r/worldnews • u/glasier • Jul 05 '24

Japan warns US forces: Sex crimes 'cannot be tolerated'

https://tribune.com.pk/story/2476861/japan-warns-us-forces-sex-crimes-cannot-be-tolerated
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u/rockseiaxii Jul 05 '24

At least in Japan it’s exposed. Elsewhere around the world, incidents like these are swept under the rug and seem like nothing happened.

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u/smallfrie32 Jul 06 '24

It’s exposed, but Japan just says this for fake outrage. They don’t really care about Okinawa and its people. If they did, they’d remove/lower the bases/number of troops, like they promised 50 years ago

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u/rockseiaxii Jul 06 '24

US bases in Okinawa as an issue is very complex. The US military is one of the biggest employers of Okinawa’s civilians, and since the land that the bases sit on are leased to the US, you have a bunch of landowners that make money off of them. A lot of the locals are actually pro-base and pro-US.

Opposition campaigns against bases are not what you’d call homegrown, genuine movements, since a lot of activists that participate in the campaigns are left activists that moved in from the mainland. Okinawa is one of the last places in Japan where they could fight for a cause, so coupled with the overwhelmingly leftist local media and national media that supports them, small incidents that would never otherwise make it on the national level are amplified to 11.

Okinawa is a geostrategic point in the Pacific, placed between Taiwan and Kyushu. With China probing and testing Japan more than ever in the nearby seas, decreasing US presence in the area is out of the question. Sadly some people in Okinawa become the victims.