in global national security issues it’s allies squabling over mutual national defense issues.
For anyone in the U.S. or Japan looking for short range costs savings or political advantage, withdrawal of U.S. forces from Japanese territory would be a simple answer. However, the long rang dangers from North Korea and/or China makes this idea dubious at best.
