The Battle of Okinawa 2010: Japan-U.S. Relations at a Crossroad
The “Okinawa problem” has emerged as a crucial bone of contention, not only between the US and Japanese governments but between the people of Okinawa and both governments.
Resolving the China-Japan Conflict Over the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands
On September 7 Japanese patrol boats intercepted a Chinese fishing trawler near Kubashima, one of the Senkaku [Chinese: Diaoyu] Islands in the East China Sea.
American Base Town in Northern Japan
According to a 2006 report, 14 of the 38 most valuable large bases in the world are concentrated in Japan.
Rekindling China-Japan Conflict: The Senkaku/Diaoyutai Islands Clash
On September 7 an incident occurred in which a Chinese trawler tried to shake off a Japan Coast Guard patrol boat that pursued it to investigate illegal operations at sea fifteen kilometers from Kubajima of the Senkaku Islands of Okinawa prefecture.
The US-Japan ‘Alliance’, Okinawa, and Three Looming Elections
World attention through the early months of 2010 focused on the tiny hamlet of Henoko in Northern Okinawa as Prime Minister Hatoyama struggled to find a way to meet his (and the Democratic Party of Japan’s) electoral commitment to see that no substitute for the existing Futenma Marine Air Station be constructed in Okinawa.
The US-Japan Alliance Must Evolve: The Futenma Flip-Flop, the Hatoyama Failure and the Future
In the raging currents of world history, the framework of Cold War-style “alliance diplomacy” has reached its limit.
The New Face of U.S.-China Relations: “Strategic Reassurance” or Old-Fashioned Rollback
The Obama administration took office in 2009 determined to move beyond might-makes-right-makes-might unilateralism of the Bush years, and reassert America’s global influence as the most principled and powerful guarantor of rule-based multilateralism.
Anti-Base Movements in South Korea: Comparative Perspective on the Asia-Pacific
Recent scrutiny of U.S.-Japan base realignment and Okinawan anti-base opposition has overshadowed U.S. military issues in South Korea. As others have argued, the struggle in Okinawa represents only one facet of the larger global struggle against U.S. bases.
Making the Invisible Empire Visible
Mention “The Insular Empire” to the average American, and they’d likely have no idea what you were talking about. They probably still wouldn’t get it if you gave them another clue: “America in the Mariana Islands.” These are the title and subtitle of a new film by Vanessa Warheit, which began screening on PBS earlier this year.
Fortress Guam: Resistance to US Military Mega-Buildup
The Department of Defense plans to relocate 8,600 Marines from Okinawa (Japan) to Guam, provide additional live-fire training sites, expand Andersen Air Force Base, create berthing for a nuclear aircraft carrier, and erect a missile defense system on the island.
Marines Go Home: Anti-Base Activism in Okinawa, Japan and Korea
The U.S. military’s Kooni Firing Range in the South Korean village of Maehyang-ri was closed in 2005, following a concerted effort by anti-base activists. Kageyama Asako discusses the lessons from Maehyang-re in the context of the Futenma relocation debate that is at the heart of current US-Japan conflict.
The Travails of a Client State: An Okinawan Angle on the 50th Anniversary of the US-Japan Security Treaty
For a country in which ultra-nationalism was for so long a problem, the weakness of nationalism in contemporary Japan is puzzling.
South Korea’s Embattled Truth and Reconciliation Commission
An interview with Kim Dong-choon, recently retired Standing Commissioner of South Korea’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.