この目で見た普天間、辺野古の真実 マスコミは本来の「表現の自由」行使を【ニッポンの新常識】第10回
http://www.zakzak.co.jp/society/domestic/news/20150411/dms1504111530003-n1.htm
Common Knowledge Revisited ⑩
What I Saw at Futenma and Henoko: The Media Should Revert to a Proper Exercise of "the Freedom of Expression"
Once every few months I go to Okinawa on business. The other day I toured the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma located in Ginowan City. The first time I visited this base was in 1975, about 40 years ago. And I thought from the outset that this was a very dangerous base.
That’s why I wrote in my book “My View of the Japanese Constitution” (PHP Publishing) in 1988 that the Futenma Base should be returned to Japan quickly. Since then, there have been incidents such as the rape of a school girl by marines in 1995 and a helicopter crash into a neighborhood in 2004.
The most pressing issue with Futenma is to get rid of this dangerous base as soon as possible. The Japanese and American governments are united on this point. That is why an agreement was concluded between the heads of government in 2006 to relocate this base to the Henoko region of Nago City.
However, as of now in April of 2015 the relocation of this base is still in the preconstruction assessment phase, and there have been recent demands made to stop even this assessment.
To be very blunt, when an agreement between two nations is unilaterally scrapped without notice due to a change in administrations, diplomacy cannot proceed. Such a country cannot be considered advanced, and cannot be trusted. I do not know what the situation is on other planets, but at least on planet earth this is the case.
To go one step further, when the leader of a local government can influence defense policy, then that country has a crucial deficiency in its legal administration. Diplomacy and national defense are the exclusive prerogative of the national government and not something in which local governments should interfere. This is international common sense for sovereign states.
If a local leader makes election promises about things over which he has no authority for the purpose of gaining votes, he is either an amateur or else engaging in official deceit.
After touring Futenma, I went to Henoko, the site where this base is slated to be relocated. There I observed the protesters first hand. And after I returned to Tokyo, I reviewed some related videos. To be frank, there are several things which I do not understand.
I don’t know what the protesters are actually against. Are they against the move to Henoko, are they against all U.S. military bases in Okinawa, or do they want to throw out the American military from all of Japan? And if the American military pulls out entirely, then what do they want to do and how?
I place great weight on “the freedom of expression.” However, the Okinawa Prefectural Police should not tolerate actions of the activists confirmed by video footage including trespassing on the base, destruction of property, extended illegal occupation of public property, intimidation, and assault, to name a few. A portion of the media has mistakenly reported that the actions of the police and American military were improper, and I am dissatisfied with their failure to correct these inaccurate and biased reports.
A portion of the activists unashamedly display the banners of extremist groups. The media which reports that these activities reflect the will of the Okinawan people should carefully review the facts and revert to a proper exercise of “the freedom of expression.”