What is the new Japanese government’s position on U.S. bases in Okinawa?
As these two articles illustrate, the new government under the Democratic Party of Japan, which committed in a pre-election manifesto to “move in the direction of re-examining the realignment of the U.S. military forces in Japan,” is not in complete unity about its position. The DPJ position has been to move the U.S. Futenma military base presently at Ginowan, Okinawa, out of the prefecture entirely. But Hatoyama made, then retracted comments that the government may be close to approving plans to relocate the Futenma base to Henoko, Okinawa, a site of consistent protest by Okinawans. This may indicate a split within the ruling party leadership. We’ll have to wait and see what develops.
