I tend to write a long email to friends that I should rather write to the public and governments. Here is what I wrote to a friend last night.
After watching the 7 PM NHK news on Jan. 27 (the noon news Jan. 28 in Japan) -
I just watched another NHK news that implied that Hatoyama was questioned about his "shintai" (進退 -whether he should resign or not) for when he fails to meet the end of May "deadline."
Another appalling word! Resign for what? A couple of days ago I talked about the word "koyaku" (公約 public pledge) that the media inappropriately used referring to Okada's confirmation of the May plan with Clinton on January 13 and the media's possible intention to replace that with the true koyaku in people's minds. Japanese voters knew DPJ's stance on the Japan-US relationship and its intention for Okinawa (against inter-prefectural "relocation" of Futenma) when they let them win the last Lower House election. Those were Hatoyama and DPJ's koyaku.
Hatoyama could resign for failing to establish that equal relationship with the US and for building a "replacement facility" within Okinawa, but they have absolutely no reason to resign for sticking to their diplomatic principles and election pledges, just because it is not convenient
for the conservative powers and military/business interests of US and Japan.
Again, the underlying and unquestioned assumption from the left to the right is the necessity to "relocate" Futenma. The possibility of closing Futenma only is totally ignored. No matter how much sound argument Iha makes about the US plan to move most of the Marines and its operations to Guam, the mainstream media still ignore him. They do interview him and the politicians see him, but they ignore that very essence of his argument.
For more information, see below article.
Why Build a New Base on Okinawa When the Marines are Relocating to Guam?: Okinawa Mayor Challenges Japan and the US
http://www.japanfocus.org/-Iha-Yoichi/3287
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