A base draws ire - so US looks to sea

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Okinawa
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
A base draws ire - so US looks to sea
By Jeff Shaw
January 22, 2004

The source of all life force, traditional Okinawan belief holds, is
"Nirai Kanai" - a world far out in the sea where the gods reside. These
spirits send blessings from the mythical place surrounded by brilliant
blue waters.

This time, though, the gods of Nirai Kanai might be the ones in need of
help. After decades of a deeply resented American and Japanese military
presence on land, a new threat has come to the sea itself. Plans are in
place for a sea-based airport, the first of its kind, for the United
States Marines. Critics say it could devastate a sensitive coral reef
off the coast of Henoko, a village near Nago City, Japan.

Opponents, including environmental groups from both sides of the
Pacific, call the air station an ecologically catastrophe on a sea
replete with irreplaceable biodiversity. But Okinawa is Japan's poorest
prefecture, and a large minority near Henoko appears to support the
proposed base in hopes of an economic boost.

Although the struggle over the Marine base in Okinawa sounds typical -
US bases generate local protests around the world - it runs deeper and
involves an array of competing interests not only internationally but
within Japan itself. For one thing, the opposition is more cultural than
political, more antiwar than anti-American. For another, the US military
is actually trying to reduce its community footprint. But for the US to
find the right balance - in one of the most strategic outposts in East
Asia - will prove tricky, analysts say, especially if it encroaches on
one of the world's most diverse marine environments.

"Villages like Henoko still have a somewhat traditional lifestyle, and
within that lifestyle, nature has an important place," says Jonathan
Taylor of California State University in Fullerton, who is studying
Okinawan social movements. "Even if they never swim in the ocean, just
knowing that the ocean is clean is an important thing. [The new base] is
going to disrupt that."

American defense planners say that Okinawa's location, sometimes called
"the tip the spear," is strategic because it lies close to such hot
spots as North Korea and the Taiwan Strait. The Pentagon has
consistently rejected calls to diminish troop deployments here on the
grounds that the perception of a pullout risks a power vacuum and
possible aggression from China or North Korea.

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0122/p17s01-sten.html

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