The Asia-Pacific Journal | Japan Focus Volume 13 | Issue 9 | Number 1 | Article ID 4819 | Mar 02, 2015

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On Okinawa, U.S. Marines raise tensions with accusations andarrests of peace campaigners

Jon Mitchell

As the Japanese government intensifies itscrackdown versus demonstrators blockingconstruction of a new Pentagon base onOkinawa, the United States Marine Corps haswaded into the fray with a series of accusationsagainst activists - followed by the arrest of twopeace campaigners.

Between January and February, three seniorUSMC officials accused anti-base campaignersof "hate speech", "mob rule" and "fakinginjuries" while on February 22, base securityguards seized two demonstrators - only to seethem released the next day.

Senior USMC officials' accusations

1. Robert Eldridge, Deputy Assistant Chief ofStaff of Government and External Affairs forthe USMC

On January 8, Robert Eldridge, a formeruniversity professor, appeared on a Japaneseneo-nationalist TV network where he brandedOkinawan demonstrations "hate speech".

Eldridge on Channel Sakura, Jan. 8

Eldridge made the comments in Japaneseduring a show on the Okinawa branch ofChannel Sakura. While discussing what hecalled the unpleasant experiences encounteredby some Americans on Okinawa, he explainedto the presenter, "As you know, near Futenmathere are people (committing) many kinds ofhate speech."

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Eldridge's comments apparently targetedresidents engaged in demonstrations againstthe unpopular Marine Corps installation inGinowan City, a base that the US has pledgedto close since 1996.

Channel Sakura, which styles itself a Japaneseculture channel, is infamous for its glorificationof Japan's role in World War II and for airingshows that deny the Japanese military forcedKorean women into sexual slavery. In 2007, itsfounder, Mizushima Satoru, directed the movie"The Truth About Nanjing," which labeled the1937-38 massacre - in which, according toJapanese and international historians, tens ofthousands of Chinese were ki l led - afabrication.

Eldridge also appeared on Channel Sakura lastSeptember.

Further suggesting close ties between theUSMC and the Japanese neo-nationalistnetwork, last December, a Channel Sakura TVhost appeared on the Pentagon's own AFNradio show. Eldridge was also on the sameprogram.

Channel Sakura TV host and Eldridge on AFNOkinawa.

Neither United States Forces Japan norEldridge responded to requests to confirm whohad authorized the appearance on ChannelSakura.

Further escalating tensions, on February 9,Eldridge posted a series of comments on thewebsite of The Japan Times accusing Okinawandemonstrators of "mob rule" and claiming therehad been "many physical attacks on Americans"by protestors.

Sato Manabu, a professor of political science atOkinawa International University, criticizedEldridge's comments. "When the weak protestagainst the strong, that does not constitute'hate speech' - no matter how painful thetruth sounds to the ears of the U.S. military. Byappearing on such a TV network, the USMC isruining the little good will Okinawa people holdtoward it."

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2. Captain Caleb D. Eames, Deputy PublicAffairs Off icer for the Marine CorpsInstallations Pacific

On January 22, Captain Caleb D. Eames,Deputy Public Affairs Officer for the MarineCorps Insta l lat ions Paci f ic , l ikeneddemonstrators injured in clashes with theauthorities to play-acting professionalfootballers - claiming that "the attempt toappear injured is laughable when you see it inperson."

Eames singled out for criticism what hedescribed as demonstrators "lying on the road,holding onto a moving vehicle, and beingdragged by their own choice, then claimingthat they were scraped while in a peaceprotest."

In a January 22 email, Eames also accusedHenoko demonstrators of "jabbing Americanemployees with sticks" and "yelling Englishprofanity and curse words" at his children.

Contacted to provide an opportunity to clarifyhis accusations, Eames replied that he hadi n t e n d e d h i s c o m m e n t s t o r e f e r t odemonstrators outside MCAS Futenma - notHenoko; however he failed to elaborate on thefaked injuries or assaults which he alleges tookplace. Nor did he retract his comment that theinjuries to demonstrators were "laughable".

Eames claimed that his original comments were"simply sharing personal observations aboutsituations I have experienced and viewedaround Futenma, not Henoko." He added, thatthey were not "an of f ic ia l statement

representing official views of the Marine Corpsor any other organization."

Eames's comments were reported on the frontpages of both Okinawan daily newspapers, themainland Asahi Shimbun and the nightly TVnews. On February 26, demonstrators staged aprotest outside the U.S. consulate on Okinawain which they called Eames's comments"discriminatory" and "unforgivable".

U.S. consulate demonstrators' Feb. 26 demands

On February 14, Ryukyu Shimpo rebukedUSMC officials in an editorial titled, US MarineCorps officials' insulting remarks: It is time toleave.

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Okinawans were particularly angered byEames's suggestion that their injuries were"laughable."

According to Nago City's US Base AffairsSection, between last November and February4, 12 demonstrators were in jured inconfrontations with the police and Coast Guard- 5 of which were taken to hospital byambulance. Injuries verified by Nago Cityinclude a man whose rib was broken when hewas shoved in the chest by a member of theCoast Guard on January 16 and a 49 year-oldman injured by the riot police on January 23who was left with injuries to his hand requiringa month to recover.

Japanese Coast Guard monitoring media atHenoko

On Henoko Bay, the government hasestablished a temporary exclusion zone markedwith orange buoys and enforced by dozens ofCoast Guard speedboats. Members of the CoastGuard immediately board any vessels enteringthe zone and, in the case of canoes, theyforcibly drag their occupants onto governmentboats.

During one such incident last September -available to view here - a member of the CoastGuard is seen grabbing a canoeist by his throatand screaming into his face. The treatment leftthe demonstrator with injuries to his neckwhich required two weeks recovery time.

"The Japanese constitution allows us the rightto peaceful protest. But (the Coast Guard)grabbed the young man and started screamingin his face. We worried he was going to killhim," Miyagi Chie, the resident who took thevideo told The Japan Times.

The Coast Guard has repeatedly targetedmembers of the media attempting to film itsconfrontations with demonstrators. Last month,the Coast Guard dragged a boat carryingjournalists from the area. Then on January 20, aCoast Guard member seized documentary film-maker Kageyama Asako in a leg-lock andapparently tried to seize her camera.

Although the incident was caught on film bylocal media, the Coast Guard issued astatement in which it explained its member wasmerely attempting to pass Kageyama on hisway to the back of the boat. It later accused theOkinawan media of incorrect reporting of thematter.

On February 2, the Coast Guard introduced anew - and potentially lethal - tactic. Accordingto reports verified by Nago City, after detaining8 canoeists in shallow coastal waters, the CoastGuard took them more than four kilometres

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from land where it released them - forcingthem to paddle back to the shore. It repeatedthe tactic on February 3, capturing 19canoeists then releasing them into rough seas 4kilometres from shore.

Henoko on the edge

Given this well-documented catalogue of CoastGuard and Marine provocations and injuries,accusations of fakery infuriated manyprotesters and Okinawan citizens.

"Almost everyday, demonstrators are beinginjured on land and sea. Bloodied heads andbroken bones. These are not the kind of injuriespeople can fake," said Shimabukuro Fumiko,85.

Shimabukuro: "Come and call me a liar to myface."

On November 20 last year, Shimabukuro - asurvivor of the Battle of Okinawa - wasknocked unconscious while attempting to blocka construction truck entering the new base site.According to Shimabukuro and others on thescene, as she was holding the side mirror of thestationary vehicle, three riot police officerstightly encircled her, unpeeled her fingers andthen, in a tactic which demonstrators say iscommon, they simultaneously stepped backcausing Shimabukuro to fall to the ground.

Knocked out, Shimabukuro was rushed to alocal hospital and she says the injury has lefther unable to sleep or stand without pain.

Af ter hear ing Eames 's accusat ions ,Shimabukuro threw down the gauntlet to theUSMC.

"Before you say we Okinawans are pretendingto be injured, come to Henoko and see

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conditions with your own eyes. If you want tocall me a liar then please come here and say itto my face."

3. Major Tim Kao, Camp Commander of theNorthern Training Area

The Yanbaru jungles in northern Okinawa areone of the most biodiverse areas in Japan andthey provide the island with the majority of itsdrinking water. The Yanbaru also hosts theUSMC Northern Training Area (NTA) where,since the 1950s, the Marines have beenconducting jungle war games - and, in the1960s, tests of Agent Orange.

Since 2007, residents of Takae district inHigashi village (bordering the NTA), have beenattempting to block construction of Pentagonhelipads which they believe will endanger theircommunity.

According to reports in the Okinawa media, onFebruary 5, Major Tim Kao, Camp Commanderof the NTA, accused demonstrators of beingpaid to be there.

Apparently, he also criticized Governor OnagaTakeshi as being supported by the island'scommunist party.

Kao made the comments in an interview with avisiting research student from StockholmUniversity.

Disparaging comments by U.S. officials onOkinawa are nothing new - for example, in2010, Kevin Maher, a State Department officialin charge of Japanese affairs, reportedlycriticized Okinawans for being "masters ofmanipulation and extortion." However, whatappears different this time is the lack ofapology or censure from these men's superiorofficers.

This suggests two things: the Japanesegovernment has exerted no pressure for anapology from the U.S. military because, in alllikelihood, it condones their comments.Secondly, the U.S. military in Japan - and inparticular the USMC - is becoming impatientwith, what they feel, is the lenient approachtaken by Japanese authorities towards peacefuldemonstrators.

This impatience came to a head on February22.

Tactical arrests on February 22

For the past 18 years, Okinawans havemaintained a sit-in demonstration on the shoreof Henoko Bay; since last summer they havealso built tents and held daily protests outsidethe gates of Camp Schwab. The largest of thesedemonstrations gather more than 2000 people -and even on weekdays, 100 or more peopleregularly attend.

Yamashiro Hiroji, the director of the OkinawaPeace Movement Center, is the most prominentfigure in these demonstrations outside CampSchwab. On site 24-hours a day, he leadschants, songs and organises food for the elderly

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demonstrators.

At around 9am on February 22, Yamashiro wasarrested by base security guards. Claiming hehad trespassed onto the base, they draggedhim by his feet into the installation and accusedhim of breaking the Special MeasuresConcerning Criminal Cases Act.

Witnesses, however, say he had been pulledover the base's border demarcation line by theguards - or at worst, he had stepped a couple ofpaces over the boundary.

Yamashiro - and one more demonstrator - werekept on the base for 4 hours before beingdriven to Nago City's police station.

Both men were released on February 23.

Upon being set free, Yamashiro told theassembled crowd of supporters, "I believe theyarrested us just to annoy the opponents of thebases."

Such arrests of Japanese citizens by basesecurity guards is unprecedented on Okinawa -and many are questioning upon whose ordersthe arrests were made.

On February 24, Asahi Shimbun reported,

A senior official of the Okinawa headquarters ofthe All Japan Garrison Forces Labor Union, anorganization consisting of Japanese working atU.S. bases, said the U.S. military likelyinstructed the security guards in advance to

detain protesters if they crossed the yellowline.

"It is impossible for guards to detain peoplebased on their own judgment," the official said.

The newspaper also quoted the demonstrators'lawyers who said: "It was an arrest targetingthe leader of the movement against therelocation (of the Futenma base). The action,aimed at intimidating the opposing group, wasextremely unfair."

Conclusion

Prior to these recent developments, the U.S.military on Okinawa had attempted to distanceitself from construction of the new base. Forinstance, it repeatedly referred to it as aJapanese government project and militaryofficials have refused to comment on Tokyobrutality against demonstrators - dismissingsuch violence as a domestic policing matter.

However these latest moves suggest thatcertain elements within the U.S. military arepressing for a more aggressive approach. Whathas prompted such a shift is not yet clear - butwhat is certain is that these moves havesharply escalated tensions between the militaryand the Okinawan communities which hostmore than half of U.S. forces in Japan.

Governor Onaga Takeshi, Nago Mayor InamineSusumu, and, according to polls, 80% ofOkinawans are against construction of the newU.S. base.

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Very likely, Pentagon accusations and arrestswill only serve to strengthen this solidarity.

Parts of this article were originally published inThe Japan Times in "Injuries to Okinawa anti-base protesters 'laughable,' says U.S. militaryspokesman" (Feb 9) and "In appearance on far-right TV, U.S. official calls Okinawa baseprotests 'hate speech'" (Feb 16).

Jon Mitchell is a Welsh journalist based inJapan. He is the author of Tsuiseki: Okinawa noKarehazai (Chasing Agent Orange on Okinawa)(Koubunken 2014) and a visiting researcher atthe International Peace Research Institute ofMeiji Gakuin University, Tokyo. Mitchell is anAsia-Pacific Journal contributing editor.

Asia-Pacific Journal articles on related themesinclude:

Herbert P. Bix, Remembering the KonoeMemorial: the Battle of Okinawa and ItsAftermath

C. Douglas Lummis, Okinawa: State ofEmergency

C. Douglas Lummis, The Bus to Henoko: RiotPolice and Okinawan Citizens Face-off overNew Marine Base