[…] By contrast, many Okinawans view Washington and Tokyo as collaborators in a conspiracy to saddle them with environmental and social pollution, and potentially expose them to cataclysmic violence. They have become deeply resentful after 80 years of military occupation.
Although it was reclaimed by Japan in 1972, Okinawa still hosts more than 30 U.S. military bases, which equals 70% of all such facilities in the country. This means it is home to more than 25,000 U.S. soldiers — a little more than half of all such foreign troops stationed in the entire country. Almost 30 years ago, after the kidnapping and brutal rape of a 12-year-old girl by American service members, Okinawans overwhelmingly approved a non-binding referendum calling for a reduction in the U.S. military presence.
Washington responded to that massive pressure by signing an agreement to give up 12,000 acres of garrison land. But the 1996 pact, which hinged on the relocation of an air base from Ginowan to Henoko, went nowhere. Although Okinawans hated the original location of the Futenma Marine Base, always viewed as dangerous, especially after a U.S. transport helicopter crashed into a nearby college, they hated the new location at Camp Schwab even more. It will jeopardize a coral reef that sustains all kinds of fish as well as seagrass beds that provide habitat for an endangered marine mammal. Läs artikel