The Kansai Perspective story "Osaka group preps Kansai solution to Futenma base row" by Eric Johnston in the Nov. 23 issue was misleading.
First, there have been no violent clashes between protesters and the police. It is the police who are violent. The tactics of the protesters, many of them senior citizens, are nonviolent. The police use violence to remove the protesters while they are sitting, and too often, injuries to the protesters are caused.
Second, Mr. Johnston seems to believe the U.S. Marines need an alternate site that fulfills their logistic requirements. After the rape of an Okinawan schoolgirl in 1995, the U.S. government offered to shut down the Futenma airfield altogether, but the Japanese government insisted that the base stay within the prefecture. He failed to mention this fact, which leads to the wrong conclusion that we need to build a new base for the marines somewhere in Japan.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.