No Rainbows Here

When something is a good thing, everyone wants it, right? Okinawa doesn't want it, Guam doesn't want it, and now Tokunoshima says it doesn't want it, either. The "it" is a US military installation.

Over the weekend, 15,000 people--out of a total population of 25,000--protested the plan to spoil a beautiful environment by paving it over, polluting the sea, and bringing in noisy helicopters and military personnel who have proven their contempt for their host culture in Japan over and over again through off duty crimes ranging from rape, robbery, drunken driving that includes fatal hit and run accidents, to murder. This is not to say all the personnel are evil, but even one murderer is one too many to invite into your neighborhood.

If having this US military base were a good thing, Guam--a US protectorate--would want it. But they, too, have said no. As one US legislator put it in a very colorful metaphor, adding so many strangers to a small island like Guam might "unbalance it and tip it over".

Okinawa island agrees. So does Tokunoshima island. Your neighborhood would probably reject the proposal, too.

Isn't it time to rethink the very concept of overseas military installations?