Court Backs Tokyo on U.S. Military Leases

In a defeat for activists seeking to oust the U.S. military from Okinawa, Japan’s Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that the island’s governor must cooperate with the central government in forcing hostile landowners to renew leases on land occupied by U.S. bases.

The court took less than one minute to announce its verdict, then adjourned without explaining its reasoning, infuriating the Okinawans. About 20 protesters stood up in the courtroom and shouted at the backs of the departing justices.

Central government officials, trying to avoid giving further offense, were humble about their victory and promised anew to try to lessen the effect on Okinawa of playing host to more than half of the 47,000 U.S. forces stationed in Japan.

“It is our responsibility to reduce the burden on the Okinawan people as much as possible, and I would like to show our sincerity by using all administrative means to solve this problem,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Seiroku Kajiyama said.

Wednesday’s ruling was handed down just as Okinawa is preparing to mark the Sept. 4 first anniversary of the rape of a 12-year-old girl involving three U.S. servicemen, a case that has galvanized residents there to try to reduce or oust the U.S. forces that have dominated the island since the end of World War II.

On Sept. 8, the prefecture will conduct a referendum on reducing the number of U.S. bases. The referendum’s wording is so general that the Okinawan public is expected to approve it by an overwhelming margin. Though the outcome is not legally binding, a large turnout could increase the pressure on Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto to make deeper concessions or offer more compensation to the Okinawans.

Several economic development proposals have been floated, including the idea of making Okinawa a free-trade zone. But Tokyo has been reluctant to grant anything resembling special status to the prefecture.

The Supreme Court had been expected to side with Tokyo in Wednesday’s ruling; the key question was whether Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota would accept defeat or continue a campaign to make it as slow and difficult as possible for the central government to secure the land for the bases--a tactic with the potential to split the ruling coalition and create huge headaches for Hashimoto.

Ota expressed “deep regret” over the Supreme Court decision but did not indicate whether he would continue to battle Tokyo. Analysts in Tokyo, however, predicted that he will almost certainly publicly bow to the Supreme Court decision as soon as the referendum is over.

“If they [Okinawans] are not going to obey the Supreme Court, it means that they reject the Japanese judicial system, which would essentially mean they are trying to be a sort of independent country--and that will not happen,” political analyst Minoru Morita said.

The question of how to appease Okinawa is likely to dominate Japanese domestic politics and U.S.-Japanese relations this fall.

On Sept. 10, Ota and Hashimoto are to meet to discuss the outcome of the referendum--if Ota consents to see the prime minister.

Two days later, a Fukuoka court is scheduled to rule on an appeal filed by the three U.S. servicemen convicted in the Okinawa girl’s rape. They have argued that the sentences were too harsh. A Japanese court sentenced Navy Seaman Marcus Gill and Marine Pfc. Rodrico Harp to seven years imprisonment for raping the girl. Marine Pfc. Kendrick Ledet, who was ordered to serve 6 1/2 years, was convicted of abduction and violence.

Any leniency given them now on appeal would surely outrage the Okinawans.

In mid-September, Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda and Japan Defense Agency Director General Hideo Usui are scheduled to fly to Washington to discuss details of the U.S. base consolidation plan agreed upon by Hashimoto and President Clinton during a summit in May. Among the items to be discussed is where to move operations from Futenma Marine Corps Air Station, which the United States has promised to close.

Another Hashimoto-Clinton summit is likely in late September, since the Japanese prime minister is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 24. Okinawa is likely to be discussed then too.

Amid all this diplomacy, the Japanese government is trying to find homes for the U.S. forces that are to be moved off Okinawa as part of the base consolidation plan. This month, Usui toured five prefectures that are under consideration as alternatives for U.S. bases--and found them generally uncooperative, Yomiuri Shimbun, a newspaper, has reported.

Hashimoto faces the unenviable task of trying to put facilities nobody wants in somebody’s backyard in an election year. Okinawans argue that they have suffered long enough, having lived under direct U.S. military rule for 27 years after World War II and having retained the lion’s share of the U.S. bases ever since.