It's often said that mainland Japan is becoming "Okinawaized," meaning that Japan as a whole is becoming a U.S. fortress just like Okinawa.
Recently about 60 carrier-based aircraft were transferred from the Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture to the Iwakuni base in Yamaguchi Prefecture near Hiroshima after expansion work, doubling the number of aircraft there and making it comparable to or even surpassing the Kadena base in Okinawa.
Note also that the first installment of Ospreys has already arrived at Yokota in Tokyo, one year ahead of the schedule. The two governments have already agreed to flight routes across the length and breadth of mainland Japan for Ospreys to practice low-level flying. On April 10, a detached U.S. military parachute fell onto the grounds of a junior high school near the Yokota base.
In February, a U.S. fighter jet that developed an engine fire shortly after takeoff from Misawa in Aomori Prefecture dumped a pair of fuel tanks into a lake where clam-harvesting was in full swing. So, like it or not, mainlanders will soon realize how it feels being under a quasi-occupation by foreign military forces.
I say "quasi-occupation" because the Japan-U.S. security treaty can be taken as a facade hiding the true intention of the U.S. to maintain the post-World War II regime forever.
These shenanigans can't go on for good.
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.