US and Japanese Air Forces Target North Korea

GREETINGS,

  COURTESY OF Global Research

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 chilled, rain-drenched bodies of the customers.

The shop was the Noodle House, on the main street of the city of Misawa, Aomori Prefecture in northern Japan. As the name suggests, one can get all kinds of Japanese noodles at the restaurant. But it is not noodles but these cheese rolls that are hot sellers. They’re a favorite among the airmen from Misawa Air Base and their families, who make up some 90 percent of the customers.

“Coming here to Misawa, what I’ve been most surprised to see is how totally different the atmosphere is from Okinawa. Why is there no anti-American, anti-base sentiment here?”

Filling his mouth with a ketchup-covered cheese roll, the man shook his head in wonder. Those around him nodded in confirmation. It was May 24, and some 70 legal activists from around Japan had descended upon the Noodle House en masse.

The group was part of a Misawa base observation tour that was organized by the Tokyo-based Japan Lawyers Association for Freedom. For the group of lawyers working for peace and human rights, the American bases in Japan are a critical issue.

At the time of their visit, the tidal wave of anti-base sentiment generated by the controversy over the relocation of the Futenma Marine air base in Okinawa was surging from the southernmost region of Japan toward the mainland, so there was interest in knowing the situation around the base in Misawa, at the northern tip of Honshu.

But the Misawa they observed was the very picture of tranquility. The roar of jet fighters shook the air just as it does in Okinawa, but everywhere they went, the citizens they met had only positive things to say about the base.

Hearing these restrained, pro-base comments was something of a culture shock to the members of the group, who had previously only encountered the negative image that equates bases with sound pollution and crime.

Why were the citizens of Misawa so tolerant of the base? Didn’t it represent a burden? Queried by a succession of people from the lawyers’ group, Noodle House owner Sato Kazuo responded as follows:

“It’s important to understand that the origin of the base in Misawa is totally different from those in Okinawa. As I understand it, land in Okinawa was forcibly confiscated from residents by the American military, and the bases were built there. And that resulted in anti-base sentiments. But Misawa is the opposite. There was a base here that drew people to it, and that’s how the town formed. The base came first.”

Therefore…, he paused for a breath and seemed to firm his resolve: “We don’t say so openly, but I’d guess more than 90 percent of the citizens favor the status quo, they support the continued presence of the base.”

The reluctance to speak openly is due to the recent flood of reports on television and in newspapers of opposition to American bases, sparked by the Futenma controversy. In that context, the people of Misawa don’t want to be misunderstood as “base-lovers.”

The base is a sensitive issue to the local citizens. This is partly a consequence of how deeply and complexly the base is intertwined with the local economy. Of course, Sato hates the noise and the crimes of the American forces. But this is not enough to push him into opposing the base. The issue is not so black-and-white.

In fiscal 2008, the city of Misawa received ¥6.2 billion (then, approx. $60 million) in defense-related subsidies and grants. Leaving aside complicating factors, this amount represented about one third of the city’s annual budget. In addition, there’s the money that 10,000 military personnel and dependents spend in various ways. This is not an insignificant sum in a city of 40,000 people.

For this reason, Sato distrusts the Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ)-led government. Coming to power in the fall of 2009, the administration boasted it would move the Futenma base outside of Okinawa, but ended up accepting the status quo. This only served to agitate Okinawa, pouring oil on the flames of anti-base sentiment, Sato says.

This opinion is shared by a 47-year old man who lives in Misawa and works on the American base. The wages of base workers are covered by the “sympathy budget” that the 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?”

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.”….HERE IS MORE

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