Hashimoto to Force Renewal of Base Leases

Placing vital national interests above passionate local ones, Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto agreed Thursday to sign documents forcing local landowners to renew leases essential for U.S. military bases on the island of Okinawa.

Hashimoto made the decision after Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota rejected a court order earlier this week commanding him to sign the contracts.

The prime minister’s representative was scheduled to sign the papers today in Okinawa.

Ota has said he will appeal the case to the Supreme Court.

The lawsuit was first filed in December by Tomiichi Murayama, who was then prime minister, after Ota refused to force protesting landowners to renew their leases in the aftermath of the brutal assault and rape of a local schoolgirl involving three U.S. servicemen.

Despite Hashimoto’s action, legal technicalities are likely to prevent the Japanese government from renewing the leases by Sunday, when the first contract expires for land housing a critical U.S. communications facility in the city of Yomitan. The government is scrambling to find legal grounds for emergency powers that would allow it to retain use of the land and is constructing a fence around the facility, known as the “elephant cage,” to thwart vandals and other trespassers.

The Yomitan landowner plans to march onto his property after the lease expires, and other protests are planned.

Okinawans have long resented the disproportionate number of U.S. military bases they must host on their land. Although Okinawa accounts for less than 1% of Japan’s land area, nearly 75% of U.S. military facilities and half of the 47,000 U.S. troops in Japan are stationed there.

Tensions rose to a fever pitch last year, when the rape of the 12-year-old girl sparked islandwide protests against a continued U.S. military presence. The servicemen were sentenced to up to seven years in prison, but the incident has provoked widespread discussion on both sides of the Pacific about the role of the U.S. military in Asia in the post-Cold War world.

Ota argued in court that his actions followed the will of the Okinawan people. He claimed that the concentration of U.S. military facilities in Okinawa violates local landowners’ property rights as well as their constitutional right to live in peace.

The court ruled that the governor’s refusal “considerably violated the public interest” and that laws dealing with forced land leases for the U.S. military are constitutional. But it based the ruling mainly on technicalities, sidestepping the central question of whether contracts are necessary for Japan to carry out its obligations under the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama expressed understanding of Okinawans’ feelings but said, “The government deems the Japan-U.S. security arrangement essential and has obligations under the bilateral security treaty” to continue the leases.

Shoichi Chibana, owner of the “elephant cage” land, said he plans to enter the 236-square-meter plot with his children Monday, the day after the lease expires.

The Anti-War Landowners’ Assn. said 10 attorneys and more than 100 landowners also will attempt to enter the property to protest forced renewals. And more than 3,000 people are expected to attend a demonstration Monday evening in a park in Okinawa’s capital, Naha.

The issues of base reductions and U.S.-Japan security arrangements are expected to top the agenda in April at a summit between Hashimoto and President Clinton.