the basics: america won WWII in 1945 and took over okinawa among other stipulations, such as japan cannot have a formal military and instead will be protected by an american presence. us occupation ended in 1952 but america held onto okinawa. america didn't give okinawa back to japan until 1972. (yes, that's right, my mom grew up using american dollars, driving on the right side of the road, requiring a passport to visit japan, etc.) all this was long ago before i was born but it still impacts us today as the bases remain. how long after a war ends must military occupation or a military presence exist? it's been 60 years already. soon all the soldiers of that war will be dead. the country isn't a threat anymore, it's an ally. vietnam is over too. (okinawa was a major military launching pad for the vietnam conflict.) enough is enough.

the american military force is the largest in the world and therefore it will become an issue for most global citizens at some point in our lives. and now for some extreme metaphors.

extreme metaphor #1.
the american bases in okinawa remain and are a constant source of conflict. civilians in the us really can't comprehend this sort of thing. very few of us grow up right next to a military base so we don't understand what sort of impact there is. besides, it's so far away in another country as a result of a war i didn't participate in, why should i care? right? that's the general attitude i think. well, what happened when we didn't pay attention to what the us military was doing in other places overseas? not to say that okinawans are extremists and will take violent action, but rather to focus on the human issue and how a military presence impacts civilians and also the environmental damage--the major reason of opposition against this proposed offshore helipad.

extreme metaphor #2.
75% of all the american bases in japan are situated in okinawa. japan is about the size of california. okinawa is about the size of los angeles, maybe less. it's comprises only 0.6% of japan. 75% of bases in less than 1% of land? crazy i know. imagine if all the prisons were concentrated in one location: the county you live in. how would you feel about that? a few years ago, the government said they would reduce the prisons. now they want to build another one. what would you do about it? that's what's going on in okinawa.

i support the downsizing of our global military presence, and in particular of spreading out the bases in japan into other prefectures so that 1 prefecture does not bear the majority of the burden of an entire nation. but i don't think this will ever happen, not as long as america is dominant. you could say i'm cynical. you could say i'm a realist. try as we might, the bases in okinawa will not go away. it comes down to the japanese government not giving a shit about okinawa. always has been, always will be. but we can try. there are more okinawans living outside of okinawa than in okinawa itself. plus all of their spouses and offspring and friends. that's a sizeable community. so to the community, take action! do your part to help your ancestral home.

if you want to learn more, cnn even made a little lesson plan over the issue a few years ago.