Y&M Magazine - US Troops in Okinawa

Home Sweet Home?: US Troops in Okinawa
by Terri Keeley 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5

Okinawans’ Responses

The presence of US troops in Okinawa has generated local protest movements. Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence grew out of a report to the Fourth UN Forum on Women in Beijing (1995) and was founded by Suzuyo Takazato, a member of the Naha City Assembly, and Carolyn Francis, a US Methodist missionary in Okinawa. The group publicizes the effects of militarization on women’s lives and educates people in the US about the broader foreign policy issues behind incidents such as the 1995 rape. The group organized a protest of 85,000 people on October 21, 1995, the largest ever in Okinawa.

The One-Tsubo Anti-War Landowners Association has also formed to challenge the US military use of land without valid leases. The group includes private landowners and more than 3,000 Okinawans and other Japanese who have bought small portions of land, approximately 3.3 square meters (tsubo). In May of 1997, when many of these tsubo areas came up for renewal, the landlords refused. The Japanese government then passed a law which transferred control of the land to itself.

Agreements between the US and countries hosting its troops allow the US government to act with impunity, providing the framework for US servicemembers to do so as well.

The law is unconstitutional in two respects. First, it removed the lands without due process. Second, the law applied only to Okinawa, illegal under article 94 of the Japanese constitution, which states that laws must apply equally to the entire country, unless the citizens of that region have agreed to it.

Two other developments occurred in the summer of 2000. During the G8 Summit meetings held July 21-23, 2000, in Okinawa, the Red Card Movement organized protests against the presence of US bases. More than 27,000 people formed a human chain, bringing international attention to the issue. On August 16, 2000, Okinawan authorities announced that at the end of the month they would be asking the Japanese and US governments to review the terms of the SOFA. Two particular points were cited for discussion: permitting Okinawan authorities to spot-check military bases for environmental damage and to garnish the wages of US servicemembers who fail to pay child support to women who care for their Amerasian children.

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