Clinton ready to meet Okada on Friday, but rest up to Japan: U.S.

Tuesday 03rd November, 05:28 PM JST

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10 Comments

elbudamexicano at 06:31 PM JST - 3rd November

Lets give PEACE a chance! I hope both Hillary and Okada can meet soon and well, talk about the problems facing the poor folk down in Okinawa.
stealth_one at 07:49 PM JST - 3rd November

Typical Yanks game playing to get their way with Japan.
furuigakko at 07:51 PM JST - 3rd November

facing the poor folk down in Okinawa.

The folks down in Okinawa would be more poor..........
alphawolf at 08:15 PM JST - 3rd November

The folks in Okinawa will benefit greatly, as they always have when base land and land reclamation took place.. it took a while in some instances, but once oil spills, legal issues, boundries, contracts, and artifact digging was completed, investment was fast and building took off fast. Okinawans always done better utilizing their once confiscated land and let capitalism take over.. At present about 1% (8300) of the Okianwan population work on the bases (19% of the prefecture)... aw
nandakandamanda at 09:01 PM JST - 3rd November

The US getting smarter and more mature now. They send in the cute girl to soften up the opposition first!
glycol57 at 10:17 PM JST - 3rd November

Perhaps the US airfield in Okinawa should be relocated to, oh, let's say, Guam ?

The USA no longer has unlimited funds for foreign military bases. Its economy is badly injured, the cumulative effects of many decades of poor fiscal policies have taken their toll.

Any 'relocation' effort on Okinawa may have to be halted at intervals or generally slowed due to financing problems. How would this impact Okinawians ? The people might be caught with TWO huge tracts of land, each halfway though the transition process, with all the mess and confusion and uncertainties such large projects tend to generate. I can see people and commerce displaced - but with only sporadic funding to handle their relocation.

While the US and Japan have long profited from a 'symbiotic' relationship, that does not mean that EVERY aspect of that relationship is beyond review and reconsideration. So I ask - "Is it time for Japan to change its military relationship with the USA ... especially when it comes to American bases in Japanese territory ?".

The 'cold war' is long over and the new security worries are of a different nature, ones that do not require large foreign military bases in your back yard (with their tendrils in your political processes). If the USA and Japan need to conspire over 'security' now, the subject should be strategies to prevent China and India from taking away ALL of our business - an 'economic cold war' instead of one involving bombs and bullets.

There's also a new consideration ... whether US military bases make Japan a nuclear TARGET for North Korea - actually decreasing security.

Oh, and as for sending the "cute girl" ... Hillary Clinton, "cute" ??? She's as cute as a shark. Beware her teeth :-)
yourock at 11:08 PM JST - 3rd November

When I visited Okinawa I hated to be mistaken by all Japanese as an American. My short hair didn't help! Unavoidable. But the impact on Naha and of course the surrounding bases can't be ignored. Moving the air base would be good but there are 2 problems: 1. where to? (let's be honest, who wants the jar-heads on their doorsteps?) 2: the vacuum to the local economy. Solve that and you're a genius.
Hephatsheput at 05:17 AM JST - 4th November

Without the bases there is no economy in Okinawa. Hopefully Secretary Clinton can talk some sense into these people.
alphawolf at 05:30 AM JST - 4th November

The bases only contribute 5% to the local economy in Okinawa... aw
Hephatsheput at 01:56 PM JST - 4th November

Actually, the figure is 85%