Japan Press Weekly

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2012 February 1 - 7 [OKINAWA]

Protests increase following Okinawa Defense Bureau’s meddling in mayoral election

Protests against the Okinawa Defense Bureau’s meddling in the upcoming Ginowan City mayoral election are increasing.

Okinawa Prefectural Assembly members from the Japanese Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Social Mass Party on February 1 visited the Okinawa Defense Bureau calling for an official apology, the dismissal of the ODB director Manabe Ro, and the replacement of Defense Minister Tanaka Naoki.

JCP Okinawa assembly member Maeda Masaaki said that the ODB director’s lecture regarding the mayoral election is tantamount to political action prohibited under the Self-Defense Forces Law. The statement left Manabe speechless.

On February 1, about 150 people gathered in front of the Diet building in a protest action. JCP Lower House member Miyamoto Takeshi explained the situation, saying, “The incident that provoked the protest clearly reveals how dutifully the Noda Cabinet follows U.S. orders regarding the new base construction.” Miyamoto called on rally participants to have the mayoral election to be held on February 12 an opportunity to put a stop to a new U.S. base in Okinawa.

The New Japan Women’s Association (Shinfujin) on the same day sent a letter of protest to the defense minister, calling for a thorough investigation into the matter and for the dismissals of the defense minister and the ODB director. The letter said that the ODB director’s action amounts to a violation of a government agency’s obligation to maintain neutrality and impartiality towards elections and goes against the ban on the use of positions of authority in elections. The letter also demands an immediate halt to the moves towards building a new U.S. base.

The Japan Peace Committee on the same day sent out a similar statement demanding that the ODB director be dismissed. The statement described the ODB director’s action as an outrageous affront to democracy by impeding the holding of a fair election.

The statement said that the ODB intervention clearly came from its intent to deploy Osprey aircraft to the Futenma base and to construct a new base at Henoko, to collect support for the candidate approved by the ODB.