Friday, October 10, 2003

-Talk by the Japanese Ambassador Fired by Japanese Government

Several Appearances have been scheduled, the most recent being
at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan.  The next is
in Takadanobaba in Tokyo.

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–â?‡‚¹?FŸÇ?ì(Tel/fax: 048-825-1006),
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»²¹Íµ­»ö¡¡http://www.nikkanberita.com/read.cgi?id=200309301716252

Naoto Amaki used to be Ambassador to Lebanon, now he’s battling the Foreign Ministry. Amaki claims he was expelled from MOFA last August because of his criticism of Prime Minister Koizumi’s support for the war in Iraq. A skeptic of MOFA’s traditional U.S.-first policy, Amaki views Koizumi as a poodle following his master.

Before and during the war, Ambassador Amaki twice offered his opinion in writing to Foreign Minister Kawaguchi, attaching a note that it be forwarded to PM Koizumi and Chief Cabinet Secretary Fukuda. He also distributed his statement to all Japanese embassies abroad. His opinion was shelved, he was removed from his position and coerced to resign.  Amaki took this as an outright suppression of debate within MOFA and decided to disclose everything he has seen at MOFA in his upcoming book “Saraba Gaimusho” ("So Long MOFA") - a book of accusation and revenge. He criticizes Koizumi’s foreign policy stance as a grandstanding performance and condemns MOFA as a corrupt and demoralized bureaucracy.

Mr. Amaki has served the ministry for 34 years since he passed the diplomat examination during his Kyoto University days. He has served at Embassies in Malaysia, Australia and Canada, and as Consul General at Detroit, USA, before being appointed Ambassador to Lebanon.

-Peace Study Walking in Yokosuka Oct 19/‘æ‚S‰ñƒs?[ƒX?EƒXƒ^ƒfƒB?EƒEƒH?[ƒLƒ“ƒO

Peace Study Walking in Yokosuka
Please join our walking tour/one hour boat tour in Yokosuka bay, observing the US base. It is a part of the 18 th annual peace festival at Mikasa Koen.
1000 yen will be coasted on board.
Date: October, 19 Sunday
Meet: 12 oclock, at Yokosuka Cyuo station East exit (Keihinkyuko)
Prof. Hideo Fujita will accompany us and English interpretation will be provided by a volunteer.
The follow up discussion will be held at Sogogukushi Kaikan with peace activists in the area.
Further info: Mr. ASAKAWA(Tel/fax:048-825-1006) or Mr. Kentro Kojima(e-mail:  �j

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REGISTRATION

http://www.jcafe.net/english/sympo03/contact.html

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Japanese/English
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Tokyo, Rikkyo University
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11 Oct
U.N World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS),
Asian Regional NGO Conference
In preparation for the coming U.N World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), to be held in December 2003 in Geneva, Asian NGOs which support the development of communications networks will come together and discuss the issues relevant to the Asian region, as part of a larger global problem, and how to solve them.

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12 October
Conference of Networking Specialists
NPOs and NGOs working in the field of information and communications, members from NGOs and NPOs related to the field of community media, and IT researchers will gather at this conference to discuss the subject of networking. This will be the first time that this conference will have been convened in Japan. We will discuss the way to facilitate the use of the internet in the wider community, what communications media should offer, then, what we will do next such as the creation of working groups.
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13 october
International symposium, ‘Civil Society and the Internet; Twenty Years of Networking and Future Prospects’

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Sendai Thurs., Oct. 16th Sendai Mediatheque
1) Workshop for the use of Information Technology in Support of the Activities of Citizens’ Groups
2) ‘Citizens’ Activities and the Internet’ Symposium

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Hiroshima Sat., Oct. 18th Hiroshima City Plaza for Town Development through Citizen Exchange ‘Citizens’ Guide to Transmitting Information Using Various Media’ symposium

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Kobe Sun., Oct. 19th Kobe Crystal Hall ‘Civil Society and Networking’ symposium

-Japan is a laughing stock of the world

The Koizumi Cabinet is expediting preparations to send Self-Defense Forces troops to Iraq and to contribute funds.

The law to send the SDF to Iraq was enacted, but the government first decided not to send the SDF this year. But, once U.S. Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage expressed hopes that Japan’s contributions will be “quite generous” and the U.S. president’s visit to Japan was set, the prime minister began to say, “Japan must not hesitate” to send troops and contribute funds.

The U.S. president in his speech at the United Nations General Assembly called on members to provide troops and money. But other U.N. members gave him the cold shoulder, and the U.N. Security Council is unlikely to adopt a resolution to that effect. Japan’s Prime Minister Koizumi Jun’ichiro will be the only shameless follower of the U.S. Bush administration in addition to Blair.

Aberrant Japan

U.S. news wires reported that many countries were “unmoved” by the Bush speech. The U.S. authorities admitted that no one was willing to respond to the call.

Given the fact that the United States initiated the lawless war in defiance of extensive international opposition and that it controls the occupation of Iraq without showing any remorse for the outrage, it is natural for many countries to be reluctant to respond to the U.S request for soldiers and money.

By contrast, how stupid it is for Japan to take every order of the U.S. Bush administration and contribute military personnel and money!

By uncritically following the failing hegemony of one country, Japan will become a laughing stock of the international community.

The point is that providing troops and funds to help the military occupation of Iraq will add fuel to Iraqi people’s anger and by no means help Iraq to become stable and reconstruct itself. Instead, they will be obstacles to stability and reconstruction.

In Iraq, public order has not been recovered and little progress has been made in reconstruction efforts because public anger is mounting at the United States for killing and injuring many Iraqi citizens during the lawless war and for murdering and detaining people whom the U.S. forces unilaterally branded as remnants of pro-Hussein forces during the occupation.

Japan’s support for U.S. forces will only serve to prolong the occupation of Iraq and add fuel to the Iraqi people’s anguish and repugnance.

Japan’s support may help consolidate the occupation of Iraq, but not help solve the Iraq question.

In the United States, opposition is increasing to additional funding for the war as illustrated by a sharp decline in the Bush administration’s approval rating after the president asked for more money.

The deployment of SDF personnel will be in harm’s way.

Day after day, U.S. soldiers are being attacked and killed or wounded in Iraq. Iraqi citizens who are regarded as collaborators of U.S. forces are also being targeted. Some East European governments are considering pulling their forces out of Iraq. Even the U.N. staff are urged to consider temporarily withdrawing from Iraq.

By contrast, Japan’s prime minister seems to be trying to please the U.S. president even at the expense of the people and its possible isolation from the world.

The Koizumi Cabinet reportedly wants to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces to Iraq this year but withhold the plan from the public until after the general election. The government is thus playing with people’s lives and holds the public in contempt.

The majority of the Japanese people have opposed the Bush war.

Prime Minister Koizumi, who supports the Iraq war in defiance of public criticism, has no right to use huge amounts of tax money only to further the war of aggression.

Gather public criticism to stop Japan’s support for the war

To help Iraq get out of the turmoil, it is necessary to support U.N.-led efforts to help in Iraq’s reconstruction, get U.S. forces withdrawn, and restore Iraq’s sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

Many delegates to the U.N. General Assembly made these points. Japanese Foreign Minister Kawaguchi Yoriko was the only exception.

Let’s increase criticism against the Koizumi government and governing parties for supporting the war of aggression. The task now is to stop Japan’s absurd support for the lawless war. (end)

From Japan Press Service
http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2352/sep29.html

-Cluster of U.S. bases in Metropolitan Tokyo

Extraordinary for a capital city, Tokyo and its metropolitan areas have a number of U.S. military bases. The September 14 issue of Akahata explained how extraordinary the situation is in this part of Japan.

The Tokyo area with its overcrowded population has an extraordinarily concentrated presence of U.S. military bases; Yokosuka, the only homeport for the U.S. aircraft carrier other than those in the U.S. mainland, and two major air bases at Yokota (air force) and Atsugi (navy) exist.

These facts clearly indicate that Japan is “virtually a dependent country, with an important part of its land, military matters, and other affairs of state being controlled by U.S. imperialism.” This is what the Japanese Communist Party in its draft revision to the JCP Program points out.

Unthinkable in Europe

The headquarters of the U.S. Forces in Japan and the U.S. Air Force in Japan are located at the U.S. Yokota Air Base in the outskirts of Tokyo, with an airlift wing functioning as a hub of the Pacific linking the U.S. mainland with Asia.

About a half million people living near the Yokota Air Base are exposed day and night to sonic booms from U.S. aircraft .

Only one homeport outside of the U.S. for aircraft carriers

Kanagawa Prefecture hosts 16 U.S. military bases, second only to Okinawa.

The U.S. Yokosuka Naval Base, a stronghold of the U.S. Seventh Fleet operating from the Western Pacific to Africa’s East coast, has been used as the homeport of the U.S. aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk, the only homeport outside of the United States for U.S. aircraft carriers.

Also, one carrier-aircraft unit is deployed at the U.S. Atsugi Naval Air Station located in an area near Yamato and two other cities, the only deployment of this kind in the world.

The Kitty Hawk will reportedly retire before 2008 and will be replaced by a nuclear-powered carrier.

In March 1953, before the first Japan-U.S. Security Treaty came into effect, the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed that the U.S. ground and air forces in Japan would be deployed outside of urban areas and that the U.S. naval force would be concentrated in the minimum number of Japanese ports.

However, the U.S. has betrayed this agreement as it has increased its presence in Japan’s urban areas in order to cover the whole of Asia and the Middle East with their reinforced military facilities.

The Pentagon’s Quadrennial Report (2001 QDR) states that U.S. bases in Europe and Northeast Asia are assigned to play a new role as a hub in contingencies in regions outside of Asia or Europe.

Under this plan, a berth at the Yokosuka base is being extended and Army landing ships are being deployed to Yokohama Port’s North Dock.

Sonic booms affect 1.5 million people

The U.S. Atsugi base is responsible for about 30,000 flights a year. U.S. aircraft fly over the densely populated area with a population of about one and a half million. Daily flight trainings by carrier aircraft are causing noises over 90 WECPNL (the Weighted Equivalent Continuous Perceived Noise Level), the highest level of all airfields in Japan in 1999 and 2000, exceeding those even of Kadena in Okinawa and Yokota in Tokyo.

Last July, residents had to live under extraordinary noise with low-altitude flights by U.S. aircraft coming back from the Iraq War. Many calls of protest were made to local governments concerned.

Also, night landing practices (NLPs) were carried out last January in preparation for the Iraq war. About 300 thousand people live within the area designated by the Japanese government to pay part of the cost for soundproofing. Such NLP operations do not take place on the U.S. mainland.

Deploying new aircraft needs further assessment in U.S.

The state-of-the-art aircraft FA18E Super Hornet is going to be deployed at the Atsugi Base in place of F14s. FA18Es, with an engine power increase of 133 percent over FA18’s, will cause extremely serious noise pollution in this area.

A similar reformation is scheduled for the F14 squadron at the Oceana Naval Base in Virginia, the U.S.A. with about 400,000 residents near the base, where the U.S. Navy carried out an environmental assessment and held public hearings fourteen times. It recently decided to divide and deploy the squadron at two bases, and construct a landing on/off field away from the Oceania base.

In contrast, the U.S. Forces in Japan have done no assessment and held no public hearings. Notices of an introduction of new types of aircraft and carrying out of exercises to the Japanese side have always been made on extremely short notice. No public hearings have been held at all.

Japan’s government urging people to endure noise

The Japanese government is to blame for giving top priority to allow the U.S. Forces operation without restriction in Japan. Defense Agency chief Ishiba Shigeru stated that the more U.S. pilots’ skills are upgraded through NLPs, the more Japan’s war deterrence is increased (February 18, 2003, at the Lower House Budget Committee).

This is the type of attitude that the people living near the U.S. bases must endure because U.S. bases are supposedly functioning in the service of Japan’s national interest. (end)

From Japan Press Service
http://www.japan-press.co.jp/2352/culster.html