Okinawa Affirmative Extensions: Advantage I (A) Page 1 of 4

___. Prostitution is rampant on Okinawa due to the US base, even though prostitution is illegal in
Japan.

WFGS 2007 (Women for Genuine Security) "Okinawa: Effects of long-term US Military
presence" http://www.genuinesecurity.org/partners/report/Okinawa.pdf 7/11/10
In the past, as many as one in thirty Okinawan women were employed as prostituted women for
the U.S. military in "A sign" bars. Entertainment districts were built close to military bases
immediately after the war. In some cases U.S. military authorities returned land taken for bases
to Okinawan planners for purposes of building entertainment areas. In 1969, at the height of the
U.S. War against Vietnam, the Okinawan police estimated that 7,362 Okinawan women were
working in prostitution though others estimated this number to be 10,000 or more. Before
reversion in1972, the discussion of an anti-prostitution law was brought up in the Okinawan
government assembly on two separate occasions, but nothing was done because of the large
economic benefit contributed by these women--larger than the agricultural industry (pineapple
and sugarcane combined). The women were coerced into prostitution through economic
hardship, given the lack of meaningful alternatives. Although counted as part of the underground
economy, their wages made a significant contribution to the Okinawan economy. Today, some
7,000 Filipinas (and the number may be much higher), whose home economy is far weaker than
that of Japan, are the prostituted women--on entertainment visas--for U.S. military personnel in
Okinawa, even though prostitution is illegal in Japan.
Okinawa Affirmative Extensions: Advantage I (A) Page 2 of 4

___. The Statistics are irrelevant; it is a question of Japanese perception

Dean February 3rd, 2010 Geoff Dean - American who has lived in Japan for 20 years "Crime
and the US Military in Okinawa" The SOP http://thesop.org/story/world/2010/02/03/crime-and-
the-us-military-in-okinawa.php 7/11/10
Still, trumping all of these concerns, surely, is the emotional issue of "military crime". Rightly or
wrongly (and surely there is some xenophobia involved), Okinawans feel they are under seige
from a "crime wave" by US military personnel. And that, due to the SOFA Agreement (which
the Hatoyama government seeks to change), military personnel are frequently returned to their
base for trial/extradition to the US after a crime as opposed to being tried under Japanese law,
which again, rightly or wrongly, seems to suggest to some that US military criminals get off
easy. Statistically, crimes committed by the US military are not more than those of the general
Okinawan public but the nature of the crimes and especially the way they are played up in the
media makes them seem most sensational. When a recent case of hit and run charged to a
military member in Okinawa was discussed in the Japanese media, previous cases of US military
members involved in crime in Okinawa, were invariably listed. Dramatic background music was
played (Japanese news stories often have background music that dramatizes and emotionalizes
the story). The case of the 1995 rape of a school girl by three US servicemen based in Okinawa
was brought up again and again, with interviews of the victim`s family, her teachers, and local
residents, even though it had no direct connection to the hit and run case. It served to reinforce
the feeling that US Military Bases, especially in Okinawa, are hotbeds of crime. Perhaps,
whether that is statistically true or not, is besides the point. I have visited Okinawa only once
(and had to bypass two bases to get to my hotel) but I have had some experience with US
Military personnel at Camp Fuji in central Japan. When I took a bus to and from a campsite near
the base of Mt. Fuji (one I have visited 6 or 7 times) with my family, there were always a few US
military members on the bus. While the rest of the bus was deathly silent (Japanese people do not
make noise on public transportation), the soldiers were invariably loud, cracking jokes in
English, and, to Japanese people at least, most intimidating. Once, a member ordered the bus
driver to stop where there was no bus stop so he could get off. The bus driver complied, even
though it was highly irregular. He was visibly shaken by the "confrontation" and cursed the
American (after he was gone). My point is that for Japanese people, the US Military seems a
menace rather than a protector. I`m sure that many members of the US Military are adapted to
Japanese culture and sensitive. But it only takes a few to set in stone the image that a)the military
are criminals and b)they get off easy. As long as the media reinforces this and the US Military
members do not do more to "combat" the impression, I fear the Futenma impasse may not be
truly settled for quite a long time.
Okinawa Affirmative Extensions: Advantage I (A) Page 3 of 4

___. Many Crimes go unreported

WFGS 2007 (Women for Genuine Security) "Okinawa: Effects of long-term US Military
presence" http://www.genuinesecurity.org/partners/report/Okinawa.pdf 7/11/10
The rape of this girl was reported worldwide, but most crimes by U.S. troops (including rape,
assault, and murder) are not. Official reports estimate more than 5,394 military crimes against
Okinawan people from 1972 to 2005, with 533 of them heinous crimes (1972-2004). Arrested
military personnel suspected of committing these crimes numbered 678. These crime figures are
a conservative estimate as many crimes are not reported, perhaps especially violence against
women. The bases are also associated with drug use and the spread of HIV/AIDS. Mixed-race
Amerasian children fathered by U.S. troops have often been abandoned by their fathers and
experience discrimination from local people.
___. Even minimal standards of decency and justice should compel us to close the Okinawa base.

Feifer 2000 George Feifer the author 0/Tennozan: The Battle of Okinawa and the Atomic Bomb
"The Rape of Okinawa" World Policy Journal, Vol. 17, No. 3 (Fall, 2000), pp. 33-40 JSTOR
7/12/10
The test for the fairness and decency we talk so much about is even simpler than asking what we
would want if we were in the Okinawans' shoes. It is to ask what they themselves want. That
should be followed by a genuine commitment to accommodating their reasonable wishes. Yes,
the national government in Tokyo clearly has legal sovereignty over the island - but could
Washington compel the people of, say, Oregon or Michigan to maintain an immense, unwelcome
military establishment on their best land? How long would Americans of any state tolerate that,
and how long would Congress persist? Yet ten years after the evaporation of the global
communist menace, the Pentagon still wants its outpost, and the Japanese government continues
to shunt the unwanted installations to the disposable land of the "little yokels," 900 miles to the
south. For Okinawans, the promised "peace dividend" remains unseen.
___. Okinawans feel dehumanized

The Japan Times: "Bad memories of U.S. bases linger" Thursday, April 29, 2010
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20100429f1.html
"I thought U.S. military people were here to protect Japanese citizens . . . I feel like I've been
betrayed," the 62-year-old Yamazaki said. "Some U.S. servicemen don't treat us as humans and
their mind-sets could be the same as those of some of the people who once were in Japan as part
of the U.S. Occupation army." Defense Ministry data show that 7,277 accidents and criminal
cases involving U.S. military personnel were reported in the five years through March 2009, of
which 6,180 occurred when the personnel were off-duty.
Okinawa Affirmative Extensions: Advantage I (A) Page 4 of 4

___. US Military crime is a big issue to the Japanese.

National Post, October '09
Natioanl Post, The Daily Telegraph, World Report, 08 October 2009, "Japan threatens to kick
out US troops", Published: 6:11PM BST 07 Oct 2009, Tokyo, LexisNexis Academic
<http://www.lexisnexis.com.ezproxy.cameron.edu/us/lnacademic/result s/doc view/d ocview.do?
do cLink
Ind=true&risb=21_T9727527985&format=GNBFI&sort=RELEVANCE&startDocNo=1&resu
ltsUrlKey=29_
T9727527989&cisb=22_T9727527988&treeMax=true&treeWidth=0&csi=10882&docNo=13>
Japan is threatening to ask U. S. troops based in Okinawa to leave the country amid growing
resentment over high crime rates. The new government is reviewing an agreement with
Washington on U. S. military facilities and keeping a campaign pledge to islanders who have
borne the brunt of the U. S. presence for more than 60 years. About 50,000 U. S. troops are
based in Japan, two thirds of them in Okinawa. Resentment against their presence has grown
after a series of crimes committed by service personnel. Katsuya Okada, the Japanese Foreign
Minister, said he wanted the troops to remain in Japan but the concentration on its most southerly
islands needed to be reduced.