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Is Japan's peace protected by U.S. forces?

Okinawans are enraged by Foreign Minister Machimura Nobutaka who stated, "Japan's peace is being protected by armed forces." Machimura was responding to a woman who as a victim of rape by a U.S. soldier wrote a letter to the Okinawa governor calling for the removal of U.S. military bases.

The foreign minister on July 15 arrogantly turned his criticism to the local mass media that had reported his remarks, saying that local media are "manipulating information for a particular purpose."

How many more victims will it take to accomplish base removal?

On July 9, the Okinawa Times reported on the letter sent to Okinawa Governor Inamine Keiichi from a woman who was raped by a U.S. soldier 21 years ago. The woman stated that she was shocked by the news of the molestation of a girl by a U.S. airman on July 3 and asked the governor, "How many more victims will be sufficient?"

According to the letter, she was raped when she was in her second year of high school. On her way home from school she was threatened with a knife, making her feel that she was about to die.

In the letter she said, "More than 20 years have passed and I still suffer from traumas of the incident. U.S. soldiers are walking around without restrictions as if they were the masters. As soldiers, they are learning how to kill people and are receiving training for combat against civilian populations. Governor Inamine, please dismantle the bases as soon as possible."

Foreign minister accuses media of misleading the public

Reading this letter at the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on July 13, a Social Democratic Party representative asked Foreign Minister Machimura for comment. Machimura said, "It is necessary to listen to the victims." However, he also stated, "Japan's peace and security owes to the presence of US. forces and the Japanese Self-Defense Forces."

Machimura's reply trampled underfoot the keen request from the victimized woman who gathered her courage to speak out.

A July 14 Okinawa Times report was headlined: The foreign minister chastises courageous victim. On the following day, the Ryukyu Shimpo reported that the woman said it was heart-wrenching to read Machimura's remark. "I felt as if I had been killed a second time."

The foreign minister's remark on July 15 was in reply to this newspaper report.

At the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee meeting on the same day, Machimura said, "I didn't mean to preach to the victim to support the notion that the presence of U.S. forces in Okinawa secures peace." But on the other hand, he said that the victim may have misunderstood his statement as reported by the local newspapers. "I think these newspaper reports lack balanced approaches," he added.

The woman's appeal was aimed to reveal the fact that Okinawa's peace and people's lives are being threatened by U.S. forces instead of being secured.

All this is proof that the government does not care for Okinawans who for 60 years have been suffering and are repulsed by the existence of the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and the U.S. Forces in Japan. -- Akahata, July 16, 2005