American Base Town in Northern Japan. US and Japanese Air Forces at Misawa Target North Korea

Volume 8 | Issue 40 | Number 3 | Article ID 3421 | Oct 04, 2010 The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus American Base Town in Northern Japan. US and Japanese Air Forces at Misawa Target North Korea Mitsumasa Saito American Base Town in Northern Japan. US and Japanese Air Forces at Misawa Target North Korea Saito Mitsumasa Translated by John Junkerman A Base-Dependent Town Everyone sat, eating cheese rolls in silence. Cheese wrapped in gyoza skins and deep-fried, cheese rolls are a local “B-class gourmet” food. The piping hot rolls seemed to warm the The group was part of a Misawa base chilled, rain-drenched bodies of the customers. observation tour that was organized by the Tokyo-based Japan Lawyers Association for The shop was the Noodle House, on the main Freedom. For the group of lawyers working for street of the city of Misawa, Aomori Prefecture peace and human rights, the American bases in in northern Japan. As the name suggests, one Japan are a critical issue. can get all kinds of Japanese noodles at the restaurant. But it is not noodles but these At the time of their visit, the tidal wave of anti- cheese rolls that are hot sellers. They’re a base sentiment generated by the controversy favorite among the airmen from Misawa Air over the relocation of the Futenma Marine air Base and their families, who make up some 90 base in Okinawa was surging from the percent of the customers. southernmost region of Japan toward the mainland, so there was interest in knowing the “Coming here to Misawa, what I’ve been most situation around the base in Misawa, at the surprised to see is how totally different the northern tip of Honshu. atmosphere is from Okinawa. Why is there no But the Misawa they observed was the very anti-American, anti-base sentiment here?” picture of tranquility. The roar of jet fighters shook the air just as it does in Okinawa, but Filling his mouth with a ketchup-covered everywhere they went, the citizens they met cheese roll, the man shook his head in wonder. had only positive things to say about the base. Those around him nodded in confirmation. It was May 24, and some 70 legal activists from Hearing these restrained, pro-base comments around Japan had descended upon the Noodle was something of a culture shock to the House en masse. members of the group, who had previously only 1 8 | 40 | 3 APJ | JF encountered the negative image that equates The base is a sensitive issue to the local bases with sound pollution and crime. citizens. This is partly a consequence of how deeply and complexly the base is intertwined Why were the citizens of Misawa so tolerant of with the local economy. Of course, Sato hates the base? Didn’t it represent a burden? Queried the noise and the crimes of the American by a succession of people from the lawyers’ forces. But this is not enough to push him into group, Noodle House owner Sato Kazuo opposing the base. The issue is not so black- responded as follows: and-white. “It’s important to understand that the origin of In fiscal 2008, the city of Misawa received ¥6.2 the base in Misawa is totally different from billion (then, approx. $60 million) in defense- those in Okinawa. As I understand it, land in related subsidies and grants. Leaving aside Okinawa was forcibly confiscated fromcomplicating factors, this amount represented residents by the American military, and the about one third of the city’s annual budget. In bases were built there. And that resulted in addition, there’s the money that 10,000 military anti-base sentiments. But Misawa is thepersonnel and dependents spend in various opposite. There was a base here that drew ways. This is not an insignificant sum in a city of 40,000 people. people to it, and that’s how the town formed. The base came first.” For this reason, Sato distrusts the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led government. Coming to Therefore…, he paused for a breath and power in the fall of 2009, the administration seemed to firm his resolve: “We don’t say so boasted it would move the Futenma base openly, but I’d guess more than 90 percent of outside of Okinawa, but ended up accepting the the citizens favor the status quo, they support status quo. This only served to agitate the continued presence of the base.” Okinawa, pouring oil on the flames of anti-base sentiment, Sato says. The reluctance to speak openly is due to the recent flood of reports on television and in This opinion is shared by a 47-year old man newspapers of opposition to American bases, who lives in Misawa and works on the sparked by the Futenma controversy. In that American base. The wages of base workers are context, the people of Misawa don’t want to be covered by the “sympathy budget” that the misunderstood as “base-lovers.” Japanese government provides in support of American bases. As such they were a target of the DPJ administration’s budget-trimming campaign, the worker notes, because the wages are higher than prevailing rates in the area. “Budget-cutting? That’s just grandstanding, to please the people. Aren’t there more fundamental things the government should be paying attention to?” the worker remarks, without concealing his displeasure. “There are 1,400 base workers in Misawa. Isn’t the DPJ ignoring the fact that cutting all of their wages is going to depress the local economy?” 2 8 | 40 | 3 APJ | JF A fellow worker continues, “What we saw with Futenma is that, when it comes to the base issue, there’s no difference between the DPJ and the LDP (Liberal Democratic Party). They’re both beholden to the US military, they’re both hopeless.” One who has been observing the people of Misawa with interest through American eyes is the Tokyo-based poet and essayist Arthur Binard. Raised in Detroit near a base of the Michigan National Guard, Binard has long been concerned about the economic impact of bases. That interest deepened after he began making USAF F-16 Fighting Falcons over Iraq on regular monthly appearances for a radio station Feb 17, 2009 (US Air Force photo by Staff in Aomori, and he has taken up the issue in his Sgt. James L. Harper Jr.) program. Sato notes, “A reduction of one F-16 means a “I certainly understand the reduction of 20 to 30 troops, including the pilot thinking of people in Misawa,” he of course and all the maintenance personnel says. “It was the same in the area I and support staff. So the absence of more than grew up in. But here’s what I half of the planes is a big blow.” think. At the same time you obtain economic stability through As if in response to these words, a city hall dependence on a base, it becomes official sighs, “If the F-16s continue to a limitation, and it prevents disappear… The thought puts me in a cold economic growth in other areas. sweat. If the base is eliminated, Misawa will fall The existence of the base restricts into ruin. I wonder if the central government the character of Misawa, and it understands this.” eliminates other possibilities.” The Plan to Withdraw the F-16s Today, a vague anxiety hangs over many people In fact, there’s a reason people raise this in Misawa. This is the fear that some day concern. It stems from September 2009, when American planes might disappear from the reports appeared in some of the Japanese scene. There are 40 F-16 jet fighters assigned media of plans to withdraw the F-16s from to Misawa, but around 10 of them have been Misawa as early as the end of the year. It dispatched to Iraq, and 15 others wereturned out that this was simply one scenario temporarily dispatched to South Korea in May. under consideration by the American Fewer than half of the planes remain in government, but the reports sent shockwaves Misawa. Of course, this reduction has had an through the base-centered town. impact on the local economy. Is it really possible that the F-16s, which represent the sole aerial attack force of the US Air Force in Japan, would soon vanish from the scene? Seeking an answer, I queried sources in the US departments of state and defense, the 3 8 | 40 | 3 APJ | JF US military in Japan, the Japanese ministries of a result of a deliberate leak by the defense and foreign affairs… everyone I know previous ruling party—the who was connected with US-Japan relations. LDP—and people associated with the US government who had cast But the answer was “No.” One person their lot with the LDP over the connected to the US base in Misawa stated his reorganization of American forces total denial in the following terms: in Japan. The purpose, of course, was to cause a political shock to the DPJ-led government.” “At present, we have heard absolutely nothing about such a plan. There is a standing plan to At the root of this maneuver was the dispute upgrade the aging F-15s at Kadena over the relocation of the Futenma Marine air with cutting-edge F-22 Raptors, base, which had become a political problem but the F-16s are not going to be between the US and the former Hatoyama withdrawn.” government and remains pending. “The real aim of the leak was likely to get the government to comply with the existing Still, news of the plan to withdraw the F-16s agreement to move the base to the shore along caused a sensation.

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