In 2012, the Central Intelligence Agency’s Open Source Center published a manual for U.S. officials advising them on how to shape Okinawan public opinion about the large U.S. military presence on their island. Categorized For Official Use Only, the 60-page CIA report is titled A Master Narratives Approach to Understanding Base Politics in Okinawa. It was released under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and the full text is now available here.
The manual:
- advises U.S. policy makers to claim that the U.S. military benefits the economy, promotes cultural exchange and provides disaster relief
- warns U.S. officials not to mention military deterrence or the environment
- criticizes the Japanese government for being insensitive to Okinawan issues
- describes discrimination against Okinawans as a problem solely involving the island and Tokyo; the U.S. bears no blame
- outlines five “narratives” which, the CIA claims, enables Americans to understand Okinawans’ character
Brief background: the U.S. military presence on Okinawa
Between 1945 and 1972, Okinawa was directly ruled by the U.S. military and its bases stored a vast array of nuclear and chemical weapons. The island was used to launch wars in Korea and Indochina; during the U.S. occupation (1945-52), Okinawans’ were driven from their land, much of which was turned into US military bases, and were victimized by frequent crimes and accidents involving military personnel.1
In the run-up to Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese control in 1972, residents were promised hondo nami, that the proportion of military bases on their land would be reduced to a comparable level to those on mainland Japan. However, not only were all military bases retained, but today the prefecture is host to 70.28% of the U.S. military presence in Japan – and the Japanese government is currently constructing a large new USMC base in the pristine waters of Oura Bay, Nago City.2
Today, the 31 U.S. military bases on Okinawa take up approximately 15% of the main island while contributing only 5% to the prefecture’s economy.3 These installations continue to contaminate the environment but under the U.S.-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), the U.S. is not responsible for clean-up costs. Meanwhile, crimes committed by U.S. service members target local residents; indeed, internal military reports obtained under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act reveal previously-unreported sexual offences against women and children in recent years.4