The 1996 Okinawa referendum on U.S. Base reductions: One question, several answers

Asian Survey

Volumn 37, Issue 10, 1997, Pages 879-904

  Eldridge, Robert D ^a,b  

^a KOBE UNIVERSITY   (Japan)

^b UNIVERSITY OF THE RYUKYUS   (Japan)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0343823247     PISSN: 00044687     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.2307/2645611     Document Type: Article

References (50)

1. As translated by the writer. The question in die Japanese original was asked in the following manner: Nichibei chii kyotei no minaoshi to kennai no beijun no seiri shukusho ni tsuite." The question's phrasing generated a great deal of confusion, as well as argument and criticism, as will be discussed below.
2. In exact figures, out of 909,832 eligible voters, 541,638 votes were cast (of which 12,868 were invalid). The remaining 368,194 eligible voters were abstainers (kikensha). See Okinawa Prefecturel Government, Kenmin Tohyo no Kekka [Results of the referendum], 〈http:// www.okinawa.ttc.co.jp/resultvote.html〉, January 1997.
3. To date, the only academic look at the Okinawa vote in the context of local referendums has been that undertaken by Tokyo Shisei Chosakai [Tokyo institute for municipal research] on the plebiscites in Okinawa and Maki, Niigata Prefecture. See Tokyo Shisei Chosakai, "Tokushu: Kensho Jumin Tohyo" [Feature: Actualities of two referendums in Maki and Okinawa], Toshi Mondai [Municipal problems] 88:2 (February 1997).
4. Friction arose over the implementation of Article 17 of the SOFA, which prevented the three suspects from being turned over to Japanese authorities until they were indicted. The prefectoral government subsequently requested that the article be revised to allow Japanese authorities to take U.S. military suspects into custody.
5. Personal interview with Arime Masao, chairman, Council to Protect the Constitution from the Unlawful Use of Land for Military Purposes (Okinawa Gunyochi Iken Sosho Shien Kenmin Kyoto Kaigi), Okinawa City, Okinawa, February 6, 1997. Approximately 75% of U.S. military facilities in Japan are in Okinawa, a prefecture whose area amounts to only 0.6% of Japan's total. Since Okinawa's 1972 reversion to Japan, U.S. military facilities on Japan's main four islands have been reduced approximately 60% (from 19,600 to 7,900 hectares), while those on Okinawa have gone down only 14% (from 27,800 to 24,306 hectares).
6. Personal interview with Kakazu Noriaki, Naha, Okinawa, February 7, 1997.
7. Personal interview with Nishida Kenjiro, Naha, Okinawa, February 7, 1997.
8. Okinawa Mondai Henshu Iinkai [Okinawa problem editorial board], Saikosai Jokoku Kikyaku [Dismissal of the final appeal to the Supreme Court] (Tokyo: Rimu sha, 1996).
9. Nishida interview, February 7, 1997.
10. Interview with Toguchi Masahiro, Naha, Okinawa, February 6, 1997.
11. Ibid.
12. Ibid. One of the principal criticisms of the referendum concerns exactly this point of the "true feelings of the Okinawan people." As is examined below, Rengo Okinawa's 48,000 members were mobilized for the signature drive. Thus, as one of the criticisms of the referendum goes, the necessary number of signatures was obtainable within the organization itself and so "ordinary citizens" not connected with the union were not numerically and technically necessary for the signature drive.
13. Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, Heisei 8-nen dai 3 kai Okinawa Kengikai (Rinjikai) Kaigiroku [Proceedings from the special session of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly], Naha, Okinawa, May 20, 1996. See also, "Gov. Ota Proposes Okinawa Plebiscite on Future of Bases," Japan Times, May 21, 1996.
14. Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, Heisei 8-nen dai 3 kai Okinawa Kengikai (Rinjikai) Kaigiroku [Proceedings from the special session of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly], Naha, Okinawa, May 20, 1996. See also, "Gov. Ota Proposes Okinawa Plebiscite on Future of Bases," Japan Times, May 21, 1996.
15. See, for example, ibid.
16. "Election Campaigning Starts Up in Okinawa," ibid., June 1, 1996. The prefecture's Base Return Action Proposal was announced in January 1996. It calls for all 41 U.S. military facilities to be removed from Okinawa over three stages, ending in the year 2015. See Military Base Affairs Office, Base Return Action Program (Naha: Okinawa Prefectural Government, January 1996).
17. "Election Campaigning Starts Up in Okinawa," ibid., June 1, 1996. The prefecture's Base Return Action Proposal was announced in January 1996. It calls for all 41 U.S. military facilities to be removed from Okinawa over three stages, ending in the year 2015. See Military Base Affairs Office, Base Return Action Program (Naha: Okinawa Prefectural Government, January 1996).
18. "Antibases Faction Gains Okinawa Assembly Seats," Japan Times, June 11, 1996.
19. "Kenmin no Ishi Apiiru" [Appeal of the people of the prefecture], Ryukyu Shimpo, June 14, 1996 (evening edition).
20. Shugiin Senkyo o Hikaeta Kennai Yukensha no Seiji Ishiki Chosa [Survey of political consciousness of the prefecture before Lower House elections], conducted December 2-4 and 9-11, 1995. One thousand people were selected randomly out of the prefecture's 810,000 eligible voters, 570 of whom agreed to be interviewed.
21. "(Abridged) Text of Policy Accord Reached by Coalition," Japan Times, January 9, 1996. Two committees are mentioned in the text. The first is the bilateral Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO), established November 2, 1995, after a meeting of the Japanese and U.S. foreign ministers. The second is the Council on Problems Relating to U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa (Okinawa Beigun Kichi Mondai Kyogikai), a joint prefecture-central government body that first met on November 26, 1995.
22. "(Abridged) Text of Policy Accord Reached by Coalition," Japan Times, January 9, 1996. Two committees are mentioned in the text. The first is the bilateral Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO), established November 2, 1995, after a meeting of the Japanese and U.S. foreign ministers. The second is the Council on Problems Relating to U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa (Okinawa Beigun Kichi Mondai Kyogikai), a joint prefecture-central government body that first met on November 26, 1995.
23. Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, Heisei 8-nen dai 4 kai Okinawa Kengikai (Rinjikai) Kaigiroku [Proceedings from the special session of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly], Naha, Okinawa, June 21, 1996, pp. 12-17.
24. Shimabukuro Jun, "Okinawa Kenmin Tohyo ni okeru Seiji Katei" [Political process in the Okinawa prefectural plebiscite], Toshi Mondai 89:2 (February 1997), p. 6.
25. "Okinawa Assembly Votes to Hold Bases Referendum," Japan Times, June 22, 1996.
26. Uehara Takashi, "Kenmin Tohyo ni okeru Joho Teikyo" [Public relations toward the referendum: The case of Okinawa Prefecture], Toshi Mondai 88:2 (February 1997), pp. 48-50. Also, personal interview with Nakandari Shigemasa, Okinawa Prefecture Military Base Affairs Office, Naha, February 12, 1997.
27. "Kichi no Yumu de Kanshin ni Sa" [Difference in interests lies in whether there is a base or not (nearby)], Ryukyu Shimpo, August 22, 1996.
28. "Okinawans Urged to Vote on Base Issue," Japan Times, August 30, 1996.
29. "LDP Calls for Boycott of Okinawa Poll," ibid., August 27, 1996; Nishida interview, February 7, 1997; and " A Rare Chance to Be Heard: Will Anyone Listen?" ibid., September 9, 1996. Toguchi, Nishida's archrival in this debate, countered in a personal interview that a plebiscite is the ultimate form of democracy, particularly on issues of vital importance, in which each individual's voice is carried.
30. "LDP Calls for Boycott of Okinawa Poll," ibid., August 27, 1996; Nishida interview, February 7, 1997; and "A Rare Chance to Be Heard: Will Anyone Listen?" ibid., September 9, 1996. Toguchi, Nishida's archrival in this debate, countered in a personal interview that a plebiscite is the ultimate form of democracy, particularly on issues of vital importance, in which each individual's voice is carried.
31. "Okinawa Poll 'meaningless': GSDF Officer," ibid., August 29, 1996; and personal interviews with Toma Tsuguo, deputy mayor of Naha, and Miyazato Senri, director of the Peace and International Exchange Office of the Mayor, Naha, Okinawa, January 30, 1997.
32. Interview and correspondence with Isa Shinichiro, February and April 1997.
33. Nishimura Kunio, "Okinawa: Where to Now?" Look Japan, November 1996, p. 6.
34. "A Rare Chance to be Heard."
35. Shiohira Yoshikazu, "Okinawa - Kenmin Tohyo, Sono Go" [The Okinawa prefectural referendum and after], Toshi Mondai 88:2 (February 1997), pp. 71-72.
36. See Okinawa Prefecturel Government, Saiko Saibansho Daihotei ni okeru Ota Chiji no Iken Chinjutsu [Summary of appellant's statement], 〈http://www.okinawa.ttc.co.jp/resultvote. html〉, January 1997.
37. Toguchi interview, February 6, 1997.
38. "Top Court Sets Aug. 28 Ruling on Base Leases," Japan Times, July 26, 1996.
39. There were several attempts to break the impasse between the central government and Okinawa in summer 1996, including the establishment of several special committees to study the economic problems facing Okinawa. For discussions of these attempts and groups, see Shimada Haruo, "Okinawa Kenmin - Kusa no Ne no Koe o Kike" [Hear the grassroots voices of Okinawa], Chuo Koron (May 1997), pp. 60-69; and Okamoto Yukio, "A Three-Point Plan for Okinawa," Look Japan 42:488 (November 1996). Okamoto was a former Foreign Ministry official who was appointed special assistant to the prime minister on Okinawa. Finally, see "Okinawa Mondai Kyushinten Misshi no Jogen de 'Kakugi Kettei'" [Rapid development of the Okinawa problem: Advice of secret envoy brings about cabinet statement], Mainichi Shimbun, September 11, 1996, on the role special envoy Shimokobe Jun played in bringing together Hashimoto and Ota, who initially viewed one another with suspicion.
40. There were several attempts to break the impasse between the central government and Okinawa in summer 1996, including the establishment of several special committees to study the economic problems facing Okinawa. For discussions of these attempts and groups, see Shimada Haruo, "Okinawa Kenmin - Kusa no Ne no Koe o Kike" [Hear the grassroots voices of Okinawa], Chuo Koron (May 1997), pp. 60-69; and Okamoto Yukio, "A Three-Point Plan for Okinawa," Look Japan 42:488 (November 1996). Okamoto was a former Foreign Ministry official who was appointed special assistant to the prime minister on Okinawa. Finally, see "Okinawa Mondai Kyushinten Misshi no Jogen de 'Kakugi Kettei'" [Rapid development of the Okinawa problem: Advice of secret envoy brings about cabinet statement], Mainichi Shimbun, September 11, 1996, on the role special envoy Shimokobe Jun played in bringing together Hashimoto and Ota, who initially viewed one another with suspicion.
41. There were several attempts to break the impasse between the central government and Okinawa in summer 1996, including the establishment of several special committees to study the economic problems facing Okinawa. For discussions of these attempts and groups, see Shimada Haruo, "Okinawa Kenmin - Kusa no Ne no Koe o Kike" [Hear the grassroots voices of Okinawa], Chuo Koron (May 1997), pp. 60-69; and Okamoto Yukio, "A Three-Point Plan for Okinawa," Look Japan 42:488 (November 1996). Okamoto was a former Foreign Ministry official who was appointed special assistant to the prime minister on Okinawa. Finally, see "Okinawa Mondai Kyushinten Misshi no Jogen de 'Kakugi Kettei'" [Rapid development of the Okinawa problem: Advice of secret envoy brings about cabinet statement], Mainichi Shimbun, September 11, 1996, on the role special envoy Shimokobe Jun played in bringing together Hashimoto and Ota, who initially viewed one another with suspicion.
42. "Kato Koichi - Seiji Muki Denai, Kizu Darake no Eriito" [Kato Koichi - Not cut out for politics, a scar-covered elite one], AERA 15 (April 7, 1997), pp. 20-23; and "Kato Sorry for Inaction on Bases in Okinawa," Japan Times, August 26, 1996.
43. "Kato Koichi - Seiji Muki Denai, Kizu Darake no Eriito" [Kato Koichi - Not cut out for politics, a scar-covered elite one], AERA 15 (April 7, 1997), pp. 20-23; and "Kato Sorry for Inaction on Bases in Okinawa," Japan Times, August 26, 1996.
44. Nishida interview, February 7, 1997. Nishida said what be meant was a call for the LDP and its supporters to take a stance "between boycotting and cool indifference."
45. "Ota Pledges to Cooperate on U.S. Base Issue," Japan Times, September 12, 1996.
46. "Okinawans Confused About Ota's Turnabout," Japan Times, September 14, 1996.
47. Shiohira, "Okinawa - Kenmin tohyo, sono go," p. 76.
48. Nishimura, "Okinawa: Where to Now?"
49. Cited in Shiohira, "Okinawa - Kenmin tohyo, sono go," p. 73.
50. Personal interview with Miki Ken, Naha, Okinawa, January 30, 1997.