Japan Press Weekly

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2016 June 29 - July 5 [US FORCES]

USFJ on Facebook: it is ‘misperception’ that Okinawa hosts 74% of US bases in Japan

The Headquarters of U.S. Forces Japan on its Facebook page argued that 74% of U.S. military bases in Japan are said to be concentrated in Okinawa but this is a “misperception” or a “misrepresentation of the facts”.

The USFJ on June 23 created a post titled “USFJ Fact of the week” on its Facebook page. Starting with the assertion, “There is a common misperception about U.S. military bases in Japan,” the USFJ stressed, “It is often said that 75% or most of all American military facilities in Japan are located on Okinawa. This is a misrepresentation of the facts.”

The USFJ Facebook posting went on to state that Okinawa’s actual share of U.S. bases is 39% because mainland Japan hosts 52 U.S. bases while Okinawa hosts 33. This argument represents a simple comparison in the number of U.S. bases.

The Japanese government has been using the total area of U.S. military facilities as a comparison tool, not the total number. As of the end of March 2016, 74.48% of the total land area of U.S. installations in Japan are located in Okinawa, the Defense Ministry announced.

Asked about the U.S. military’s stance denying the Japanese government data at a press conference on June 28, Defense Minister Nakatani Gen said, “The USFJ just wants to point out that there are various ways to represent statistics, I suppose,” showing his intention not to take this matter seriously.

Past related article:
> JCP Ichida calls for peaceful Okinawa without US bases [May 15, 2012]