What is the Okinawa military base issue?
US military bases in Japan, particularly Okinawa, are a legacy of World War II. The US military paid a huge price in blood to take the island and feels a sense of semi-ownership. Okinawa was not officially returned to Japanese sovereignty until 1972. After often being treated as second-class citizens under Japanese rule prior to the war, Okinawans suffered terribly during the war and afterward have borne a disproportionate share of the US military presence in Japan, with US bases covering about 20 percent of Okinawa’s territory. Pressure to help relieve this burden resulted in an agreement between the US and Japanese governments to move the US Futenma base to a less congested part of the island. Many Okinawan activists, however, want the base closed and not replaced anywhere on the island. This has resulted in a long stalemate among anti-base Okinawans, the Japanese central government that wants US bases but prefers to keep as many as possible outside of the main islands, and the US government that expects Tokyo to fulfill the agreement for a new replacement base on Okinawa.
