Okinawa Demands Democracy: The Heavy Hand of Japanese and American Rule Maedomari, Hiromori

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Okinawa Demands Democracy: The Heavy Hand of Japanese and American Rule

Maedomari, Hiromori

Translated and Introduced by Joseph Essertier

Introduction: In “Okinawa Demands Democracy” Maedomari Hiromari patiently details the cruel political and economic injustices that burden Okinawans today, such as their pseudo-citizenship and semi-colonial status, a status that arose from the U.S. military occupation of Okinawa (which began with the horrific 1945 Battle of Okinawa). His analysis reveals the way that such injustices are an inevitable result of Tokyo’s subservience to Japan’s imperial masters in Washington, and it demonstrates that, as a result of the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty, none of the people of the Archipelago, in fact, enjoy full sovereignty. That same government that repeatedly plundered Okinawa during the past three quarters of a century under the banner of fighting for freedom and democracy has also repeatedly violated Japan’s sovereignty.

“Okinawa Demands Democracy” was published in the September 2018 issue of the political magazine Sekai (“World”), just a few weeks before Okinawans elected Denny Tamaki as Governor of Okinawa Prefecture. Okinawan opponents of the new Henoko base construction at Camp Schwab saw Governor Tamaki as an ally and/or representative who would respect the will of the people. Building on that success, of putting him in office, such base opponents have subsequently maintained their campaign and achieved other notable victories. For example, although the turnout was not spectacular, at roughly half the registered voters, 72.2 percent of the Okinawans who participated in the citizen-initiated referendum in February 2019 voted against the plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko. They then achieved success in the by-election of April 2019 when Yara Tomohiro, the candidate backed by Governor Tamaki, won, and also in the July 2019 election when Takara Tetsumi won a seat in the Upper House.

Undaunted by the accidental fire that burned down much of Shuri Castle in October 2019, by infections from SARS-CoV-2 early this year, by the sharp decline in February in the number of tour groups coming from overseas, or by U.S. military personnel accidentally spilling 227,100 liters of fire-extinguishing foam into residential neighborhoods on April 10 without apologizing, agents of peace in Okinawa have continued to work on peace education and to engage in non-violent direct resistance. Only the SARS-CoV-2 declaration of a state of emergency was capable of putting a damper on the flame of Okinawan peace building. And just recently, on June 7, Henoko base construction opponents retained their majority in the Okinawa prefectural assembly election. Maedomari’s “Okinawa Demands Democracy” gives us new awareness of the obstacles to peace and democracy, and the extent to which the Okinawans’ overcoming of those obstacles may result in greater security for people there, as well as for millions of people in East Asia.

Read more: https://apjjf.org/2020/16/Maedomari.html

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  The Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus

  This is a translation of Maedomari Hiromori’s article “Okinawa ga tou minshu shugi,” which appeared in Sekai, September 18, 2018, 107-120.

  After serving as a chief editorial writer at the newspaper Ryukyu Shimpo, Maedomari, Hiromori (1960-) became a professor in the Department of Economics at Okinawa International University. His numerous awards include the Ishibashi Tanzan Memorial Waseda Journalism Award, 2004, for his investigative work on the Status of Forces Agreement. He is the author of many books, including Okinawa to Beigun kichi ([Okinawa and the U.S. bases], Kadokawa Shoten, 2011), and Hontō wa kenpō yori taisetsu na “Nichibei chii kyōtei nyūmon” ([Introduction to the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement: Actually More Important than the Constitution], Sōgensha, 2013). This book was reviewed in English by Colin P.A. Jones in the Japan Times on 5 August 2013, see https://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2013/08/05/issues/sofa-an-unequal-treaty-that-trumps-the-constitution/#.Xt3vejNxc2w

  Joseph Essertier is an associate professor at the Nagoya Institute of Technology, a scholar of modern Japanese literature, a contributing editor of the Asia-Pacific Journal: Japan Focus, and an international human rights advocate.

  

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  SOFA: an unequal treaty that trumps the Constitution?