Futenma Air Base relocation issue (4-18-10)

As the May-end deadline for making a decision in relocating the US Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa, draws near, pressure against the Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama seems most intense after his party, the Democratic Party of Japan, took power unseating the Liberal Democratic Party last year. In a recent press conference, Mr. Hatoyama was fielding questions from reporters and critics who were censuring him for the possible default on his pledge made when his party came to power: It would transfer the Futenma Air Station somewhere outside Japan. He said “Trust me” on the issue last year, and the deadline was set for the end of May. During the conference, the amount of Mr. Hatoyama’s perspiration was so much that the entire situation looked as if an extraterrestrial alien was being captured.

Surely, Japan has sometimes been said as responsible for winning the understandings of residents in the relocation area, perhaps either Henoko in Okinawa or Tokunoshima Island of Kagoshima, although it’s unknown to what extent the issue is taken seriously in comparison with other global news. At least, it might not sound so closely related to me, a Tokyoite. (I’m sorry to say this.)

Whatever attention is paid to the issue from the world, at a minimum the result of the issue could be critical to Mr. Hatoyama after his approval rating dropped to 23.7% and his disapproval rating rose to 56.5%.

He is unlucky: Had he held onto the leadership alone, consequences after a couple of scandals would have possibly been a little easier. Mr. Hatoyama was heckled by opposition parties after a fundraising revelation--his mother kept providing him with assistance money totaling some 1.7 billion yen from 2001 through 2008. Meanwhile, underreporting by the secretary general Ichiro Ozawa went public, though he, with the strongest authority in the party in effect, has not volunteered to abdicate from the position.

According to the allegation, Mr. Ozawa did not report dubious money which he had lent to his fundraiser Rikuzankai. Having borrowed 400 million yen from Mr. Ozawa, it purchased land in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward in 2004 and paid back in 2007. It’s speculated that the lent money was tribute paid under the table by Mizutani Kensetsu, a construction company. Yet, no evidence has been found to pin down Mr. Ozawa as a violator of the Political Funds Control Law while three men around him were indicted.

The media are also a mighty foe to Mr. Hatoyama. While Mr. Ozawa lurks in a cozy place, a volley of critical remarks is directed at the prime minister to make him keel over into a UFO, though this manner of the media is perhaps just normal.

What makes those scenes more frenzied are new political parties being formed, although they haven’t manifested specific policies against the LDP’s until now. Kaoru Yosano and Kunio Hatoyama, the younger brother of the prime minister, both from the LDP, Hiroshi Yamada, from the New Frontier Party and the former governor of Tokyo’s Suginami ward, and Hiroshi Nakada, independent and the former mayor of Kanagawa’s Yokohama, are front runners in the movement.

Despite the last-minute commotion before the Futenma Air Station-concerned deadline, I can still afford to acknowledge feats of the DPJ. The ruling coalition has surely realized these followings: It has increased the capacity of the budgets by eliminating unnecessary costs; rearranged administrative structures across politicians and bureaucrats; set special subsidies for kids; nullified fees for high schools; been working on revising the national health insurance policy for the elderly; and been reviewing transportation systems. Given all, although all the attempts of the DPJ could have hardly led to flawless outcomes, I would rather identify the upsides which the former ruling coalition had failed to achieve.

Back to the Futenma issue, regardless of the bluff of Mr. Hatoyama, which was probably made for the sake of his approval rating, in reality there seems to be no perfectly suitable solutions to the issue. On TV, fifteen thousand people of Tokunoshima Island, or about half of its populace, were rallying against Mr. Hatoyama after it had been cited as one of the possible alternative places.

On a morning TV show, the exact day of this writing, among the small population there was a man who supported the invitation of the air base to Tokunoshima. He (politician?) raised economic expectations with things like construction works projects, considering the low average income of the local residents. According to the TV show, the average is about 1.6 million yen while that in Okinawa is about 2.0 million yen.

Meanwhile, not a small number of them must put nature preservation in the first place, as must residents in Henoko. However, such a desire of Tokunoshima residents might find light in an integrated proposal. This is, for example, to turn the island into a more enchanting tourist spot touting its priceless nature. In return, some additional urbanization while the island was made more accessible from other parts of Japan would have improved the living standards of the local residents.

Noise pollution by aircraft is what local people hate so much. Yet while residents in Henoko continue to protest against the air base coming, Ginowan, where Futenma is situated, has a denser population to subject it to engine sounds more effectively.

Sure in a region with fewer people and a greater deal of flora and fauna the impact of noise must be less. These living circumstances would probably be more immune from seeing troublesome cross-cultural relationships than an urbanized city if the air base and marines/navies came to the area. (If Japanese relate to those who stay in Japan far from America, having this kind of empathy is the first step in the process of bridging some initial misconceptions between different nationalities, if there are.)

In addition, in more rural areas the incidence of aircraft accidents is expected to be smaller: Fewer buildings would prevent the recurrence after a CH-53 chopper crashed into a university in 2004.

Beware that a UFO with the prime minister appears to be flying more precariously than a chopper, as the result of the Nago--where Henoko is situated--mayoral election held in January, that independent Susumu Inamine against accepting the air base in the area won, is inconveniencing the decision-making of Mr. Hatoyama.

Having been living in Tokyo since birth, I “can’t” have complete sympathy for compatriots who live in the southern regions, but don’t hesitate to say that there could possibly be good new relationships between different nationalities after the national government concluded discussions on the topic. Once it happens, the attitudes of the local residents toward Americans may be opposite to previous ones--and, vice versa.