[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL: Okinawa 50 years later

[Lenny Siegel]

50 years on, Okinawa still saddled by U.S. military burden

By MIKA KUNIYOSHI
Asahi Shimbun (Japan)
May 14, 2022


NAHA--Okinawa this weekend will mark the 50th anniversary of its return to Japanese sovereignty, a bittersweet moment for the southernmost prefecture that still shoulders the bulk of the burden in hosting U.S. bases in Japan.

The May 15, 1972, handover ended 27 years of U.S. administration that was ushered in after U.S. forces emerged victorious in the 1945 Battle of Okinawa, which saw some of the bloodiest fighting in the Pacific War.

Although Okinawa only accounts for 0.6 percent of Japan’s total land area, it hosts about 70 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan.

Over the past half century, land on the main islands used by the U.S. military has been returned at a vastly faster pace than in Okinawa. The difference is stark: 60 percent versus 30 percent.

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For the entire article, see
https://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/14621078
	
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Lenny Siegel
Executive Director
Center for Public Environmental Oversight
A project of the Pacific Studies Center
LSiegel at cpeo.org
P.O. Box 998, Mountain View, CA 94042
Voice/Fax: 650-961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org
Author: DISTURBING THE WAR: The Inside Story of the Movement to Get Stanford University out of Southeast Asia - 1965–1975 (See http://a3mreunion.org)