Tokyo Demo Against Futenma Relocation

[Midwinter]

You might be right, but all kinds of examples of the cops letting drivers with Y plates get away with piles of moving violations rather than the hassle of dealing with the military come to mind here. The few cops I have spoken to would rather not deal with military crime, and let everything possible slide. AFAIK, they gotta bring the SP/MP in on things if they take anyone in - and they are not exactly known to go the extra mile when they could be catching a few z's in the koban, or manning the crosswalks when school's out.

Point well made, I tap out to your obvious rightness.

[Mulboyne]

Here's Defence Minister Kitazawa meeting his US counterpart Robert Gates at the Department of Defence. Does the DoD have its own Starbucks or did she bring that in from outside? Is the DoD coffee in the centre of the table really so bad?

[Greji]

Is the DoD coffee in the centre of the table really so bad?

Yup! It'll grow hair on a billiard ball....

[Samurai_Jerk]

US military takes 1st step in relocation in Japan

Workers began placing buoys off Okinawa as part of a long-planned and highly contentious relocation of an American military base, which a U.S. official said Thursday was a critical step toward the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan.

The buoys define the area of construction on a facility in Henoko Bay that will house the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which will be relocated from a crowded residential area of Okinawa.

[yanpa]

Maybe they can construct the base on a bed of crashed Ospreys?

[matsuki]

Maybe they can construct the base on a bed of crashed Ospreys?

How many have actually gone down in Japan? (srsly)

[yanpa]

Maybe they can construct the base on a bed of crashed Ospreys?

How many have actually gone down in Japan? (srsly)

None. It does seem as if every single flight is reported in the news though...

[matsuki]

Maybe they can construct the base on a bed of crashed Ospreys?

How many have actually gone down in Japan? (srsly)

None. It does seem as if every single flight is reported in the news though...

LOL, with a record like that, I'd be livin in fear too..

[Russell]

Maybe they can construct the base on a bed of crashed Ospreys?

How many have actually gone down in Japan? (srsly)

None. It does seem as if every single flight is reported in the news though...

LOL, with a record like that, I'd be livin in fear too..

When trains were introduced in the Netherlands more than a century ago, some people also protested, because they claimed that it would scare cattle.

It's probably not the risk of crashing that upsets people, but rather the unconventional shape of the Osprey. For the Jiji's and Baba's it's better safe than sorry.

[matsuki]

Maybe they can construct the base on a bed of crashed Ospreys?

How many have actually gone down in Japan? (srsly)

None. It does seem as if every single flight is reported in the news though...

LOL, with a record like that, I'd be livin in fear too..

When trains were introduced in the Netherlands more than a century ago, some people also protested, because they claimed that it would scare cattle.

It's probably not the risk of crashing that upsets people, but rather the unconventional shape of the Osprey. For the Jiji's and Baba's it's better safe than sorry.

Hmmmm

“While it has long been said that Ospreys are defective aircraft, recent crashes like the one in Morocco and in Florida once again proved it,” said Seishin Hanasaki, 73, who attended the rally with his wife and neighbors.

“It’s very scary to think that such an accident-prone airplane will fly over our skies,” said his wife, Hatsuyo Hanasaki, 70.

sounds like you're right....oh so scary. Even the helicopter crash that is the original source of "scary" had zero casualties...

Japan is not ready for 2014

Richard Whittle, former Washington and Pentagon correspondent for The Dallas Morning News and author of “The Dream Machine: The Untold History of the Notorious V-22 Osprey,” said the Osprey has a bad reputation due to the crash record of the pre-2001 version of the aircraft, which was “designed, prototyped and tested with inadequate funds because of the politics of defense acquisition.”

Whittle, who covered the Osprey off and on for 22 years, said that ensuing crashes marred the Osprey’s reputation. It was later redesigned and retested, but the damage was already done.

[yanpa]

Were any F-104s ever stationed/used in Japan?

[matsuki]

Primary users:
United States Air Force
German Air Force
Japan Air Self-Defense Force
Turkish Air Force

[Mike Oxlong]

Most of what I've read suggests that the problem is generally one of maintenance. For example:

http://www.stripes.com/news/is-the-ospr ... d-1.181864
http://www.popularmechanics.com/technol ... ey-8036684

In terms of noise, they seem no worse than what they're replacing. A drop in the bucket really in the mix of jichikai announcements morning, noon, and night, election vans, recycle shop trucks, sweet potato vendors, construction projects, bosozoku, police/fire/ambulance, and many thousands of oldsters and youngsters on scooters with shot mufflers.

[matsuki]

So...it's a movement/bunch of noise over not much. I wish they could put this much passion into opposing insane kokunai government plans/projects rather than "shoganai" them and focus on the evil foreign menace.

[Coligny]

Do they plan on banning Boeing 777 too ? Because between the Osprey and the 777, I'd rather fly the Osprey...

[IparryU]

Do they plan on banning Boeing 777 too ? Because between the Osprey and the 777, I'd rather fly the Osprey...

Snot

[Mike Oxlong]

In appearance on far-right TV, U.S. official calls Okinawa base protests ‘hate speech’

In an appearance on a Japanese rightist TV network last month, a senior official with the U.S. military branded anti-base demonstrations in Okinawa as “hate speech.”

Robert Eldridge, deputy assistant chief of staff of government and external affairs for the U.S. Marine Corps, made the comments in Japanese during a show on the Okinawa branch of Channel Sakura on Jan. 8. While discussing what he called the unpleasant experiences encountered by some Americans in Okinawa, he explained to the presenter, “As you know, near Futenma there are people (committing) many kinds of hate speech.”

Eldridge’s comments were apparently aimed at residents engaged in demonstrations against the unpopular Futenma Marine Corps base in the city of Ginowan.

Channel Sakura, which styles itself a Japanese culture channel, is widely known for its glorification of Japan’s role in World War II and for airing shows that deny the Japanese military forced Korean women into sexual slavery. In 2007, its founder, Satoru Mizushima, directed the movie “The Truth About Nanjing,” which labeled the 1937-38 massacre — in which, according to mainstream historians, tens of thousands of Chinese were killed — a fabrication. Eldridge also appeared on Channel Sakura last September.

The U.S. Embassy referred requests for comment to U.S. Forces Japan. At the time of publication, neither USFJ nor Eldridge had responded to requests to confirm who had authorized the appearance on the TV network.

Manabu Sato, a professor in political science at Okinawa International University, criticized Eldridge’s comments.

“When the weak protest against the strong, that does not constitute ‘hate speech’ — no matter how painful the truth sounds to the ears of the U.S. military. By appearing on such a TV network, the USMC is ruining the little goodwill Okinawa people hold toward it.”

Eldridge’s accusations of hate speech are the latest in a recent string of gaffes from senior officials affiliated with the U.S. military in Okinawa. On Feb. 9, The Japan Times reported comments by Capt. Caleb Eames, deputy public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Installations Pacific, in which he accused demonstrators in Okinawa of faking their injuries in clashes with the police and Japan Coast Guard.

Eames later asserted that the comments were not an official statement.

Meanwhile, on Feb. 13, Japanese media reported that Maj. Tim Kao, the commander of Camp Gonsalves in northern Okinawa, had accused demonstrators in Okinawa of being “paid by the Communist Party.” The comments, which were apparently made on Feb. 5 to a visiting research student, angered local residents who have been attempting to block construction of Pentagon helipads in their community since 2007.

At a news conference Friday, Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga expressed his indignation at the comments by U.S. military officials. “They are very far from being good neighbors. I have serious doubts about what is at the root of such thinking,” he said.

http://www.japantimes.co.jp/community/2 ... OHAc8ZLfap

[Russell]

Members of the Marine Corps.

Sounds like the perfect choice to run PR on behalf of the US...

[wuchan]

jobless by june...

[matsuki]

I've been yelled at by those fucks as were the other FG (not even Americans and none of us are military) I was with...「くそ外人帰れ！」and the like. I guess you could call it "hate speech" but we literally had other Japanese walking by us, saying 「ごめんね」and「恥ずかしい」 so it was more effective to just ignore the nutters and that's probably what the military should be doing.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I've been yelled at by those fucks as were the other FG (not even Americans and none of us are military) I was with...「くそ外人帰れ！」and the like. I guess you could call it "hate speech" but we literally had other Japanese walking by us, saying 「ごめんね」and「恥ずかしい」 so it was more effective to just ignore the nutters and that's probably what the military should be doing.

Yeah, the way I read his comments I didn't see him claiming that the demonstrations were hate speech in and of themselves. However, he shouldn't be making statements that can so easily be understood (or twisted) to mean that.

[matsuki]

I've been yelled at by those fucks as were the other FG (not even Americans and none of us are military) I was with...「くそ外人帰れ！」and the like. I guess you could call it "hate speech" but we literally had other Japanese walking by us, saying 「ごめんね」and「恥ずかしい」 so it was more effective to just ignore the nutters and that's probably what the military should be doing.

Yeah, the way I read his comments I didn't see him claiming that the demonstrations were hate speech in and of themselves. However, he shouldn't be making statements that can so easily be understood (or twisted) to mean that.

Exactly...they are very easily (and likely to be) taken out of context and used against em. Meaningless news conferences over such minutia seem to be the staple of Okinawan politicians.

[inflames]

Might have another book to read (already read Kevin Maher's).

Honestly, the average Okinawan is really fucking whiny about this entire thing. They didn't whine about not being given independence, but instead whine about all the bases there (why don't they whine about independence? Because they get a ton of cash!). They have the same argument a lot of NIMBYs in the states have about airport expansion and shit - this would damage their quality of life or is dangerous (despite the fact that they built a school or bought homes near an existing major airport). At least the people in San Francisco and Maui don't care about money and have basically killed any development.

The really annoying people in Okinawa aren't people from Okinawa but people from the rest of Japan - last time I was there I had some old lady follow me around tell me about how sad Japanese child soldiers were. She finally fucked off when I told her it was sad that Japanese soldiers killed Okinawans during the war.

[Takechanpoo]

balloon terrorism in futenma

[Mike Oxlong]

22/2/2015

22/2/2015

[Russell]

Time that these people live under a Chinese government...

[inflames]

Yeah, the soldiers just fucking ran out and knocked over the dudes in front of a ton of people with cameras. Even in Japan, I have a hard time believing that (especially in front of that crowd).

They should be glad they're not foreigners being taken in by the J-cops, in which case it's guilty until confession tortured out of the foreigner (unless numerous Japanese people come forward to say the foreigner didn't do a thing).

[wuchan]

If I remember correctly, the base borders extend beyond the fence so that anyone tampering with the fence from the outside can be held accountable. The buffer zone is usually to the curb which means the sidewalk is part of the base in many cases.

For example, in this pic of the north side of the same base that the guy appears to be being dragged into, you can see that the fence is in the middle of the path. The borders of the base is at the tree line on the outside of the fence. There are signs all over the fucking place that says if you get caught tampering with the fence, you will be arrested or shot. Yes, shot.

[wuchan]

I found a little more information:

During the protest, three demonstrators were detained by Japanese security guards protecting the base, though one was later released

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/23/world/asia/marine-base-okinawa.html?_r=0

They should be glad they're not foreigners being taken in by the J-cops, in which case it's guilty until confession tortured out of the foreigner (unless numerous Japanese people come forward to say the foreigner didn't do a thing).

too bad for those guys:

The other two men, including an organizer, were turned over to the Japanese police,

[matsuki]

Sounds like they need to bring in the NYPD to settle things down