We've apologized, and despite their military immunity the three suspects have been turned over to the Okinawan police. American authorities hope this will end the protest. It won't. At least not for long.
That's because to Okinawans this isn't about the rape, horrible though that was. It isn't even about the hundreds of other rape cases covered up and mishandled by the U.S. military in its 50 years in Okinawa. It isn't really about America at all.
So what is it about? It's about what it's always been about for Okinawa, or Ryukyu, as the natives call their homeland. It's about Japan, and sovereignty. That may seem contradictory to Americans who assume Okinawa is part of Japan. But that convenient fiction hides a thousand years of complex history.
Until it became a prefecture in 1879, the independent kingdom of Ryukyu had stronger ties to China than Japan. The wealthy kingdom, with its own language and a distinctive culture, had an active maritime trade. In 1609 a Japanese warlord invaded and seized Shuri Castle on Okinawa. After negotiations between Ryukyu kings and the Tokugawa Shoguns, a system of dual sovereignty was worked out. The Ryukyu kingdom remained independent, but it now owed loyalty and tribute to Japan rather than China. When Japan became a western-style nation state in 1869, such casual arrangements were no longer acceptable. The Ryukyu kingdom was annexed and renamed Okinawa after the largest of the islands.
The Japanese showed little interest in their new acquisition except as a bargaining chip. In the 1880s, they offered two of the islands to China in an effort to gain "most favored nation" status in that country. To add insult to injury, the offer was refused. In World War II, the Japanese used Okinawa and its civilian population as a last ditch bulwark against the Americans, a cynical military strategy that cost the lives of over a quarter of the population. In some cases, Okinawans were forced to commit suicide, or were simply killed outright by Japanese troops to prevent them from falling into enemy hands.
The final betrayal came after the war. The United States separated Okinawa from the rest of Japan and placed it under a puppet government that amounted to little more than martial law. Many Okinawans still feel that Japan not only acquiesced in their arrangement, but encouraged it as a way to concentrate American bases outside the main Japanese islands. That was certainly the result. The 125 islands that comprise Okinawa account for less than 1 percent of Japan's land mass, but contain 75 percent of all U.S. bases. The bases occupy roughly 20 percent of Okinawa, and many of them are located on the best farmland the islands possess. Once again, Okinawa has been sacrificed to save Japan.
The United States returned control of Okinawa to Japan in 1972, but under the terms of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty, the bases remain. Noise from the firing ranges is a constant irritant, and accidents from unexploded shells are a fact of life. Toxic wastes and other forms of pollution from military industries have destroyed much of the island's environment, and the rings of bars and brothels that surround the bases tear at the fabric of social life.
Not all Okinawa's problems are due to the military bases. Okinawans also blame the Japanese government for refusing to allow the decentralization and deregulation of international trade they feel is necessary for full economic recovery. Although the standard of living has improved markedly in the past twenty years, Okinawa remains the poorest of Japan's prefectures, and Okinawans who try to live elsewhere in Japan face discrimination in jobs and housing.
Still, the bases remain as a visible symbol of past insult, discrimination and exploitation, and each new incident awakens old hurts and hatreds. For many Okinawans, the rape of a single schoolgirl has come to represent the rape of an entire people over a long period of time. That's the last thing anyone needs at the moment. Japan and Okinawa are slowly hammering out a compromise that would preserve Okinawa's ties to Japan while allowing it greater independence in international trade and diplomacy. This is a time for burying hatchets, not unearthing them.
The United States should close the military bases in Okinawa. With the ending of the Cold War and Japan's greater military presence in Asia, they are no longer necessary. They are expensive for us and damaging to the Okinawans. When President Clinton and Prime Minister Murayama meet in November, they should consider Okinawa's best interests for a change.