Nationwide demonstrations simultaneously call for Japan to share Okinawa’s base burden

Nationwide demonstrations simultaneously call for Japan to share Okinawa’s base burden

In the afternoon on September 23 in front of Hachioji Station, Tokyo, members of the Okinawa Base Withdrawal Association's Tokyo Network drew the attention of passers by calling for withdrawal of U.S. bases from Okinawa.


 

September 24, 2018 Ryukyu Shimpo

 

On September 23, there were simultaneous actions throughout Japan as part of a movement calling for U.S. military bases to be withdrawn from Okinawa.

Members of the Okinawa Base Withdrawal Association’s Tokyo Network gathered in front of Hachioji Station in Tokyo, distributing pamphlets bearing the words: “We can no longer feign ignorance.”

Association members called out slogans like, “Isn’t it our responsibility to equally share the base burden?”

 

Up to this point the Association’s Tokyo Network has been putting efforts into activism in central Tokyo.

On September 23, it chose to act in front of Hachioji Station in the hope this would encourage participation from Hachioji City.

Makoto Ijima, an official of the Tokyo Network, took a handheld microphone and spoke at the gathering. He said that while public approval of the U.S.-Japan security structure is at 80 percent, the U.S. military insists Okinawa should accept and bear the risks associated with its large share of the base burden because the U.S. is providing Japan with defense.

However, Ijima asserted that, “These circumstances cannot simply be left as they are now.”

Also on September 23, there were similar public demonstrations in Yamagata, Niigata, and Fukuoka calling for U.S. base withdrawal from Okinawa.

An organization in Osaka planned its own demonstration for September 24.

 

(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)

 

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