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Contempt for China leads to insults, conspiracy theories against Okinawans - AJW by The Asahi Shimbun
This is interesting, did not know that relations between Okinawans and their Home Island cousins were so fraught. Perhaps a few sympathetic K-dramas or Hong Kong movies are in order? China could also give quiet support in the UN for an Okinawa independence movement, hosting these people much as the Japanese PM has hosted the Dalai Lama...
[hr][/hr]A sidewalk in Tokyo's Ginza district was crowded with people waving Hinomaru rising-sun flags and jockeying for the best position to yell their insults and curses.
That moment came when demonstrators from Okinawa Prefecture, including mayors, assembly members and labor unionists, marched by to protest the deployment of MV-22 Osprey transport aircraft to a U.S. military base in the southern prefecture.
"You traitors," the roadside people screamed during the march on Jan. 27.
"Get out of Japan," was another common cry.
A women's group called Soyokaze (Breath of wind) and other organizations had urged people to discourage the protest by the Okinawans. Videos of the march later spread around the Internet, prompting a deluge of racist comments and conspiracy theories.
Many of the posters said the Okinawans were deliberately trying to weaken Japan's defenses and give China the upper hand in the territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea.
Typical comments were "left-wingers in Okinawa are Chinese spies" and the protesters are "receiving funding from China."
Although the people with such extreme views may be a small minority in Japan, some Okinawans feel that their words reflect the growing apathy on mainland Japan toward the plight of the tiny island prefecture that hosts 74 percent of all U.S. military bases in Japan and has endured a long series of crimes committed by U.S. personnel.
Concerns about China have led armchair observers to join the anti-Okinawa campaign. Some have even sent death threats.
A woman in her 50s who works at a tax accounting office in Aichi Prefecture saw the video of the Ginza protest and posted a sarcastic message: "What an enviable life civil-service workers lead. I really appreciate your anti-Japan activities."
She said that during a time when outside threats against Japan are increasing, such demonstrations cast a pall over the Japan-U.S. security arrangement and serve the interests of China. She also said she believes China has funded anti-U.S. base activities in Okinawa Prefecture.
The woman said she has never been to Okinawa but insisted she has collected all the "correct" information about the prefecture from the Internet.
Others believe Koreans are behind the anti-U.S. base sentiment in Okinawa Prefecture.
A man in his 40s posted a message that said, "People who are protesting the Osprey are ethnic Korean residents in Japan."
In an e-mail, he also said, "Most Okinawans do not feel uncomfortable about the stationing of the U.S. military."
The man did not respond to requests for an interview to explain his stance and the fact that mayors and assembly members elected by the people of Okinawa led the protest march.
Takeshi Taira, 51, a deputy managing editor of the Okinawa Times, recalled working at the newspaper's Tokyo branch more than 10 years ago. He said during that time, an Okinawa boom was spreading across Japan, with TV dramas and singers from the prefecture rising in popularity.
The people in Tokyo were warmer toward Okinawa Prefecture, he said, and veteran politicians he interviewed expressed feelings of guilt about pushing U.S. bases on the prefecture.
Now, he says, the feelings toward Okinawa have become hostile.
"It is distinctly different from what I thought Japan's mainland is like," he said.
The Okinawa Times had planned to distribute about 1,000 copies of a special edition opposing the Osprey at the demonstration site in Ginza. The newspaper scrapped that idea because it could not secure the safety of its employees.
Two days before the march, Taira held a photo exhibition at a gallery in central Tokyo that provided information about U.S. aircraft accidents that have occurred in Okinawa Prefecture since the end of World War II.
Through interviews, Taira found that the accidents killed 32 people and injured 234. He wanted people on the mainland to understand that Okinawans have had a long history of putting their lives at risk in the name of the Japan-U.S. security arrangement.
Shortly after the exhibition opened, around 20 people showed up and walked round the gallery. One of them bluntly asked Taira, "Is this exhibit being held to protest the Osprey?"
They were led by members of a nationalistic group, Ganbare Nippon! Zenkoku Kodo Iinkai (Hang in there, Japan! National action committee).
"We visited the exhibition to see what kind of things they were displaying," Satoru Mizushima, 63, secretary-general of the organization, told The Asahi Shimbun. "It was neither a protest nor anything else."
Others have been more menacing.
In March, an anonymous man from the Chubu region phoned Yasukatsu Matsushima, a 50-year-old economics professor at Ryukoku University who has been calling for Okinawa's independence from Japan.
Matsushima was not around, so a university official answered and wrote down the caller's message.
"You will be killed," the caller said. "Do not write irresponsible things."
Undeterred, Matsushima plans to form a study group with his colleagues to discuss the theme of independence on May 15, the day of Okinawa's reversion to Japanese sovereignty from U.S. occupation.
The professor, who was born in Okinawa Prefecture, said he has received faxes and e-mails criticizing his activities.
"People concerned about the threat from China have attacked me, saying, 'Do you intend to betray Japan?' " Matsushima said. "But Okinawans have long been betrayed by Japan following the war."
This is interesting, did not know that relations between Okinawans and their Home Island cousins were so fraught. Perhaps a few sympathetic K-dramas or Hong Kong movies are in order? China could also give quiet support in the UN for an Okinawa independence movement, hosting these people much as the Japanese PM has hosted the Dalai Lama...
