-
https://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/files/original/3fd2fe4c7c7a175dd9f830d743ba628a.pdf
8902318e7af9e94b4b62f8dc3f1e76e9
PDF Text
Text
Case Number: 2008-0702 . . F
FOIA
MARKER
This is not a textual record. This is used ·as an
. administrative marker by the Clinton Presidential
Library Staff.
Folder Title:
Okinawa Speech [5]
Staff Office-~ndividual:
Speechwriting-Orzulak, Paul
Original OA/ID Number:
4023
Row:
Section:
Shelf:
Position:
Stack:
48
6
9
3
v
�,.
Page 30
LEVEL 2 - 50· OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 2000 Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.
The Nikkei Weekly
January 10, 2000
SECTION: Economy & Politicsi Pg. 6
LENGTH: 637 words
HEADLINE: Base-relocation stalemate may soon be over
Okinawa city accepts base move despite strong public opposition
BODY:
After a long stalemate, the relocation of the U.S. military heliport base in
Futenma, Okinawa Prefecture, may soon become a reality.
With the decision by Mayor Tateo Kishimoto of Nago to accept the transfer of
the military base to Nago in.northern Okinawa Prefecture, the Obuchi cabinet
finally decided on the transfer at the last cabinet meeting of the year, held on
Dec. 28.
., .
To support the mayor, who is facing strong public opposition to the decision,
the government approved a plan to allocate 100 bi~lion yen to finance measures
to boost the economy of Nago and other regions in northern Okinawa. The funding
will be allocated over 10 years starting in fiscal 2000.
The government hopes to finalize the relocation issue by next July when the
summit of the Group of Seven major industrialized economies and Russia is
scheduled to be held in Nago.
Seeking understanding
Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine said in an interview with The Nihon Keizai
Shimbun that he would soon visit the U.S. to seek American understanding of his
plan to limit use of an alternative site to the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air
Station to 15 years.
Welcoming the central government's decision to take up the issue in its talks
with the U.S., Inamine said: "I'd like to push the matt~r aggressively by
visiting Washington as soon as possible."
Relocation and reduction of U.S. bases in Okinawa was the main feature of the
1996 final agreement of the Special Action Committee on Facilities and Areas in
Okinawa (SACO), a group set up by Japan and the U.S.
But neither goal has been achieved because the agreement was based on the
condition that relocation would take place inside Okinawa, while successive
governors have insisted on moving some bases out of the prefecture.
Things changed in 1998 with the election in November 1998 of the current
governor Inamine, who ran on the platform that insisting on moving the bases to
other parts of Japan only ensures they will stay in their current location .
••
••
••
�Page 31
The Nikkei Weekly January 10, 2000
His election is seen as a major factor leading up to the mayor's decision,
which many people believe to be a major breakthrough in moving forward with
base relocation/reduction.
While full implementation of the SACO agreement will reduce the area used as
U.S. military bases in Okinawa, critics point out the reduction will constitute
a fall of only 5 percentage points, from 75% to 70%, of the total territory used
as U.S. bases nationwide.
Despite Nago Mayor Tateo Kishimoto's decision to accept the relocation of a
U.S. military heliport from Futenma, Okinawa Prefecture, to his city,
significant obstacles remain to a final solution to the problem.
A major hurdle is the request by the Okinawa Prefectural Government and Nago
City Office that the planned facility be used only for 15 years.
Since the U.S. is certain to reject this, the Japanese government proposes
reviewing the use of the heliport after 15 years, an idea which both local
governments oppose.
~i ' ,:
The cabinet made a noncommittal decision to deal with the issue by itself,
seeking local understanding while carrying out the relocation plan.
The Okinawa and Nago governments realize the scheme would be in trouble if
they persist with their request, but have yet to clarify what to do if it is
rejected.
Although Inamine insists that the facilities will become assets in the
future, it is unclear whether his .pledge can be met.
Locals are in favor of an offshore heliport since they want it to be built
away from residential areas. The U.S. is unenthusiastic about a plan to build a.
floating air base. Local construction companies backing a reclamation scheme
have suggested relocating people living on the coast.
Under such circumstances, the move from the Futerima air base is likely to go
through many more twists and turns before conclusion.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
The Nikkei Weekly, January 10, 2000
LOAD-DATE: January 12, 2000
�Page 32
J
LEVEL 2 - 60 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 1999 The Commercial Appeal
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
December 19, 1999, SUNDAY,
SECTION: NEWS,
FINAL EDITION
Pg. AlB
LENGTH: 690 words
HEADLINE:
BASE IS BULWARK OF U.S. MIGHT IN ASIA
BYLINE: Eric Talmadge The Associated Press
DATELINE: NAGO, Japan
BODY:
The protesters are mostly old people, with the weathered faces of farmers, or
fishermen.
During their lifetimes, they have seen their island of Okinawa turned into a
bastion for Japan's imperial armies, only to be ravaged in one of World War II's
bloodiest campaigns and then transformed into the United States' key military
outpost in the Pacific.
Now they are fighting a plan to relocate a major U.S.
from another part of Okinawa into their city: And to the
everyone, they appear to be gaining the upper hand.
"We
our town," said Mutsumi Kitashiro, a Nago schoolteacher.
military on our island."
Marine Corps airfield
surprise of just about
don't want Marines in
"We don't want the
The battle over the base, which Washington and Tokyo agreed to relocate three
years ago from Futenma, is not merely a local issue. Because of Okinawa's
strategic location, the disput~ could have serious repercussions for both
America's military position in Asia and its relations with Japan.
"Our defense relationship with Japan is the linchpin of our regional security
arrangements and our Marines on Okinawa are an integral part of this," said Adm.
Dennis Blair, who heads the U.S. Pacific Command. "Their presence deters
aggression."
The standoff also could mar what many Okinawans had hoped would be an
international debut for their island - the G-8 summit next July of the world's
leading industrialized nations.
This seaside city of 55,000 will host the summit. President Clinton is to
attend, becoming the first U.S. president to visit Okinawa since Washington
relinquished the island's postwar admini·stration to Tokyo in 1972.
At the center of the dispute is the Marine Corps Air Station at Futenma, a
sprawling heliport and airstrip first used by U.S. troops in 1945 as a B29 base.
It is about 25 miles southwest of Nago, in the less populated north of the
island.
�Page 33
The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN), December 19, 1999
Roughly 3,700 personnel and 71 aircraft, mostly helicopters, are deployed at
Futenma, which is one of only two Marine airfields outside of the United
States. The other is on the Japanese island of Kyushu.
"It is a big part of our footprint here," said Col. David Rann, a liaison and
planner for the 17,000 Marines on Okinawa.
But following an uproar over the rape of a schoolgirl by two Marines and a
sailor in 1995, the United States agreed to close down Futenma if the Japanese
government would provide another site on Okinawa.
The 1996 decision to relocate the base, and give back large tracts of land
elsewhere on Okinawa, was widely praised on both sides of the Pacific.
Finding a new home for Futenma, however, has been difficult.
Opponents argue it should simply be closed down, and note that Okinawa's
burden in supporting the U.S. military is already far heavier than the rest of
Japan's.
More than half the U.S. troops and around three-quarters of its bases in
Japan are concentrated on this island, which accounts for less than 1 percent of
Japan's total area.
There are about 26,700 U.S. military personnel stationed on Okinawa, and more
than 22,500 family members. Along with the largest contingent of Marines outside
the United States, Okinawa is also home to Kadena Air Base, the Air Force's
largest base in the Far East.
The.Marines' Rann said closing Futenma, or moving it off island and away from
the rest of the troops, would drastically compromise the Marines' ability to
meet a regional security crisis.
He also stressed the U.S. military pumps $ 1.2 billion into the local
economy. The Marines are the second-largest single employer on Okinawa, which
has virtually no industry of its own other than tourism and construction.
Gov. Keichi Inamine, who assumed office last year, has acknowledged losing
the bases would be a major blow to Okinawa's fragile economy.
But in endorsing the relocation plan last month, Inamine tacked on surprise
demands for ]oint use with civilian flights and for the troops to move out after
only 15 years - a condition few believe Tokyo or Washington could accept.
The Marines, meanwhile, can only await their orders.
said Rann. "All we need is a place."
GRAPHIC: map - AP
LOAD-DATE: December 20, 1999'
LEXIS~· NEXIS~
"We are ready to move,"
�:c
Page 34
LEVEL 2 - 61 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
December 18, 1999, Saturday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A24
LENGTH: 902 words
HEADLINE: Okinawa to the G-8: Surf's Up; Island Gets Ready for July Summit, With
a Only Few Worries--Like Typhoons
BYLINE: Doug Struck, Washington Post Foreign Service
DATELINE: NAGO, Okinawa
BODY:
Imagine this, Tashio Inamine gushes: Bill and Boris and Tony and the other
leaders of the Group of Eight--the seven major industrialized nations plus
Russia--lounging next July beneath palm trees on the Okinawan oceanfront, in
tropical shirts, sipping pineapple concoctions under the bright blue sky.
You won't get that ambiance in a stuffy Tokyo hotel, says the Nago city
planner, and that is what Okinawa wants the world to see when Nago hosts the
annual G-8 conference next July.
But another scenario causes nightmares for Okinawan officials: They get their
island all gussied up for the economic conference, ready to greet world leaders,
only to have a typhoon sweep through and keep anyone from landing at the
airport.
Nago officials were sure "the bureaucrats would never pick a small island in
the middle of typhoon season," said Inamine, who is helping organize Nago's
reception for the summit. So sure, that when the selection was to be announced,
the mayor of Nago was knee-deep in dirt, planting flowers, while other hopeful
city mayors had scheduled news conferences:
But. politics, not prudent planning, steered the choice of Nago, and now this
sleepy city of 53,000 is aflutter with preparations for its big day in the
international spotlight--all the while keeping one eye on 'the weather.
If a storm does wash away the summit, it would really irk Inamine. Bad
weather would likely prompt a hurried move of the conference to Tokyo, where it
�Page 35
The Washington Post, December 18, 1999
was held in 1979, 1986 and 1993. And Inamine wants nothing more than to show up
Tokyo:
"This is going to be a beach summit! We're going to put the press 20 meters
away from the ocean front. We're going to have each of the VIPs in an oceanfront
suite, where all they have to do is stroll outside onto the beach. Tokyo can't
give them an ocean like we can.
"Look what the press reported on last time the summit was in Tokyo:
rabbit-hut housing; cram schools for children; crowded subways. When they come
here, they are going to report on the tropical atmosphere, the easy-going
feelings."
Okinawa, he says, will impart what the locals call nirai kanai to the world
leaders, a feeling of happiness and prosperity that comes from the sea.
Okinawa, which has never had an international summit like this, is both
excited and nervous. In addition to the leaders of the United States, Britain,
Japan, France, Italy, Germany, Canada and Russia, the organizers expect several
thousand reporters, staff people, embassy people, security people, logistics
people, and maybe even a few real people who come,just to watch the scene. In
total, the three-day summit, scheduled to begin July 21, may bring 25,000
here--half again the population of Nago.
For most of its history, Okinawa thrived mostly by being innocuous. It was a
kingdom that survived by paying lip service to both Japan and China,
occasionally at the same time.
In 1879, Okinawa officially became a Japanese prefecture. Many here are still
not thrilled about that, particularly since it eventually brought the full fury
of World War II to the island in yicious fighting that cost nearly a
quarter-million lives. For much of the world, the name Okinawa still evokes
bloody combat.
"This is a chance to help us change our image from a dark past to a bright
future," said Akira Sakima, chairman of the Naha Chamber of Commerce.
The last thing they need is a major foul-up. A typhoon would do it. So would
terrorism.
The organizers worry about protests against U.S. bases in Okinawa, a thorn in
Okinawans' sides for a half-century~ But protests here are hardly rowdy.
Organizers show up an.hour early. They erect canopies and spread tarpaulins on
the ground. The demonstrators arrive on time, remove their shoes to sit on the
tarp and chant slogans in unison. Then they go home.
There are other potential problems. For one, the accommodations.
The conference center is not ready yet. Hundreds of workers swarm over the
site, and organizers say it will open in March. But that's not a lot of time to
furnish it and.work the bugs out of its operation, worries Hitomi Aragaki, who
is overseeing her employees' preparations at the summit's fancy host resort, the
Busena Terrace Hotel.
"I'm worried that our staff won't be, well, sophisticated enough," said
••
�Page 36
The Washington Post, December 18, 1999
Aragaki, an elegantly dressed woman, sitting primly on the edge of her seat in
the grand open foyer of the hotel.
She.need not worry. Japanese service--in Ok~nawa or Tokyo--makes many a fancy
hotel in another country seem like a Motel Six.
But the Japanese have perfected the art of fretting that they won't measure
up. "Some of us in Okinawa are too timid, too shy to deal withinternational
visitors," said Sakima, a former bank president with a master's degree from
Indiana University.
The local university has laid on crash courses in English, and the citizens'
council is scouring the island to find 700 volunteer guides who.speak Russian or
Italian or Canadian, eh? The townsfolk will be out in force to plant flowers and
shrubs. The city is erecting road signs all over town. Urbane young men and
women are being imported from Tokyo for key service positions.
"We have to worry about interpreters, about food poisoning, that's the kind
of experiences we need to learn how to handle big events," said Inamine. "We
need to know how to handle complaints--especially from the press,"
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: December 18, 1999
••
�Page 37
LEVEL 2 - 63 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 1999 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
December 7, 1999, Tuesday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A21
LENGTH: 1379 words
HEADLINE: Americans Conquered, Now Divide Okinawa;
Relocation Before Summit Stirs Resentment
u.s.
Push for Air Base
BYLINE: Doug Struck, Washington Post Foreign Service
DATELINE: HENOKO, Okinawa
BODY:
The Americans came· into the life of Taeko Shimabukuro in waves of fighter
planes 55 years ago, bursting into the quiet sky of this tiny fishing village
with their roar and the whistle of falling bombs.
In one way or another, they never left. They destroyed Shimabukuro's house,
but then fed her family. They won the heart of two of her daughters, then broke
the heart of one. They became neighbors, spoilers, customers and in-laws.
Now, she fears, they will ruin the peaceful village that has been her only
home.
In her 72nd year, Shimabukuro looks at the Americans who have been on her
island since World War II through a lens of tears and joy ..Many Okinawans, like
this stout old woman, also·see the Americans with a mix of sentiments that are
being put to the test.
The confluence of two events--an upcoming conference of wor~d leaders in
Okinawa and a proposal to relocate· a u.s. air base on the island to Henoko--is
dividing Okinawans and pitting the Japanese and American governments against the
people of Shimabukuro's small village.
While she should be doting on her great-granddaughter, Shimabukuro instead
works a daily shift in a beach shelter that serves as Henoko's protest
headquarters, a place for plotting strategy and drafting defiant declarations.
"Stop the base! The beautiful sea is for our children, not for helicopters!"
read the protest banners.
The Japanese government wants to move the American Marine Corps' Futenma Air
Base to Henoko from Ginowan city in central Okinawa, 25 miles to the south. And
they want the plans for the move to be approved before the summit of the Group
of Seven major industrialized countries plus Russia brings world leaders to
••
••
�Page 38
The Washington Post, December 7, 1999
Nago,
just across the narrow island from Henoko, in July.
Government officials uniformly insist there is no connection between the
decision to hold the prestigious, economically lucrative summit in Nago and
the decision to move the base to Henoko. But the timing conveniently divides
Okinawan interests and splinters the opposition that defeated a similar base
relocation proposal in 1996.
"It's a bribe," said Hiroshi Ashitome, leader of a citizen's group opposed to
the base relocation. "It's very clear today that the reason they brought the
summit to Nago was to buy support for moving the base."
Shimabukuro sees only the likely end. With all the noise from the aircraft
and disruption from the American base, "How can I continue to live here? They
will destroy the peace and quiet I had expected for my life," she says.
The issue of the U.S. presence on Okinawa, _and the memories that evokes, is
not a simple one for Okinawa. Shimabukuro struggles to explain her conflicts.
"I have not talked of these things for many years,_" she said, sitting
cross-legged. She is a woman shaped by the years who rises stiffly from the
straw mats on the floor. She has silver-gray hair and smooth, buttery skin, and
recounted her __ story with a se~f-amused smile.
When she was young, she recalled, she could wade into the cobalt sea at night
and net fish by torchlight. But one day· iii' 1944, ·she saw· waves of aLrcraft.
approaching the shore. The Japanese soldiers on the ·coastline yelled "banzai,"
but quickly swallowed their cheers. These were not Japanese planes, but American
bombers sent to begin the final campaign, to bring the war to Japan.
A few bombs landed on Henoko, burning the rice-thatch roofs. By early 1945,
the raids had become numerous, and the invasion by American troops was imminent.
Shimabukuro fled with her mother and two younger siblings to the mountain
jungles for four months. "It was very difficult," _she said. "There was nothing
to eat. We would sneak down the mountain at night as the flares went off to try
to get some food from the fields. But other refugees did the same, and there was
not much to get."
At age 42, her father was drafted into the defense forces. When the other men
returned from the war, he was not with them. Shimabukuro and her mother hoped he
was a prisoner of war, but a year later they got a simple letter saying he had
been killed in combat.
"There were no details. No bones. We just took several stones from the
mountain and put them in his grave," she said.
The invasion of Okinawa in April 1945 was the only ground combat on Japanese
soil,_ and it created one of the bloodiest battlefields. of World War II.
Civilians suffered most--more than 120,000 died, along with 90,000 Japanese
soldiers and 10,000 American soldiers.
Despite thi·s, Okinawans carried little personal bitterness toward the
American soldiers into the postwar period, according to Etsujiro Miyagi, a
former professor and historian .
••
�Page 39
The Washington Post, December 7, 1999
"Nobody likes to lose a war," said another Henoko native, Muneyoshi Kayo, 77.
"But there were many people here who felt a sense of liberation. Democracy came
and for the first time we could speak freely without the military police
listening."
In 1959, the Americans.who had occupied Okinawa expanded their bases and
built Camp Schwab near Henoko. It changed the rural nature of the village.
"We were asked to cut down trees for the base. We lost all that nature. And
then the night business flourished, ;, Shimabukuro said.
To entertain the Gis, a strip of seedy taverns grew on the hilltop above the
town; it became known .as "Bar Street." Shimabukuro joined the flight to easy
money. She opened a bar called Cherries, employed a bevy of pretty girls who
would flirt with the Marines, and charged them for champagne while the girls
sipped sodas. Shimabukuro figured it was rightful revenge.
"I thought it was my turn. I thought I will squeeze some money out of them. I
didn't hate them; they were the target of our life, because we earned the money
from them to live," she said.
The same was true of much of Okinawa. As the Americans expanded their bases,
gradually taking 25 percent of the main island, the subsistence economy of
Okinawa gave way to dependence on the American military.
Such close association produced other liaisons .. Shimabukuro's husband began
working on a base. Two of Shimabukuro's five daughters married American soldiers
from the nearby bases.
One moved with her husband to North Carolina; the other marriage failed, and
that daughter returned to Henok9 to raise their two children--Shimabukuro's
grandchildren--here.
They learned to live with Camp Schwab, a relatively quiet ammunition dump and
base with about 3,500 Marines and occasional helicopters landing.
The plans to move the Futenma base next to Camp Schwab would involve
construction of a long runway into the sea, and relocation of 3,700 Marines and
a busy airport of 45,000 takeoffs and landings each year.
Since it was built in 1945, Futenma has become encircled by the crowded
housing and shops of growing Ginowan city. It is a disaster in waiting for an
errant landing or takeoff.
"When I think of it, I get nervous," the base commander, Marine Col. John
Metterle, said. "If we ever have a big problem, we're right in the middle of a
heavily populated area."
The Japanese government, which will pay for the move, picked Henoko because
it lacks that thick density and has proposed using the airport for civilian
flights too. To the people of Henoko, their serene village will be lost.
But the Henoko villagers find themselves trying to pit their serenity and the
potential disruption to the habitat of the local sea cow, called a dujong,
�·---
-----------------------------------------------.
-~
Page 40
J
The Washington Post, December 7, 1999
against the vested international interests of both the United States and Japan.
"There is anger at both the Japanese and American governments," said Zenko
Nakamura, in the busy Nago headquarters of a group opposed to the U.S. base.
"Why should all the bases be forced on Okinawa?" For Shimabukuro, the prospect
of the roar of U.S. airplan~s over her house in Henoko carries echoes of a
past she does not care to relive.
"I feel," she said,
"like the Americans are coming again."
Special correspondent Shigehiko Togo contributed to this report.
Taeko Shimabukuro, who has mixed emotions about the U.S. presence in
Okinawa, fears American plans to move an air base to her tiny fishing village.
In Nago, Okinawa, construction is moving slowly on the hall for the July summit
of the Group of Seven industrialized countries plus Russia.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
;
LOAD-DATE: December 07, 1999
••
••
.. ,
�Page 41
LEVEL 2 - 83 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
September 3, 1999, Friday,
Home Edition
SECTION: Metro; Part B; Page 7; OpEd Desk
LENGTH: 771 words
HEADLINE: COMMENTARY;
U.S. ARMED FORCES ARE ON TENTERHOqKS IN OKINAWA;
MILITARY:ISLAND RESIDENTS WERE SHOCKED BY A GIRL'S RAPE IN 1995. WHAT WOULD THEY
DO IF THERE WAS A SERIOUS AIR ACCIDENT?
BYLINE: CHALMERS JOHNSON, Chalmers Johnson is president of the Japan Policy
Research, Institute in Cardiff, Calif., which will soon publish "Okinawa: Cold
War, Island."
BODY:
It will be four years on Saturday since the rape of a 12-year-old Okinawan
girl by two U.S. Marines and a Navy seaman came close to forcing the 3rd Marine
Division to come home. The 1.3 million people of Okinawa have long protested
that their small tropical island is forced to host more than two-thirds of the
47,000 U.S. troops in Japan, plus an almost equal number of their dependents and
other Department of Defense civilians.
Islandwide protests against the bases erupted in 1995 after the rape, and
automobile accidents and other crimes continue to sour the atmosphere between
the American troops and their Okinawan "hosts." So far, however, Japanese living
on the main islands and the Japanese government have looked the other way. They
tolerate the U.S.-Japan security treaty so long as the Marines can be kept well
out of sight, in.Okinawa.
All this could change in an instant if a serious aviation accident occurred
in Okinawa, whose leading industry is Japanese tourism. The u.s. military not
only occupies 20% of Okinawa's territory, it also controls virtually all of
Okinawa's air space. okinawans and Japanese may not know it, but U.S. military
personnel who oversee the safety of these skies are being pushed to the brink
with overwork, poor equipment and training, and a lack of enforcement of air
safety regulations.
A senior noncommissioned officer who serves as an air traffic controller at
Kadena. Air Base in Okinawa--the largest airfield, civilian or military, in East
Asia--warns that "the sky over the island of Okinawa is unsafe." In a signed
letter circulating widely on the Internet in Japan, an Air Force chief master
sergeant has put his career on the line to get the word out that flying into
Okinawa is more dangerous than it should be.
••
�(.
Page 42
A
Los Angeles Times September 3, 1999, Friday,
He writes: "Let me paint you my picture here at Kadena. Both facilities
Kadena and Futenma Marine Corps Air Station are below emergency staffing level;
duty schedule is six days on and one day off ; controllers are tired,
fatigued, burned-out, and no relief is in sight. Training workload has
increased
2,000%; trainers have three to four trainees; controllers are working sick
rather than going to the Flight Surgeon because they don't want to make manning
even worse.
"Operational infractions have increased tremendously since I arrived.
Actually, we came within a split second of a mid-air collision with a Japan
airliner. Over 400 people could have been dead in a split second: An
inexperienced controller was working. For me, with these civilian air carriers,
that poses another challenge of an international incident. If a controller is
found negligent, then he or she would probably spend time in a Japanese prison.
"Morale is down.
going to kill people."
. Something catastrophic is going to happen and we are
The solution to these accidents-waiting-to-happ~n is very simple, and i t
could be set in motion by either the Japanese or the American governments. Prime
Minister Keizo Obuchi could ask the Americans to give up their Marine bases in
Okinawa and the Americans, as they did in the Philippines, would have no choice
but to comply. This would not involve a rupture of the U.S.-Japan security
treaty, as American ships could continue to call at Japanese bases and American
military airplanes and troops could reach any trouble spot in Asia from either
Guam or Hawaii or the West Coast of the U.S.
·
Alternatively, President Clinton could order the reduction of
forward-deployed American troops in Okinawa and a return of the bases to Japan
without insisting that alternative sites be found.
A third response would be to vastly improve the U.S. military air control
system over Okinawa, but this option is probably not viable, because the Air
Force is currently facing its greatest personnel shortage in peacetime.
If some steps are not taken, then the accident envisioned by the flight
controller almost surely will occur, and matters will be taken out of the hands
of both governments by angry and distraught citizens.
Next July, the G-8 summit of advanced industrial nations will be hosted by
Japan in Nago, Okinawa. Nago, a small rundown community north of the island's.
capital, was the site of a local referendum in late.l997 over whether its
citizens would accept the proposed relocation of the U.S. Marine base at
Futenma. The vote: six to one against.
Okinawans wonder whether Obuchi is using the summit, which would bring huge
business to their community, as an incentive to get them to ac~ept the
relocation of the Marines to Nago.
Maybe, instead, they should be worried about air safety on Okinawa.
LANGUAGE: English
••
�Page 44
;·.
LEVEL 2 - 114 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Time Inc.
Time
May 3, 1999 - May .10, 1999
SECTION: INTERNATIONAL EDITION; TIME ASIA/TOKYO; YOUNG JAPAN; Pg. 38
LENGTH: 879 words
HEADLINE: Great Expectations;
An unconventional academy in Okinawa is grooming promising young performers for
the world stage
BYLINE: Hannah Beech/Naha
BODY:
Factories nationwide may be idled by the recession, but one conveyor belt in
southern Japan is still in overdrive. Its product? Teenage pop stars. Some of
J-pop's biggest names--from pert diva Namie Amuro to.girl groups Speed and
Max--are products of the Okinawa Actor's School, an unconventional academy where
400 students forgo traditional.sub]ects l:Lke math and science in order to
cultivate their inner beat and learn to market their outer appeal.
Tucked into a shopping mall crammed with Titanic posters and neon platform
shoes, the talent school is the creation of Masayuki Makino, 58, the flamboyant
scion of a well-known entertainment family. Unlike other music moguls, Makino
tries to nurture creativity instead of mass-producing interchangeable idols. The
formula seems to strike a chord with teens: at a nationwide series of auditions
last summer, 50,000 wannabe stars vied for the chance to come under Makino's
tutelage.
A kinetic man with an easy walk and quick grin, Makino makes high demands of
his students, who pay$ 175 a month in tuition. While other talent academies
offer only limited after-school tutorials, the Okinawa Actor's School asks its
top enrolees to skip high school altogether, arguing that the country's
straight-laced education system could stifle their creativity. "Japanese schools
squeeze all the imagination out Qf students," says Makino. Still, dropping out
of school is a risky move. Only a few Actor's School graduates land major
recording deals, leaving the others vulnerable to dead-end jobs. But with the
link between formal education and lifetime employment frayed by years of
recession, more and more youngsters are willing to take the risk. Okinawans, who
make up most of the student body, are especially eager. Straggling at the tail
end of the Japanese archipelago, Okinawa is the nation's poorest prefecture.
Unemployment hovers around 8%, nearly double the national average, and 40% of
college graduates can't find jobs.
Makino himself is no stranger to taking risks. Nearly 30 years ago, the
self-confessed playboy moved to sunny Okinawa to escape the burdens of
adulthood. He opened a few bars in the low-slung prefectural capital of Naha,_
••
••
�Page 45
,.-)
Time; May 3, 1999 I May 10, 1999
then ignored the accounts to flirt with his prettier patrons. By 1983, Makino·
was desperately low on cash, and he se.ized on training Okinawa's young talent as
a last ditch money-maker. His impetuous style has permeated the brightly painted
school, which revels in controlled chaos. Students belt out scales to the
pounding rhythm of techno-music. Posses of hip-hop dancers groove in a
strobe-lit studio, surrounded by graffiti murals and flashing videos. The kids
.have rhythm, a swing of their hips more native to Brazil than Japan.
Yet for all their flair, .the students seem curiously choreographed. A
classroom's mirrored walls reflect an endless line of synchronized teenagers
dressed in identical Adidas track pants. Even when an instructor exhorts them to
accent their individuality, the result is merely a minor variation on the MTV
lockstep. Such mimicry frustrates Makino, who knows that producing a top-notch
star will require more than derivative song and dance. "Japanese children are
taught to copy. We need to help them regain their natural inventiveness."
The impulse to breed creativity propelled Makino this April to found an
elementary and secondary school which he hopes will challenge the Japanese
education system to soften its military rigor. Idealistically named Dream
Planet, the school will eschew examinations and grades. One day out of five will
be spent exploring Okinawa's wilderness, and students can pursue independent
projects of their choice. It's a radical leap from today's Japanese schools, and
the Education Ministry has refused to accredit Dream Planet. But that doesn't
deter the 140 students from across Japan who have joined the inaugural class.
"The~e are plenty of schools fo~ children who ~ill beco;.n~ saiar¥rnen," ·say~ ·
Tomoko Shirai, Dream Planet's 26-year-old principal. A graduate of the
prestigious University of Tokyo, Shirai--like many Japanese--found her education
to be little more than a conduit of disconnected facts. "What we are doing is
giving the others, the creative ones who have been squashed by the system, the
chance to blossom."
Whether these kids, or any of those at the Okinawa Actor's School, will
become the world-class innovators Japan's entertainment industry so desperately
craves is anyone's guess. But a redoubled effort to create independent,
ambitious youngsters may make up for one of Makino's keenest disappointments:
his most famous charge, Namie Amuro, who after reaching the pinnacle of Japanese
pop, retreated into motherhood at age 20 before staging a muted comeback late
last year. "Amuro thought she had attained the top," says Makino, "but she
didn't realize that making it in Japan is nothing. It's only after you conquer
the world that you're truly a star." True to Makino's words, the Okinawa Actor's
School's students profess a global view. "There are no good musicians in Japan,"
says 16-year-old Aisa Senda. "Theyhave no rhythm." When asked whom they admire,
a dozen teens give the same answer: Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson.
Individuality, it seems, goes only so far.
GRAPHIC: TWO COLOR PHOTOS: TOM WAGNER--SABA FOR TIME (2), SHAKE IT: A student,
below, feels the beat, as an instructor pumps up the music, aboye
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: May 9, 1999
••
�Page 46
LEVEL 2 - 129 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Chicago Tribune Company
Chicago Tribune
January 7, 1999 Thursday, EVENING UPDATE EDITION
SECTION: NEWS; Pg. 8; ZONE: C; EVENING: "Reader.
LENGTH: 523 words
HEADLINE: OKINAWANS CHANGE ATTITUDE, ACCEPTING HUGE U.S. PRESENCE;
NEW GOVERNOR MORE TOLERANT OF BASES THAN PREDECESSOR
BYLINE: By Eric Talmadge, Associated Press.
DATELINE: CAMP GONSALVES,. Okinawa .
BODY:
The platoon is moving along the jungle trail slowly, silently, when a Marine
shouts: "Enemy. Front!"
Before he can hit the muddy ground, a projectile slams into his chest and
explodes in a burst of orange paint. within minutes, most of his buddies also
are hit.
Each year, thousands of U.S. Marines are brought to this huge training site
for some of the most realistic simulations of jungle and urban warfare they are
likely to get anywhere.
For decades, however, the real battle has been off base. And on this front, a
fragile truce finally may be in the works.
Voters in Japan·• s poorest region surprised the rest of the country in
mid-November by ousting a governor who for eight years led a vociferously
anti-military administration and demanded the total withdrawal of American
troops from their biggest Asian outpost by 2015.
To replace Gov. Masahide Ota, a respected historian, Okinawans chose his
mirror opposite--Keiichi Inamine, a former oil executive who has vowed to focus
not on the U.S. military's presence but on reviving Okinawa's suffocating
economy.
Inamine, who took office Dec. 10, said in an interview he would like to see a
gradual reduction in American troop levels. But he slammed Ota's withdrawal
plan, calling it unreasonable.
"Ota was an idealist," he said. "I am a realisi:.."
Reality on Okinawa is increasingly bleak.
�Page 47
Chicago Tribune, January 7, 1999
Unemployment is at 9 percent, twice-the national average, and roughly
three-quarters of the unemployed are under 35. Wages are well below the norm
elsewhere in Japan, and Asia's economic slowdown threatens to further erode
public works spending and tourism, Okinawa's main source of revenue.
Inamine emphasized that Okinawa's reliance on the U.S. military has dwindled.
Military-related spending accounted for a fifth of the local economy 25 years
ago; it is now roughly 5 percent.
The contingent of nearly 20,000 Marines on this southern Japanese island is
the corps' largest force outside the United States. The Air Force also maintains
one of its biggest overseas bases here,· and the Army and Navy are represented as
well.
v.s. officials argue that keeping a very large, very visible presence is a
key to stability in Asia.
"We provide a constant, an element of stability," said Brig. Gen. John
Castellaw, deputy commander of the Marines on Okinawa.
No one denies the presence is a heavy burden on tiny Okinawa, a subtropical
island on Japan·• s southern fringe 1, 000 miles southwest of Tokyo.
Even since the United States invaded and occupied Okinawa in the final land
battle of World War II, the island has been used as the key staging and
readiness outpost for U.S. forces in the western Pacific.
Today, two-thirds of the 'm~re th~n 47~ 000 Americ·a.n.· servic~"men and women
serving in Japan are on Okinawa, which accounts for less than 1 percent of
Japan's total land area. Because so much space is taken up by American bases,
roughly one-fifth of the island is off-limits to Okinawans .
.
"Yes, people would like to see fewer bases. But it's not enough for the bases
to just vanish," the governor said. "We must do something to improve our
infrastructure and industry."
GRAPHIC: PHOTOS 3PHOTO (color): Learning jungle warfare, a Marine trains in
muddy waters. of Okinawa's Camp Gonsalves. Two-thirds of the 47,000 U.S. military
personnel in Japan are stationed on the island, which is 1,000 miles from
·
Tokyo.; PHOTO (color): Marines take a break from their rigorous training. Nearly
20,000 are on Okinawa.; PHOTO (color): Okinawa's new governor, Keiichi Inamine:
"We must do something to improve our infrastructure and industry." AP photos.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: January 8, 1999
�/
Page 2
LEVEL 2 - 1 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 2000 The Washington Post
The Washington Post
July 11, 2000, Tuesday, Final Edition
SECTION: A SECTION; Pg. A16
LENGTH: 847 words
HEADLINE: U.S. Apologizes For Incident In.Okinawa; Curfew Imposed on Military In
Advance of G-8 Summit
BYLINE: Doug Struck , Washington Post Foreign Service
DATELINE: TOKYO, July 10
BODY:
A 19-year-old u.s. Marine who woke up from a drunken binge a week ago in the
bed of a 14-year-old Okinawan girl and in the hands of local police has set off
an international incident in advance of a conference of world leaders there next
week.
The U.S. ambassador to Japan expressed his "profound regret" about the
incident today, and American military officials slapped a new curfew and strict
drinking regulations on all 26,000 U.S. troops stationed in Okinawa. The moves
are an attempt to stanch the political damage from the Marine's arrest on
suspicion of child molestation and from a hit-and-run accident Sunday involving
an Air Force sergeant.
For Japan and the United States, the trouble could not have come at a worse
time. Bo~h governments were hoping that Okinawans' long-simmering opposition to
the U.S. military bases there would not boil over during the Group of Eight
summit conference July 21 to 23.
That hope is lost. Opponents of the bases have seized on the incidents and
plan a rally Saturday. Japanese officials--from Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori on
down--have issued condemnations, and U.S. officials are bowing with apologies.
Ambassador Thomas S. Foley visited Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono today
"to tell you the steps we have taken so this won't happen again." Starting
tonight, troops were to be restricted to base or to their off-base homes after
midnight and are barred from drinking during the curfew hours, military
officials said. Marines will be effectively restricted to base during the
summit.
While protesting the incident, Japanese politicians tried not to sour the
atmosphere for the summit and President Clinton's visit to Okinawa, Japan's
southernmost prefecture .
••
LEXIS~· NEXIS~
�·Page 3
The Washington Post, July 11, 2000
On Friday, Mori called the Marine's conduct "outrageous.
. It's no excuse
to say [he] was young."
But Kono was more moderate today, saying the curfew and drinking ban are "an
indication that the military takes these cases seriously and is taking
preventative measures."
The Marine has not yet been charged. Because he is a teenager, a juvenile
under Japanese law, his name ha·s not been released. Local police said the Marine
stumbled drunk into an unlocked home in Okinawa City on July 3 and into the
girl's bed.
The girl's mother heard her daughter screaming, rescued her from the bed and
called police, who found the Marine asleep and arrested him, according to local
reports.
On Sunday, Air Force Sgt. Johnny S. Miller, 21, was charged with running a
red light and fleeing the scene after hitting a pedestrian, who suffered minor
injuries. What would be routine criminal cases in most places are magnified in
Okinawa, where the presence of so many American troops 55 years after World War
II raises mixed emotions.
Those passions flared when three servicemen were convicted in 1996 of raping
a 12-year-old girl a year earlier. They have emerged again with a proposal to
relocate Futenma Marine Corps Air Station from Ginowan City to the northeast
coast of the island, instead of closing it or. moving it elsewhere in Japan.
"As long as the bases are here, such incidents ;;,.ill happen," said Yoshikazu
Nakasone, a leader of the Okinawa Peace Action Center, which is organizing
Saturday's rally. "The only way to solve it is to say we don't want the bases
here."
On the island's manicured military bases, U.S. troops were smarting under the
curfew and the cloud over what had been slowly improving relations between the
U.S. military and local citizens.
"I guess it's good if it helps to keep our noses clean," a 20-year-old Marine
lance corporal said today.
Since the 1995 rape, the U.S. military has made a concerted effort to improve
relations with the community and curb misbehavior by its troops, especially
Marine Corps soldiers, who are predominantly young and single. Many of the
16,000 Marines come to Okinawa without family for short six- or 12-month tours.
Military officials privately protest that the crime rate among service
members is lower than that of the general public. A 1999 report from the
Okinawa Prefectural Police showed that crimes by U.S. military personnel on
Okinawa had'dropped 77.8 percent during a 10-year period.
And while the presence of foreign troops is an irritant to many Okinawans,
·the bases also are a mainstay of the economy. So public reaction to the Marine's
arrest last week came slowly among local residents, who have ·mixed feelings
about the Americans and their dependents.
"I think there's a little bit of overreaction with these incidents," said Roy
••
�;
•'
Page 4
The Washington Post, July 11, 2000
Ginoza, 28, who works in a clothing store in Okinawa City, just outside Kadena
Air Base.
But for Okinawan officials, who are eager for the summit to cast a favorable
light on their tourist island, the incident is a blow.
"This should never happen," Seiichi Oyakawa, a top official in the Okinawan
governorate, said today. "But the summit must be a success. We think these cases
should not have an impact on the summit."
Jan Wesner Childs in Okinawa and Shigehiko Togo in Tokyo contributed to this
report.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
'j'.
LOAD-DATE: July 11, 2000
:
·:
.
�.:v
Page 5
,.
LEVEL 2 - 8 OF 131 STORIES
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
July 7, 2000, Friday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: Section A; Page 8; Column 1; Foreign Desk
LENGTH: 601 words
HEADLINE: Marines Apologize to Okinawa Over Sex Case
BYLINE:
By CALVIN SIMS
DATELINE: TOKYO, July 6
BODY:
With a summit meeting of the world's industrial powers opening in Okinawa in
just two weeks, the United States was taking no chances that demonstrations
against the marines there would mar the event.
So even though no charges have been filed against a 19-year-old marine
accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl in Okinawa on Monday, the top United
States military official on the Japanese island apologized to its governor
today.
He bowed. He expressed regret. And he tried, once more, to smooth relations
with the people of Okinawa, where fear and concern are widespread over crimes by
American soldiers, who have been accused of numerous cases of violence and
sexual misconduct over the years.
The official, Lt. Gen. Earl B. Hailston, visited Okinawa's governor, Keiichi.
Inamine, at the prefecture government's office to make the formal apology, which
included a bow~of Japanese contrition. He was accompanied by the United States
consul general of Oki~awa, Robert Lake. General Hailson is the regional
coordinator for.American military forces in Okinawa, where two-thirds of the
47,000 American troops stationed in Japan are based.
"I want to express to the family involved, as well as to the people of
Okinawa," General Hailston said, "my sincerest apology and most profound regret
for the incident and for the anxiety it has created."
General Hailston's apology was not the first by an American official. In
1995, Defense Secretary William J. Perry apologized on behalf of the United
States and three servicemen charged with raping a 12-year-old Japanese girl. His
apology, like General Hailst9n's, came just before a summit meeting in Japan.
The servic~men were later convicted.
In his apology today, General Hailston said: "The relationship of a Marine
leader to his subordinate marines is like the relationship of a father to his
••
••
�Page 6
The New York Times, July 7, 2000
children -- these marines are my sons and daughters.
That is why it hurts me
deeply when any of my marines appears to fall short of the standard I have set
and demand. It hurts me, as it hurts you, my neighbors."
Japanese and Western historians have said that in the aftermath of World War
II, American troops raped thousands of Okinawan women without reprisals. The
historians said that while hundreds of rape cases have been documented, most
have gone unreported for fear of retaliation and shame.
This latest incident unfolded on Monday after a woman told.the police that
her daughter had been molested. The authorities accused the marine, 19, of
breaking into the girl's home and touching her body while she slept. The marine,
who is stationed at the Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, was arrested on
suspicion of trespassing and conducting an indecent act against a minor.
Law enforcement officials said the marine was drunk during the incident and
that he told the police he meant to visit a friend's house but by mistake
entered the girl's residence, whose door was unlocked. The police officials said
the marine has denied molesting the girl. Newspapers in Okinawa reported today
that the girl told the police that 1:h~ .,soldier tous:J:led her face and body and
climbed on top of her.
Since Monday's arrest, labor unions, peace activists, women's rights groups,
and human rights organizations have rallied near United States bases and sent
angry letters to the prefecture.gov~rnment.
The general's comments appear to have done little to quell growing outrage in
Okinawa over the incident, which could emba.rrass President Clint;on, who is
scheduled to attend the summit meeting July 21 to 23 of the Group of 8
industrial nations.
http://www.nytimes.com
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: July 7, 2000
�..
Page 9
LEVEL 2 - 9 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
The New York Times
June 1, 2000, Thursday, Late Edition - Final
SECTION: section A; P~ge 12; column 1; Foreign Desk
LENGTH: 1581 words
HEADLINE: 3 Dead Marines and a Secret of Wartime Okinawa
BYLINE:
By CALVIN SIMS
DATELINE: NAGO, Japan
BODY:
Shortly before the end of World War II, just after the United States won the
brutal battle for Okinawa, three American marines stationed in this sun-drenched
archipelago disappeared.
At first, the Marine Corps listed the three, all 19 years old and black, as
possible deserters in the summer of 1945. A year later, when there was still no
trace of them, they were declared missing in action.
For five. decades, the case was forgotten. Then in 1998, the local police,
acting on a tip, discovered what proved to be the bones of the three marines in
a cave just north of this resort town. After long examinations, the remains were
sent to relatives in the United States for burial early this year.
But the discovery did little to solve the mystery of the ·marines'
disappearance and, far from putting the case to rest, dredged up powerful local
resentment about how Americans treated Okinawans after the fighting stopped.
Some elderly Okinawans, who grew up near where the remains were found, are
now willing to tell a long-held secret: a group of villagers ambushed and killed
the three men, thinking they were the three black marines who the villagers
believed had repeatedly come to the village to rape the village women.
While much of what the Okinawans said about those painful days after the war
ended is corroborated, it has not been proved that these three marines committed
any rape. Nor has it been confirmed that the villagers in fact killed the
soldiers, although there 'is strong evidence that they did.
Still, the villagers' tale of a dark, long-kept secret has refocused
attention on what historians say is one of the most widely ignored crimes of the
war, the widespread rape of Okinawan women by American servicemen.
Much has been written and debated about atrocities that Okinawans suffered at
the hands of both the Americans and Japanese in one of the d~adliest battles of
••
�Page 10
The New York Times, June 1, 2000
the war. More than 200,000 soldiers and civilians~ including one-third of the
population of Okinawa, were killed.
There has been scant mention of rape afterward. But by one academic's
estimate, as many as 10,000 Okinawan women may have been raped and rape was so
prevalent that most Okinawans over age 65 either know or have heard of a woman
who was raped in the aftermath of the war.
"I have read many accounts of such rapes in Okinawan newspapers and books,
but few people know about them or are willing to talk about them," said Steve
Rabson, a professor of East Asian Studies at Brown University, who is an expert
on Okinawa.
Marine Corps officials in Okinawa and Washington said that they knew of no
rapes by American servicemen in Okinawa at the end of the war, and their records
do not list war crimes committed by marines in Okinawa.
Gen. John G. Castellaw, deputy commander of the Marine force in Okinawa, said
that during the past 30 years, in which .he completed numerous assignments on the
island, he had never heard of any accusations of widespread rape byAmerican
servicemen in Okinawa.
The New York Times tried to contact surviving members of the segregated 37th
Marine Depot Unit, to which the three dead marines were attached. But the
Montford Point Marine Association, a veterans group representing the marines who
were trained at Montford Point, N.C., said it could not locate any veterans
willing to be interviewed.
Samuel Saxton, a retired captain who is the association's immediate past
president, said in a telephone interview that it was important to learn the
truth about the marines' deaths and whether Americans committed rapes in
Okinawa. But he said he feared that black marines who served there, and made up
only a part of the Americans stationed on Okinawa, would be wrongly painted with
a broad brush.
"It would be unfair for the public to get the impression that we were all a
bunch of rapists after we worked so hard to serve our country," he said.
Books, diaries, articles and other documents refer to rapes by American
soldiers of various races and backgrounds.
Masaie Ishihara, a sociology professor at. the Okinawa International
University, said i•there is a lot of historical amnesia out there" about those
traumatic postwar years. He said that "many people don't want to acknowledge
what really happened .. "
One possible explanation for why the United states military says it has no
record of any rapes is that few if any Okinawan women reported being attacked
out of fear and embarrassment, and that those who did were ignored by the United
States military police, the historians said. Moreover, there has never been a
large-scale effort to determine the real extent of such crimes.
Even today, efforts to speak to women who had been raped were rejected
because friends, local historians and university professors who had spoken with
the women said they preferred not to discuss it publicly .
••
••
�j.
Page 11
The New York Times, June 1, 2000
"Victimized women feel too ashamed to make it public, and criminals who
killed the three marines are afraid," said a police spokesman in the nearby
city of Nago.
In his book "Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb," (Ticknor &
Fields, 1992) George Feifer said that there were fewer than 10 reported cases of
rape by 1946 in Okinawa, "partly because of shame and disgrace, partly because
Americans were victors and occupiers." Mr. Feifer ~aid that "in all there were
probably thousands of incidents, but the victims' silence kept rape another
dirty secret of the campaign."
In interviews, historians and Okinawans said that some Okinawan women who
were raped gave birth to biracial children, many of whom were killed at birth.
More often, however, rape victims obtained abortions from village midwives.
The first published account in English of the discovery of the remains of the
three marines appeared in The Pacific Stars and Stripes in 1998 shortly after
the remains were retrieved. In the article, an Okinawan man who would not give
his nam~ said that as.a child growing up after the war in Katsuyama, the remote
mountain village w~ere the remains were found, he heard village elders talk of
an incident involving the American marines.
In separate interviews with The New York Times, elderly Okinawans who also
grew up in the village, said that after the United States won the battle, three
armed marines would come to Katsuyama every weekend and force the village men to
take them to their women, who were then carried off to the hills and raped.
The marines were so confident, the villagers said, that they would sometimes
come to Katsuyama without weapons. One day, the villagers, with the help of two
armed Japanese soldiers who were hiding in the jungle, ambushed three marines in
a dark narrow mountain pass near a river, they said. The Japanese soldiers shot
at the marines from the bushes and several dozen villagers beat them to death
with sticks and stones.
"I didn't see the actual killing because I was hiding in the mountains above,
but I heard five or six gunshots and then a lot of footsteps and commotion,"
said Shinsei Higa, a 71-year-old retired teacher, who was 16 at the time. "By
late afternoon, we came down from the mountains and then everyone knew what had
happened."
Fearing that other Americans would come looking for the marines, the
villagers dumped the bodies in a hillside cave, which has a 50-foot drop just
inside the mouth, and they vowed never to speak of the incident to outsiders,
the Okinawans said.
Kijun Kishimoto, an 84-year-old retired school principal who grew up .in
Katsuyama, said that he was away from the village when the killings took place
but that he learned of the incident.from his brother and niece.
"People were very afraid that if the Americans found out what happened there
would be retaliation, so they decided to keep it a secret to protect those
involved," Mr. Kishimoto said.
••
�Page 12
The New York Times, June 1, 2000
Okinawans who lived in Katsuyama said the three marines who harassed their
village were "black Americans" and that one was "as large as a sumo wrestler."
The cave, which is on a steep slope above.a valley along a narrow river is known
to local residents in Japanese as "kurombo gama," which means Cave of the
Negroes.
United States military officials said that based on dental records, the
remains recovered in the cave were positively identified as those of the three
missing marines, all of whom were black. They were Pfc. James D. Robinson of
Savannah, Ga., Pfc. John M. Smith of Cincinnati, and Pvt. Isaac Stokes of
Chicago. The Stars and Stripes article said that a guilty conscience ~ed the
Okinawan man to contact Setsuko Inafuku, a tour guide for Kadena United States
Air Base in Okinawa, who had been involved in retrieving the remains of
Okinawan and Japanese soldiers.
Ms. Inafuku said in an interview that she and the Okinawan man began
searching for the cave in June 1997 but had no luck finding it until a typhoon
struck the island in August and knocked over a tree that hid the entrance to the
cave. In September the police were notified but they agreed not to remove the
remains for several months so that the person who had led to the discovery could
remain anonymous.
Marine Corps officials said that the United States_military did not plan to
conduct a criminal investigation since the remains were discovered outside a
military installation and were under the jurisdiction of the Okinawa Prefectural
Police. The prefectural police has said that it. has no plans to investigate
because the statute of limitations on such a case expired after 15 years.
http://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Photos.: Kijun Kishimoto, an 84-year-old retired school principal who
grew up in Katsuyama, said he was told that villagers killed the marines.
(Calvin Sims/The New York Times); In 1998 the police, acting on a tip,
discovered what proved to be the bones of three marines missing since 1945 in
this cave north of Nago. (Kenichi Tagawa/Yomiuri Shimbun via Associated Press)
Map of Japan shows location of Katsuyama: Women in Katsuyama were said to have
been raped by Americans.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
LOAD-DATE: June 1, 2000
••
••
�Page 13
LEVEL 2 - 10 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 2000 Mainichi Daily News
Mainichi Daily News
May 13, 2000, Saturday
SECTION: Page 12; DOMESTIC
LENGTH: 312 words
HEADLINE: Okinawa rally calls for base-free prefecture
DATELINE: NAHA
BODY:
Hundreds of protesters Fr'iday began a three-day march along three routes on
the main island of Okinawa in advance of the 28th anniversary of the
prefecture's reversion to Japan.
The protesters, many wearing headbands calling for a "base-free Okinawa,"
demanded the withdrawal of all U.S. military facilities from the prefecture.
Okinawa was returned to Japanese control in 1972, after it had been occupied
by the United States since the end of World War II.
The parade was split into groups departing from different locations shortly
after 9 a.m.
About 300 protesters made up one of the groups that started in Nago's Henoko
district, the planned site of a heliport to be transferred from the U.S.
Marines' Futenma Air Station, also in the prefecture.
The group was heading to Camp Schwab, which the heliport would be part of,
chanting, "We aren't going to tolerate new base <;::onstruction."
Akio Kobayashi~ 28, was one of about 1,000 people from other parts of Japan
who came to take part in the marches.
· "This is my first time coming to Okinawa. I wanted to see the situation for
myself,'' said the civil servant from Kanagawa Prefecture.
The marches were the 23rd to have taken place. The three routes covered the
areas around the isl.and' s major bases and landmarks, including the Peace
Memorial Museum in Itoman, which recounts the Battle of Okinawa in World War II,
and former sights of the battle, one of the bloodiest of the war.
All of the marchers are to reunite Sunday .at a park in Ginowan where a rally
is scheduled to mark Okinawa's reversion to Japan. A total of around 4,000
people are expected to join the marches, with more than a quarter coming from
other parts of.Japan.
U.S. bases· occupy large parts of the prefecture, which is home to about 75
percent of land occupied by U.S. military facilities in Japan .
••
�Page 15
LEVEL 2 - 14 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 2000 The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
May 7, 2000, Sunday,
SECTION: A,
SUNDAY EDITION
Pg. 1
LENGTH: 1040 words
HEADLINE: Dead WWII Marines sympolize war's wounds
Three soldiers found in a Japanese cave in 1998 revive a story of war crimes and
retribution just before Clinton arrives for a world summit.
BYLINE: ERIC TALMADGE;
BODY:
Associated Press
NAGO, Japan - In the chaos that followed the ferocious Battle of Okinawa,
amid scores of thousands dead and widespread lawlessness across the island, the
disappearance of three young U.S. Marines caused scarcely a stir.
It was July 1945, a month before atomic bombs would fall on Hiroshima and
Nagasaki and end the war. The men were listed first as deserters, then as
missing in action.
More than five decades later, the discovery of the bones - inside a cave up a
steep jungle slope- seemed.to solve the wartime mystery. The skeletons belonged
to.the long-missing Marines.
The Americans came home, and little more was heard of the cave and its grim
contents.
Now, as Nago prepares to host President Clinton and other world leaders for
July's Group of Eight summit, a profoundly disturbing story has surfaced, that
the Marines regularly brutalized local villagers and were killed in retribution
- then thrown inside the cave to rot.
The U.S. military says the cause of death cannot be determined. Iri Ohio, the
widow of one man angrily rejects the sordid allegations.
"I just don't believe this," Marguerite Smith Headen told The Associated
Press. "He was not that kind of person."
On Okinawa, a former mayor of Nago looked to the hills where the bones were
found.
"The men who were killed were victims," Yutoku Toguchi said. "So were the
people who killed them. I think that every day for the past 50 years they have
kept their silence out of the fear they would be arrested as war criminals."
There was no law
••
�Page 16
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), May 7, 2000
Villagers still don't like talking about those times. Japan ~as losing the
war and Okinawa was in ruins. Refugees lived in the hills. There was no law.
Japan had made the island a last line of defense, and the battle toll on
Okinawans - long treated as lesser citizens because they'd once been an
independent kingdom- was staggering. More than 200,000 people were killed,
including one-third of Okinawa's civilians.
When pushed, three villagers admitted hearing the story of the Marines and
the cave when growing up, but none would permit his name to be.used.
The villagers' accounts, given independently, were echoed in the official
History of Katsuyama Village, published in 1978 by a local historical society.
"Three black American soldiers came into the village each Saturday, and it is
said they raped the village women," the history says. "They became reckless.
Seeing their chance, a number of refugee men in the village captured the
soldiers, killed them and threw them into a cave. It was a tragic incident."
The villagers say no witnesses or residents of the 1940s are alive to confirm
the story - or tell a different truth.
"We'd rather just let it be," one local farmer said.
The cave
A rugged trail leads through the jungle to the hamlet's old site, now
populated only by poisonous snakes and fruit bats.the size of ravens. Along the
way lies evidence this war story was not just a cautionary tale.
Locals call it "Kurombo Gama." Gama means cave. Kurombo is a Japanese word
for blacks so derogatory it is banned from publication or public discourse.
Set in a hill above a stream bed, covered in vines and loose rock, the cave
is 6 feet wide at the entrance and about 50 feet deep.
Such caves pock Okinawa~ In the war, many islanders died in the caves while
trying to avoid the Americans ' superior f ir.epower. To this day, the cav~s
continue to surrender the dead - 116 sets of remains were recovered in 1998
alone.
When Setsuko Inafuku, 57, a guide who often takes hikers to old war sites,
found Kurombo Gama in February 1998, the Americans' bones were visible.
"We could see the joints intact," she said.·
She had heard the village stories about a cave and sought help from a man who
grew up in Katsuyama. "It was like some force was drawing me to the cave," she
said.
The U.S. military identified the remains as those of Pfc. James D. Robinson
of Savannah, Ga.; Pfc. John M. Smith of Cincinnati; and Pvt. Isaac Stokes.
The bodies of Robinson and Smith were returned to their families. Stokes'
hometown was not immediately known. His body remains at the Army's
�Page 17
I
·~
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), May 7, 2000
identification laboratory in Hawaii until distant relatives, located in Chicago,
decide on disposition.
Last month, a Japanese newspaper linked the remains to the village legend,
throwing attention on the story just as interest in the international summit
intensified.
Officials say they've been deluged with requests for interviews. Some, like
former mayor Toguchi, are concerned the attention will mar Clinton's visit to
Okinawa, where two-thirds of the 47,000 American military personnel still in
Japan are stationed.
Toguchi and most others said they'd never heard the story of the cave. "I was
mayor for 16. years and I knew nothing of it," Toguchi said. "The people in that
one hamlet kept it to themselves all these years."
Military widow
Smith's widow says she signed papers two months ago authorizing the Marines
to investigate Smith's death. He was buried with military honors in Ohio on
March 25.
Last month, she heard the story circulating in Japan - about the cave, about
the alleged rapes.
'.'Are they saying my husband raped somebody, or was it that they decided to
make a scapegoat of him?" Headen said. "I just don't believe this." Headen, now
72, married Smith about six months before he left. She remarried in 1949, after
he failed to return.
"He was just a young man and so far as I know, a good young man. He worked
and he took care of his mother," Headen said. "Nobody's ever going to make me
believe my husband did that. He was not that kind of person."
Case closed
What happened outside Nago· will likely never be known. Japanese police are
not investigating. All statutes of limitation have expired, even for murder,
they say.
U.S. military officials had begun investigating but say they're ready to let
the matter rest.
"How the Marines died is not known," said Capt. Joseph Plenzler, a Marine
spokesman on Okinawa.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service "opened the investigation only to
assist in the recovery and identification," Plenzler said. "Now that those
objectives have been achieved, the case will be closed."
GRAPHIC:
Four b&w photos Smith Stokes Robinson AP PhotoA man takes a photo
April 22 of the entrance to a cave in a steep hill in Okinawa where local guide
Setsuko Inafuku found two years ago the bodies of three American Marines listed
as missing in action from World War II.
••
�Page 25
LEVEL 2 - 23 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 1999 The Yomiuri Shimbun
The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo)
October 19, 1999, Tuesday
SECTION: Pg. 3
LENGTH: 982 words
HEADLINE: Vote likely to advance U.S. base move
BYLINE: Satoshi Hagiwara Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Yomiuri
DATELINE: NAHA
BODY:
The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly's vote Friday in which it passed a
resolution calling for the early relocation of the U.S. Futenma Air Station
within the prefecture is expected to drastically accelerate the relocation
process.
Moves to relocate the heliport functions of the air station in Ginowan to
another site in the'prefecture reached a dead end last February when then Gov.
Masahide Ota announced his opposition to the central government proposal to
construct an offshore heliport near Nago to accommodate most of the Futenma
facilities. As a result, the relocation plan was put on hold.
A 1995 incident also contributed to the plan coming to a halt. In September
that year, three U.S. servicemen stationed in Okinawa were charged with
abducting and rapi'ng a 12-year-old Japanese girl--all three were sentenced to
prison the following March.·
The incident apparently reinforced local antagonism toward the U.S. military,
and led to the prefectural assembly unanimously passing a resolution in July
1996 to oppose the relocation of the heliport facilities within the prefecture.
By contrast, Gov. Keiichi Inamine was openly satisfied with the prefectural
assembly vote on relocation last week, and said, "The Okinawan people's strong
expectations for an early resolution for this matter have been demonstrated."
Resolving the matter early is important to both the central and prefectural
governments, as it will prove indispensable to the smooth progress of the 1996
Japan-U.S. agreement on the consolidation and limitations on U.S. military
facilities in the prefecture.
However, for the consolidation-reduction plan to advance successfully, one
previous central government mistake must not be repeated. When the central
government decided--without consulting the prefectural government or the
Okinawan people--to construct an offsh?re U.S. military heliport, it incurred
strong local resistance, which was partly behind Ota's refusal to accept the
central government proposal.
••
�Page 26
The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), October 19, 1999
Learning from this, the prefectural government should avoid forcing its hand
in the selection of a site for the proposed heliport.
Last week's prefectural assembly vote shows that the assembly has come to its
own decision on the matter--which will help prevent the repetition of the
central government's previous mistake--and honestly wished to see the resolution
passed.
'The prefectural government plans to present its final candidate site to the
central government next month. It has narrowed down its list of candidate sites
to the vicinity of Camp Schwab, located in the Henoko district of Nago.
Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi also welcomed last week's vote on the resolution,
as it helps meet the U.S. demand for "the settlement of the Futenma relocation
issue before the summit of. the Group of Eight leading nations next year" and has
opened the way for the successful hosting of the G-8 summit with good Japan-U.S.
relations intact.
One other factor also worked in the resolution's favor. The prefectural
assembly apparently already intended to back Inamine's plan to select a final
candidate site.
When a referendum on the plan to construct ari offshore U.S. military heliport
was held in Nago in 1997, those opposing the plan far outnumbered those
.supporting it; but in a gubernatorial election held last year, Inamine, who
called for· the relocation of the heliport facl.lities within the prefecture,
defeated Ota by a margin of 13 percentage points. The outcome of the election
seems to have indicated a shift in local people's views on the issue.
"Since the days of the Ryukyu government, (inaugurated in 1952 under the
authority of the United States) we've seen confrontations between conservatives
and progressives in the legislature," a member of a civic group opposing
relocation within the prefecture said. "However, all members of the Okinawan
legislature, backed by local people, have always opposed the presence of U.S.
military facilities in the prefecture," he added.
Today, even among those opposed to relocation, there are those who have
apparently given up resisting the plan, as evidenced by one dissenter's remark:
"We cannot expect a growing civil movement against the plan like the one we
witnessed at the time of the Nago referendum."
However, local residents in general have a strong tendency to oppose u.s.
military facilities in the prefecture, apparently because of the heavy
casualties they suffered in the Battle of Okinawa, the only fighting that
occurred on Japanese soil in the Pacific War, and have long felt oppressed by
the presence of U.S. military facilities.
The fact that the resolution.on the early relocation of heliport facilities
within the prefecture was not passed easily is further proof of this general
opposition to the U.S. military. Although one full day--Thursday --was set to be
spent in deliberations on the resolution, the vote actually took place in the
early hours of Friday morning.
The deliberations got bogged down as assembly members began questioning and
criticizing the prefectural government's attempts to review a plan to hold an
�Page 27
The Daily Yomiuri (Tokyo), October 19, 1999
exhibition at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum, which is currently
under construction--a move seen as an attempt to reduce the significance of the
fighting that took place in Okinawa Prefecture.
In selecting a final candidate site, the prefectural government should give
maximum consideration to the feelings of local people by applying the lesson it
appears to have learned in last week's deliberations in the prefectural
assembly.
In return for accepting the heavy burden of having military facilities
constructed in their area, the central government should work to draw up the
best possible economic promotion program it can for the local governments who
have jurisdiction over the final candidate site and for local residents living
in the area.
LOAD-DATE: October 19, 1999
�Page 28
LEVEL 2 - 24 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Landmark Communications, Inc.
The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA)
September 11, 1999, Saturday,
SECTION: LOCAL,
FINAL EDITION
Pg. BS
LENGTH: 674 words
HEADLINE: OKINAWA HALL A SALUTE TO JOINT OPERATIONS;
NEW FACILITY PART OF TRAINING SCHOOL'S EFFORT TO BECOME TECHNOLOGY LEADER
BYLINE: BY DAVE MAYFIELD, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK
BODY:
Among America's great triumphs of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa stood
out for what military leaders would now describe as '•jointness.'' It took the
dogged commitment of Army, Navy and Marine Corps forces - in the air, on the
land and from the sea - to win the 82-day battle against the Japanese.
On Friday, Gen. Henry H. Shelton, chairman of the Joints Chiefs of Staff,
recalled the historic battle at a ceremony dedicating the new Okinawa Hall at
the Armed Forces Staff College on Hampton Boulevard.
The hall is fittingly named, he said, because of the mission it was designed
to carry out: ''building on the lessons learned'' from joint operations, from
Okinawa on.
The 64,000-square-foot hall is part of a$ 13 million project that the
college's leaders say will turn their institution into a world leader in
harnessing technology to teach military officers.
Every year, about 900 mid-career officers enroll at the college for 12-week
sessions; around 40 of them come from U.S. allies.
Beginning in January, the students will be thrown from the day they report·
into a computer- aided war game. · Thei·r response to a series of crises, from
ballistic missile threats to chemical weapons releases, will make or break the
simulated peace and well-being of countries and continents.
Until recently, the college's program was largely built around class
lectures, with a computer-aided war game only in the closing few weeks of the
program.
The change is largely due to Congress. It has been pushing for a more
dynamic and interactive approach to military education, one that relies heavily
••
••
�Page 29
The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA), September 11, 1999
on gaming technologies. Several years ago, Congress put up the money the college
said would be needed to dramatically overhaul its teaching approach.
The biggest part of the investment is in the new building.
Okinawa Hall's first two floors hold a greatly expanded library crammed with
computers linked to the Internet. There also is a sealed-off space in which
students can gain access to the military's secret computer network.
The hall's top floor is where the real action will take place. On that floor
are 20 war-gaming suites, each with a large screen for projecting the progress
of the students' mock computer-assisted conflicts.
The last major piece of the project is the renovation of the college's main
building, Normandy Hall. There, in the space vacated by the old library, will be
a series of videoconferencing suites. These will be used to beam synopsized
versions of the college's curriculum to thousands more officers each year. This
part of the project is to be completed in about a year.
The students in Norfolk will still attend lectures and write papers. And, as
has been the case throughout the college's 53-ye?r pistory, they will largely be
graded on one factor: how well they utilize the capabilities of all of the
services - not just their own - to solve the problems confronting them.
But the new technologies will make the experience more realistic, said John
Ballard, associate dean for the college's Joint and Combined Staff Officer
School.
Every day, he said, the students will get ''five or six seemingly innocent
messages'' on events in Africa and the Middle'East- the region around which the
war game is built. How they react .to these developments will determine the flow
of the game. ''We're trying to teach them how to use information to dominate
their opponents,'' Ballard said.
Along the way, the students will practice scenarios ranging from civilian
evacuations to hostile missile shots.
The game will cover two years' worth of events. At its conclusion, Ballard
said, the game controllers will fast-forward another two years and show the
economic, social and mili~ary results of the students' decisions.
Army Lt .. Gen. Richard Chilcoat, president of the National Defense
University, of which the staff college is a part, said the project will have
far-reaching contributions throughout military education. ' ' I t will pay
dividends for decades to come, ' ' he said.
GRAPHIC: Photo
STEVE EARLEY/The Virginian-Pilot;
Okinawa Hall is part of a $ 13 million effort to train officers at the Armed
••
�- - - - - - - - - - -
Page 30
The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, VA), September 11, 1999
Services Staff College using technology .. Congress has been pushing gaming as an
interactive, engaging method of training.
LOAD-DATE: September 13, 1999
••
�Page 31
LEVEL 2 - 26 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Nihon Keizai Shimbun, Inc.
The Nikkei Weekly
August 16, 1999
SECTION: MAJOR STORIES; Pg. 8
LENGTH: 1149 words
HEADLINE: Ex-governor still fights for Okinawan people
Masahide Ota Remains Committed To His Mission To Rid Okinawa Of Its Military
Burden
BYLINE: BY YASUMASA SHIMIZU Staff writer
BODY:
NAHA, Okinawa - Former Okinawa Governor Masahide Ota looks grim when talking
about the summit of the Group of Seven major industrialized nations and Russia
in Okinawa in 2000.
"I have mixed feelings, of hope and anxiety," the 74-year-old Okinawan says
cautiously. He said he is happy that political.leaders and reporters from all
over the world will have a chance to see the current situation in Okinawa, where
U.S. military bases occupy a significant. part of the islands. But at the same
time, he fears the meeting will be so tightly orchestrated by the government
that the participants will miss the true severity of the situation in Japan's
southernmost prefecture.
Since his defeat in the gubernatorial election in November 1998, the former
soldier has served as head of the Ota Peace Research Institute and has continued
his fight to protect the people of the island prefecture. He is battling the
military interests of Japan and the U.S. in Okinawa, where the memory of war is
still very much alive.
About two-thirds of the 47,000 U.S. armed forces personnel in Japan are
stationed in O~inawa, and 75% of the land used by U.S. forces in Japan is on the
prefecture's small islands, which make up less than 1% of Japan's total area. In
many cases, occupation of.the land, if it is privately owned, is technically
illegal. Ota insists that other parts of Japan must share the military burdens
if the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty is really as important to Japan and the
Japanese people as the government says it is.
Ota is demanding a reduction in the military presence in Okinawa. "Why do
only Okinawans have to bear such a severe burden?" he asks in his quiet but
serious manner.
"From a strategic point of view, it doesn't make sense for military bases to
be co~centrated on a small island. It would be a good target to attack," Ota
said. North Korea is the most serious threat for Japan and the U.S., he noted,
and Okinawa is far from that area, whereas the northern part of Kyushu is closer
and more'convenient to handle problems on the Korean Peninsula .
••
�'I
\
I
Page 32
I
The Nikkei Weekly August 16, 1999
"So there is no geographical ·reason for Okinawa to bear such a heavy burden,"
he said.
Ota's life has been marked by war and its aftermath in the island prefecture.
The bloody Battle of Okinawa officially ended on June 23, 1945. But for Ota,
then a 20-year-old student sent to the front to defend Okinawa, the fighting
dragged on until Oct. 23, when he finally surrendered to U.S. forces. He was
lucky to be alive; of the 120 classmates from his school who joined the war,
only 30 survived.
He remembers creeping silently up to U.S. soldiers' tents and snatching food
to help him and other remnants of the Japanese Imperial Army survive in the
south part of Okinawa, before he learned that Japan had surrendered.
After the war, Ota divided his time between Japan and the U.S. After
attending school in then U.S.-occupied Okinawa, he went to Waseda University in
Tokyo on a study-abroad program in 1950. He graduated in 1954, then attended
Syracuse University, studying journalism.
Ota traveled often in Japan and the U.S., teaching and researching Okinawan
problems, until he became governor of Okinawa in 1990. In this capacity, he went
to the U.S. repeatedly to present Okinawa's case, especially the problem of U.S.
bases on .the islands.
Okinawa, the former independent Ryukyu Kingdom, holds a special place in
recent Japanese history. The small islands that make up the prefecture were the·
only Japanese lands to experience land battles with U.S. military forces during
World War II.
Okinawa was occupied by U.S. forces after the war until 1972, when the U.S.
government returned the islands to Japan. The U.S. military bases remained in
Okinawa after the occupation.
The people of Okinawa have their own identity as Okinawans and consider
themselves a separate ethnic group, distinct from the Japanese. "Our culture,
history, nature and way of life are very different from the Japanese who live on
the main islands," Ota insists. This leads him to ponder why Okinawa should have
to bear the brunt of the military burden; he wonders if it is because
Okinawans are a different ethnic group. ·
The former governor gained national fame when he decided to cease the
proxy-signature system for land deeds to block land expropriation for u.s.
military facilities in the prefecture in the wake of the rape of a 12-year-old
Okinawan girl by U.S. military personnel in 1995.
But he finally gave in to pressure to renew the system in September 1996 as
he felt the limit of his power and wanted to avoid confusion over the issue.
Ota did not speak out when the Japanese government proposed construction of a
U.S. Marine C9rps heliport off the coast of Nago to replace the Futenma Air
Station, which is scheduled to be returned to Japan because of an agreement
reached by Japan and the U.S. at a meeting of the Special Action Committee on
Okinawa ( SACO) .
••
•
•
I
\
\
�Page 33
j
. The Nikkei Weekly August 16, 1999
The people of Nago voted down the government's plan in a referendum in
December 1997. Ota, who had said it was a matter for the central and municipal
governments to decide, finally revealed his opposition to locating the
facility within Okinawa after the referendum.
"It is good to get back Okinawan lands that are illegally occupied by U.S.
military forces, such as Futenma Air Station. But to construct another new
station, possibly a better-equipped one, in Okinawa is not fair. It is also
ridiculous to replace the old Futenma station (at Japanese taxpayers' expense).
I cannot accept such a proposal," Ota said.
During the gubernatorial election last November, Ota's slogans were "Peaceful
Okinawa without military bases" and "Will you sell your soul for a bit of
money?" It was a hard-fought election, and the voter turnout was 76.54%, much
higher than the previous poll's 62.54%, but Ota lost to Keiichi Inamine, an
Okinawan business leader with heavy support from the Liberal Democratic Party,
who emphasized the economy.
Masaya Ito, a political analyst, noted: "The result of the election showed
the Okinawan people's rejection of Ota. What he did cannot be accepted by people
struggling in a sluggish economy with 8% to 9% ·unemployment - twice the national
average."
Yukio Okamoto, who talked to Ota many times as a special adviser to then
Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto on Okinawa affairs, said: "I believe Ota's view
had two sources: his feeling as a survivor of the Battle of Okinawa of, 'I· did
not live through that cruel battle only to see this· island remilitarized,' and
his thinking, as a historian, 'I don't want to be remember~d as the governor who
increased the number of bases in Okinawa.'"
Okamoto added that though his views were different from Ota's, he respected
Ota's experience and passion, even though he believes that the former governor's
opposition let·pass a crucial opportunity to reduce U.S. military forces in
Okinawa.
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
The Nikkei Weekly, August 16, 1999
LOAD-DATE: August 17, 1999
••
••
�Page 34
LEVEL 2 - 29 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 1999 Mainichi Daily News
Mainichi Daily News
May 16, 1999, Sunday
SECTION: Page 12; DOMESTIC
LENGTH: 336 words
HEADLINE: Okinawans end 3-day protest against US bases
BODY:
By Shunji Nozawa and Shinichi Kanzaki
Mainichi Shimbun
NAHA -- Some 4,000 people calling for an Okinawa free of military bases ended
a three-day march on Saturday, as the Okinawa Prefecture(marked the 27th
anniversary of its reversion to Japan.
Over the course of the annual march --the 22nd of its kind -- participants,
including those from outside the prefecture, called for the return of land
currently occupied by U.S. military bases and voiced opposition to a set of
bills enabling wider Japan-U.S. defense cooperation. The bills are expected to
pass into law during the current Diet session.
"We have only come halfway in settling issues concerning Okinawa," Chief
Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka told reporters on Friday.
Nonaka nevertheless pointed out that the economic gap between Okinawa and
other prefectures has been reduced by cash injections totaling more than 5
trillion yen, paid for out of state coffers, as well as through the efforts of
Okinawans since the prefecture was returned from the United States to Japan in
1972.
He also told reporters that the government will make utmost efforts in
addressing such issues as the integration and reduction of the U.S. military
bases, as well as planning on medium- and long-term strategies to promote the
prefecture's economy.
Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine, meanwhile, said this year marks "a new start
for Okinawa to be an economically independent prefecture," and that the
prefectural government would try to settle issues involving U.S. bases and
promote the economy.
During World War II, Okinawa was the only prefecture in the nation to witness
ground warfare. More than 200,000 soldiers and civilians were killed. Of that
number, some took their own lives in fear of the approaching U.S. forces.
In June 1995, stone monuments were created in a peace memorial park in the
city of Itoman, commemorating the names of victims of the battles of Okinawa
regardless of their nationality or birthplace.
•
•
�,.,
'
Page 36
LEVEL 2 - 32 OF 35 STORIES
Copyright 1999 The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC)
May 2, 1999,
SECTION: B,
Sund~y,
SUNDAY EDITION
Pg. 4
LENGTH: 890 words
HEADLINE: Medal paperwork gathering dust?
BYLINE: Terry Joyce Of The Post and Courier
BODY:
Two events - a ceremony linked to the Medal of Honor and the upcoming
Confederate Memorial Day - prompted me to visit Marine Corps veteran John T.
Smith of Sullivan's Island to review the World War II story of the late Capt.
Julian D. Dusenbury.
I also spoke with Marine veteran Bill Pierce of Mount Pleasant, who provided
me with a number of written accounts, and Dusenbury's widow, Martha Dusenbury of
Florence. The events made me wonder if history could repeat itself.
The Congressional Medal of Honor Society at Patriot's Point last month
honored the late James L. Day with a bronze statue at the society's museum. Day
was a World War II Marine hero who waited nearly 53 years before he received the
Medal of Honor in 1998 for heroism during the battle for Okinawa.
The medal recommendation was in limbo for years, apparently because the
paperwork had been misplaced. Day died nine months after President Clinton
presented him with the award.
On, then, to South Carolina native Julian Dusenbury and Confederate Memorial
Day.
Dusenbury's bravery (if not his name) became well-known in South Carolina in
1945 shortly after he raised the Confederate flag over Shuri Castle, a Japanese
strong point on Okinawa. An account of the action, without naming Dusenbury, was
published in the May 31, 1945, edition of The News and Courier.
The account tells how Smith, a Charleston native, watched as the Confederate
flag flew over the old Japanese castle.
Other, more detailed accounts explaining Dusenbury's role appeared later.
Veteran reporter Walter Wood wrote a lengthy story about the flag-raising for
The Washington Times in 1986. The story also shows up in histories written about
the Okinawa campaign.
Smith, a combat Marine photographer, says he photographed Dusenbury as he ·
raised the flag but he never saw the photo afterward.
"The Marines always returned to me the photos I took that·were published,"
••
••
�Page 37
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), May 2, 1999
Smith said. "I know there was a lot of unpleasantness about the flag, especially
from people from the North."
According to Wood's story, "the phone rang off the hook" in Marine
headquarters on Okinawa from Army officers who were upset at seeing the
Confederate flag. But they may have been upset because the Marines had beaten
the Army to the old castle, arriving moments before the Army was slated to level
the place with artillery fire and launch its own attack.
Marine Maj. Gen. Pedro del Valle, the division commander, eventually sent
another officer to Shuri Castle to raise the Stars and Stripes.
Trouble was, Smith said, Japanese troops had slipped in behind the Marines on
Shuri. Dusenbury, Smith and the others held out for three days until they were
relieved. Smith has photos he took of Marine aircraft dropping ammunition and
supplies to hold the castle.
Martha Dusenbury said her husband raised the flag in an effort to boost the
spirits of his men, many of whom were from the South. Dusenbury's leadership
under fire led to the award of the Navy Cross, the Marines' second highest
combat decoration.
But both she and Smith wondered if Dusenbury was denied the Medal of Honor
because of the flag.
"Many people tried to get him the Medal of Honor," Dusenbury said,
was denied."
"but it
Still, one has to wonder if a recommendation, similar to James Day's, is
gathering dust in a file somewhere. Dusenbury later was wounded on Okinawa and
never walked again. He returned to South Carolina and served in the state
Legislature. He died in 1976.
Confederate· Memorial Day, May 10, is perhaps the only day when it's
"politically correct" to fly the Confederate flag. It's an event Julian
Dusenbury likely would have enjoyed.
Rear Adm. Norman T. Saunders, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard's 7th
District in Miami, was the guest speaker last week during an awards banquet
honoring outstanding junior and senior ROTC cadets from Lowcountry schools.
The Charleston chapter of the National Sojourners, a Masonic organization for
military officers, sponsored the awards.
Senior ROTC cadets who received awards are Army Cadet James L. Browning,
Navy-Marine Corps Cadet Jon D. Gross and Air Force Cadet Ryan Nash, all of The
Citadel; and Air Force Cadet Roger N. Acklin of Charleston Southern University.
Junior ROTC cadets honored include Army cadets Robert Ellis, Baptist Hill
High School, Venasha Scott, Burke, Byron Walker, Goose Creek, Stefan Locklair,
Hanahan, April Hollington, St. John's, and Christina Arevalo, Stratford; Navy
cadets Jermaine Joyner, North Charleston, Tara Russell, St. Andrews, and David
W. Powden, Summerville; Air Force cadets Mellisa L. Tanner, Fort Dorchester,
Margaret F. Cox, James Island, Melissa Doughtie, R.B. Stall, and Patrick
Puckhaber, Wando.
••
•
•
�,i
:~
Page 38
The Post and Courier (Charleston, SC), May 2, 1999
Other junior ROTC cad~ts will receive s·imilar awards this spring at other
gatherings. They are Army cadets Brandon Jenkins, Aynor, Laures Henry, Cross,
Christopher Brown, C.E. Murray of Greeleyville, Jermaine Tisdale, Kingstree,
Tonya Attaway, Loris, Christopher Phillips, Marion, and Donnie Martin,
Timberland; Navy cadets Yosjida Cox, Conway, Joseph C. Rappaport, Myrtle Beach,
Jeremy Claridy, North Myrtle Beach, and Monica Ellett, Walterboro; Marine Corps
cadets Janet Williams, Choppee, and Perry Bessant, Mullins; Air Force cadets
Sabrina L. Reed, Berkeley, and Michael A. Knox, Socastee.
GRAPHIC:
PHOTO; Staff Photo by Bill Jordan- John Smith, who was a World War II
combat photographer, holds a photo of Capt. Julian D. Dusenbury.
LOAD-DATE: May 5, 1999
••
••
�
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Speechwriting Office - Paul Orzulak
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
National Security Council
Speechwriting Office
Paul Orzulak
Date
A point or period of time associated with an event in the lifecycle of the resource
1999-2000
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
<a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/items/show/36267" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7585791" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2008-0702-F
Description
An account of the resource
<p>Orzulak served as speechwriter for President William J. Clinton and National Security Advisor Samuel R. Berger in 1999 and 2000.</p>
<p>Orzulak authored speeches for President Clinton concerning permanent normal trade relations with China; the United States Coast Guard Academy commencement; the role of computer technology in India; the defense of American cyberspace; the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award; the memorial service for Former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi of Japan; the Charlemagne Prize in Germany; the presentation of the Medal of Freedom to President James E. Carter and Rosalyn Carter in Atlanta; the Millennium Around the World Celebration in Washington, DC; the Cornerstone of Peace Park in Japan; the role of scientific research and the European Union while in Portugal; sustainable development in India; armed forces training on Vieques Island, Puerto Rico; and the funeral services for Admiral Elmo R. Zumwalt, Jr. in Annapolis. Orzulak’s speechwriting for National Security Advisor Berger concerned Senator Joseph R. Biden, China’s trade status, Kosovo, and challenges facing American foreign policy.</p>
<p>This collection was made available through a <a href="http://clinton.presidentiallibraries.us/freedom-of-information-act-requests">Freedom of Information Act</a> request. For more information concerning this collection view the complete finding aid.</p>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Extent
The size or duration of the resource.
82 folders in 7 boxes
Text
A resource consisting primarily of words for reading. Examples include books, letters, dissertations, poems, newspapers, articles, archives of mailing lists. Note that facsimiles or images of texts are still of the genre Text.
Original Format
The type of object, such as painting, sculpture, paper, photo, and additional data
Paper
Dublin Core
The Dublin Core metadata element set is common to all Omeka records, including items, files, and collections. For more information see, http://dublincore.org/documents/dces/.
Title
A name given to the resource
Okinawa Speech [5]
Creator
An entity primarily responsible for making the resource
National Security Council
Speechwriting Office
Paul Orzulak
Identifier
An unambiguous reference to the resource within a given context
2008-0702-F
Is Part Of
A related resource in which the described resource is physically or logically included.
Box 6
<a href="http://clintonlibrary.gov/assets/Documents/Finding-Aids/2008/2008-0702-F.pdf" target="_blank">Collection Finding Aid</a>
<a href="http://catalog.archives.gov/id/7585791" target="_blank">National Archives Catalog Description</a>
Provenance
A statement of any changes in ownership and custody of the resource since its creation that are significant for its authenticity, integrity, and interpretation. The statement may include a description of any changes successive custodians made to the resource.
Clinton Presidential Records: White House Staff and Office Files
Format
The file format, physical medium, or dimensions of the resource
Adobe Acrobat Document
Publisher
An entity responsible for making the resource available
Clinton Presidential Library & Museum
Medium
The material or physical carrier of the resource.
Reproduction-Reference
Date Created
Date of creation of the resource.
5/19/2014
Source
A related resource from which the described resource is derived
42-t-7585791-20080702f-006-011-2014
7585791