IE-JIMA, Okinawa Pref. -- In the northwest corner of this 22-sq.-km coral island lies the U.S. Ie-Jima Auxiliary Airfield, where Marine Corps units from mainland Okinawa hold drills using Harrier vertical takeoff and landing jets around the clock.
A step outside the fenced-in exercise area, farmers are busy harvesting sugarcane in a vast expanse of arable land as if they couldn't care less about what was going on inside the fence. "These fields are all leased to the U.S. forces," said Ken-o Oshiro, head of the Ie village office section dealing with base-related measures. "Yet they have let the landowners continue to cultivate the land while they receive rent (from the central government), thanks to a gentlemen's agreement between us and the U.S. forces."
According to Oshiro, 35 percent of the entire island is provided to U.S. forces, and 15.6 percent of that, or 357 hectares, is "tacitly permitted cultivated land." This coexistence of the U.S. military and local farmers is in stark contrast to other areas of Okinawa, like the towns of Kadena and Kin, where the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Base and Camp Hansen stand as trouble spots amid densely populated neighborhoods.