Okinawa seeks reduction in noise from U.S. military planes

Wednesday 08th July, 05:51 AM JST

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societymike at 12:40 PM JST - 9th July

haha... you actually compared the Phillipines to Okinawa.

Again, this issue is almost pointless since it's not the local near-by residents complaing about noise, it's the Communist Party of japan that comes down to Okinawa a couple times a year from mainland Japan. If you are actually living IN Okinawa and concious of current events, you would know that.
USNinJapan2 at 04:11 PM JST - 9th July

cooeecobber

Subic Bay is a valuable deep water port just 50 miles from the capital. Okinawa's only value aside from tourism is that it is in a militarily strategic location. It's also about as far as you can get off the beaten track in Japan. Who exactly do you think will develop the real estate currently occupied by military installations, and what would they build there? Another unnecessary airport? Some areas hit by base closures in the US and abroad do pretty well while some are devastated. Subic is a pretty rare success story that shares very few factors with Okinawa.
cooeecobber at 04:24 PM JST - 9th July

USNinJapan2

>

Who exactly do you think will develop the real estate currently occupied by military installations, and what would they build there? Another unnecessary airport?

I would say that's for the Okinawans to decide. It's none of your business.
cooeecobber at 06:25 PM JST - 9th July

societymike

No, I gave an example of what can be achieved, when given the choice. By the way, you might want to check the spelling of your countries, don't want to upset any pilapinos!

And, no, I don't need to be in Okinawa, to know what's going on. My Okinawan friends keep me well informed, thanks.
USNinJapan2 at 07:33 PM JST - 9th July

cooeecobber

I would say that's for the Okinawans to decide. It's none of your business.

Of course it's for the Okinawans to decide. But what do YOU think can replace the US military as the number one source of income for the prefecture? I'd say it's fair game to ask for your solution to their economic woes (assuming you have one of course) since you did compare Okinawa's post-military prospects to the successful development of Subic Bay in your 09:10 post above. My point is that I don't believe anything (SDF, universities, theme parks, whatever) can successfully replace Okinawa's current 'base economy' like the idustrial port and tourist resort did for Subic Bay because unlike Subic Okinawa is not geographically convenient for business, industry, education, etc. and its only ace in the hole is it's strategic military importance. Now if you have an economic solution for Okinawa (hopefully other than 'more tourism') then I'm all ears. And yes, don't worry it'll still be for the Okinawans to decide...
cooeecobber at 07:49 PM JST - 9th July

Oh, I think there are many possibilities that would become apparent, once you went away. We mainlanders wouldn't mind subsidising any venture there.

The strategic location that you go on and on about, can also be used for tourism, transport, energy, IT. I hear there are many fine golf courses on and off base.

But it's none of my business what they do. I'll support any move to get rid of you lot, and the aftermath of picking up the pieces, once you've gone.

But I know that won't happen any time soon. Like I said in an earlier post, you have a vested interest in keeping east Asia from 'doing a Europe'. You're not here for the Okinawans, you're here to protect US interests.
USNinJapan2 at 08:32 PM JST - 9th July

cooeecobber

About what I expected. Actually less.
YuriOtani at 02:15 AM JST - 10th July

USNinJapan2, being in the military of the occupation force your views are easy to guess. The bases on Okinawa split the island apart. The sight of drunken American forces outside on Gate 2 street, BZ street or kitamae makes me feel uneasy. The people of Okinawa want peace and quiet for a change. The Aircraft nose from Kadena makes it hard for people to sleep. Why did they move close to the base, well there is only so much land available and unlike Americans Okinawa people live close to where they work. Remember Americans are the "guests" of the Government of Japan and they need to remember their manners instead of making excuses for their bad behavior.
societymike at 04:30 PM JST - 10th July

YuriOtani, do you really want to start bringing up behaviour among the Okinawa community? If so, you won't like it when you see that the Military personnel in Okinawa are still the best behaved group of people in Okinawa, like it or not. But I'm sure you already know that, you just don't want to mention it.

As for the noise, it hasn't changed since 1945 and unfortunately won't change for many many years to come.

cooeecober, I agree with some of your point about developing Okinawa for IT, energy, business, etc, however, you have to realize that many Okinawa people do not want mainland companies "taking over". There are many who don't like how Aeon group bought up all the land where the current Awase golf course is so they can create an amusement park and shopping mall.

Also, when the US pulled out of Clark during the volcano, the economy of the area was devastated. Only in recent years has it come back.

ANYWAY, the good news is, once the Okinawa and Japanese government stop arguing, Okinawa will be much happier and so will the US Military. The US is trying desprately to reduce it's size in Okinawa by a lot. Once the final OK is given by Japan/Okinawa, the majority of the bases in Okinawa will be closed.

itenarary: complete small runway in Camp Schwab for helicopters move helicopters from Futenma to Schwab move C-130's from Futenma to Guam and Iwakuni move marines from Futenma to Guam and Iwakuni close Futenma

complete Hospital on Camp Foster complete current housing project on Camp Foster move Hospital and personnel to Camp Foster close Camp Lester

complete warehouses in Guam move military and disaster assests to Foster and Guam move personnel to Guam close Camp Lester

complete all housing projects on Kadena, Foster, Courtney close all training areas in the north and the islands in the south close all other smaller bases on Okinawa

Remaining/unchanged bases will be; Kadena, Foster, Torii, Courtney, Schwab, and the small post in Ie shima which is joint with JASDF.

Unfortauntely, moving disaster assests to Guam means slower response time to all Asian nations including Japan for disaster relief like earthquakes, tsunami, etc.
USNinJapan2 at 05:30 PM JST - 10th July

societymike

A valient effort, but are you familiar with the Japanese saying 馬の耳に念仏 (uma no mimi ni nembutsu)? Applicable here I'd say...
Squally at 11:29 PM JST - 10th July

USNinJapan2: Right, that's what every american in okinawa wishes. That the poor okinawans will regret the day they leave and take all their dollars with them. I can tell you don't get far from base huh?
Squally at 11:32 PM JST - 10th July

Also, seeing as Americans contribute less then 5% to the local economy, they would recover from the lost dollars fairly quickly IMO. If they developed the land into something useful that attracted more tourists then in the long run they'd be better off without the bases. While Okinawa is the poorest prefecture, they don't rely on the american dollar to get by.
nipandtuck at 11:52 PM JST - 10th July

Maybe complaining about the noise is the Okinawans' polite and indirect way of saying, "get the hell out of Dodge!"
USNinJapan2 at 12:19 AM JST - 11th July

Squally

Try reading the thread above in its entirety instead of just the last few posts. Then perhaps you can commment intelligently.

The direct contribution of cash (personal) spent by American servicemembers in local businesses in Okinawa is not that significant. However, the rent paid for base real estate, the myriad local base contracts and most importanty the "burden payments" paid annually by the GOJ to Okinawa to compensate for the US military presence is what keeps the prefecture solvent. For the most part there has been for decades a tacit acceptance of the US military by Okinawans but regardless of their actual feelings on the issue it is in their fiscal best interest to protest; the more they complain about the US military the more their prefecture is compensated by the national government. Like it or not it is this dynamic that is Okinawa's primary commodity. Tourism and service (third sector) is #2, manufacturing industry is #3, and agriculture is a distant #4.
Squally at 12:36 PM JST - 11th July

Do you actually believe that the number one bread winner for Okinawa is the US military installations?

Prefecture compensated? The individual land owners are the one's who are compensated by the GOJ IIRC for the use of their land, not the Okinawan government. Sure there would be a lose in jobs, but like I previously stated if the land was developed properly then the economy would eventually recover from it's loss. The GOJ also pays for the base utilities as well IIRC, that's some gained revenue if the bases were to vanish.

The US is NOT the number one source of income for Okinawa, period. It's like clockwork once dealing with this issue. I'm tempted to believe that most military types must feel "special" and/or "needed" and love to take this position when it comes to local areas that don't want a base around. Jumping up on their pedestal and spouting things like "without us you'd be lost. Your economy would tank and country X would invade in no time". In some instances it can be true, but in this one it's not.

I had an article that broke down where Okinawa received most of it's revenue and showed that the military on Okinawa was one of the lowests. However, I am unable to find it at this time.