Discriminatory attitude toward Okinawans should be corrected

要約

The alleged rape on Oct. 16 of an Okinawan woman by two U.S. servicemen outside her apartment building in the city of Okinawa has stoked great anger among the prefecture’s residents. Adding insult to injury, Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto and Vice Foreign Minister Shuji Kira made insensitive remarks about the case that have deepened Okinawan resentment and animosity toward the central government.

The use of the word “accident” by Mr. Morimoto and Mr. Kira to refer to the alleged rape has reinforced a sentiment all too common among Okinawans that the central government has long had a discriminatory attitude toward Okinawa, and that it doesn’t take seriously the heavy burden that Okinawans are forced to shoulder due to the large U.S. military presence in the prefecture.

Asked Oct. 17 by reporters about his view of the alleged rape, Defense Minister Morimoto said, “It is an extremely serious and grave accident.” In a separate occasion Oct. 19 — after he asked U.S. Ambassador John V. Roos to take measures to prevent the occurrence of similar crimes by U.S. servicemen — Mr. Morimoto used the word “accident” four times, including a remark that Japan and the United States will closely cooperate to eradicate this kind of “accident,” according to the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper. On Oct. 18, Vice Foreign Minister Kira said, “The accident this time is something that should never happen.”

Their remarks are also callous in view of the fact that the Okinawan police reported 127 rape and attempted rape cases involving U.S. servicemen from Okinawa’s reversion to Japan in 1972 to the end of 2011, and that U.S. servicemen committed 5,747 crimes in the same period.

Tokyo and Washington should take seriously the fact that a resolution adopted by the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Oct. 22 notes in part that the alleged rape following on the heels of the deployment of Osprey tiltrotor aircraft has led some Okinawans to call for the complete withdrawal of U.S. military facilities from their prefecture.

The government must stop treating Okinawans like a people under military occupation, and address their concerns in a sincere and fair manner.

日本語の抄訳はウィークリ11月10日号のP18に掲載されています。