Comments

Posts

USS George Washington arrives in Yokosuka

The USS George Washington arrived in Yokosuka today, becoming the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier to use a base in Japan as its home port. Protests were held in a park near the naval base, but only a few hundred of Yokosuka’s 422,000 residents participated:

At a waterfront park, some 300 demonstrators raised their fists in the air as they saw the huge vessel cruising into Tokyo Bay.

“The USS George Washington, go home now!” the protesters shouted. Hundreds of more demonstrators rallied elsewhere.

“We regret that the aircraft career has arrived here, but the real crisis for the residents of Yokosuka has just begun,” said Masahiko Goto, a lawyer and leader of a local civil group opposing the deployment of the vessel.

“If it was a nuclear energy plant, the central and local governments could check it thoroughly,” he said. “But they cannot control and monitor the US aircraft carrier.”

“The US nuclear-powered aircraft carrier is untouchable for us,” he said.

Some activists have even urged residents to carry iodine syrup, which is effective in preventing thyroid cancer, especially for children, due to exposure to atomic radiation.

As reported in an earlier post on Japan Probe, the Japanese government has answered the concerns of Yokosuka residents by building a special 300 million yen radiation monitoring facility near the American naval base.

20 comments - What do you think? Posted by James - September 25, 2008 at 3:01 pm

Categories: Foreigners in Japan Tags: us navy, uss george washington

Level3

“If it was a nuclear energy plant, the central and local governments could check it thoroughly,” he said.

HAHAHAHAHHAHHAHAAAAAAAAAA!

He’s a funny guy.
I’d put the US Navy nuclear safety record against the Japanese Homer Simpson nuclear safety record any day.

The huge news of the US submarine leak, while newsworthy, still hasn’t reminded many people of the central point, the leak was 0.5 microcuries, which roughly compares to what is used for a thyroid test, or is in a 20kg bag of fertilizer naturally. [So the irony of a person being scared into seeing a doctor for a test of their thyroid getting exposed to about the same amount of radaition as the sailor who accidentally was exposed to some slightly radioactive wastewater..then factor in that, since they were nowhere near the leak, the exposure is reduced to a microscopic fraction of a fraction of a percent of what that sailor was exposed to, easily far below just background radiation levels. So it gets to the point that anyone who gets an X-ray due to these scare tactics is basically being harmed by the scare tactics far more than the miniscule leak.]

Sure, the Japanese govt. can check Japanese plants more easily, but it doesn’t really seem to help much, does it?

BTW, how do you say “D’oh!” in Japanese?

A person truly worried about radiation exposure would accomplish a lot more by making sure all the X-ray machines in all the clinics and hospitals in Japan are running at safe levels.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

The nuclear safety record of the U.S. military as a whole has a much worse record than Japan, but Japanese accidents have occurred more recently.

Just because residents in Yokosuka protest the nuclear vessel does not imply they fully support and accept the standards of Japanese nuclear power plants. Of course there are most likely people who are using the issue as a platform to promote right-wing national ideology, but there are others who just don’t want a nuclear power source in their backyard.

helical

Right-wing? I’d have assumed people like these were the left-wing lot with their hatred for anything military, foreign or domestic.

http://www.victorymanual.com Alex

Probably a smattering of both with different agendas.
anon

> smattering of both with different agendas.

No. The people who are quoted in the article are left-wingers.

LOD

They look 100% left wing, 0% right wing.
http://blog.livedoor.jp/stop_cvn/
http://www.peace-forum.com/

Accodring to 2ch (yeah, it’s 2ch so don’t believe it), black van uyoku appeared there to support George Washington, playing US anthem from the speaker. Sounds quite possible to me.
http://mamono.2ch.net/test/read.cgi/newsplus/1222305160/
(Comments 54, 61 and 70)

When there’s some movement/demonstration that are anti-US here, they are generally by left wings. Japanese right wings are devided, as mainstream conservatives are strongly pro-US. Black van style uyoku are generally technically anti-US, but they are busy being anti-China/Koreas/Russia than against US. (And to balance that, Japanese left wings are oddly silent on the militaristic movements by China/Koreas/Russia.)

LB

“I’d put the US Navy nuclear safety record against the Japanese Homer Simpson nuclear safety record any day.”
Exactly. It is nothing short of miraculous that Japan has not, say, deliberately released radioactive material into the atmosphere to test fallout patterns, or otherwise purposefully exposed its citizens to radiation.

Jack Elliot

It should be noted that there are usually nuclear-powered subs stationed at the same base, with no protests to my knowledge.

chris

There are no nuclear powered subs actually homeported here in Yokosuka, however there are tons that port here often from the U.S. so this is true. My husband used to be a submariner and this was the port they came to probably the most, now he is on the GW and it is homeported here. So basically the same thing though. They don’t want the GW homeported here but they allow nuclear powered subs to port here on deployments with no protests (not to my knowledge either). The fact of the matter is though that the ship will not even be here all that much anyways so what the hell is the difference? I have no idea either.

Simon

The “hajimemashite” greeting they’ve assembled on the deck is kind of funny. The arrangement looks exactly like the handwriting of someone who has just started learning Japanese — all out of proportion. Still, good on them for trying.

chris

at least they tried. They had japanese onboard to help them arrange it. It’s probably not the easiest thing to arrange on a ship though.

Pingback: » uss george washington
http://deleted parkmount

This makes wonder the residents of Yokosuka have ever demanded Tokyo Electric Power to shut down the power line going there from nuclear power plants.
L

What can they do?

The Empire arrives to check one its domain.
Anti-Terror Performance

USA making new friends as usual. If their point is to make piss everyone off then this is a good starategy if it is to make them even more disliked than they already are then this is a good strategy too.

Gusuke

I’m sure your anti-Americanism is probably clouding your judgement of this, but the Americans are in Japan at the INVITATION of the Japanese government, not occupying the country as some hateful force to piss the Japanese off. Sure, I’ve met some Japanese people who were against the US presence, but most of the people I’ve asked said that they’re for the United States being here.
chris

No it’s not a point to piss everyone off. Like the other person said Japan has an open invitation for us to be here. Are you in Japan because I am and out in town many of the japanese businesses had signs up Welcome CVN 73. No one forced them to put those up and they did it to welcome the ship so not everyone is pissed about it being here and we have been treated great off the base around Yokosuka. Don’t know if you are in japan or japanese but if not then you shouldn’t be speaking for other people.

D-san

I’m sure none of the Japanese club and bar owners were protesting.
Anonymous

People like ATP a couple of posts above me always seem to be stuck in 1946. Check your history. The occupation ended a long time ago, and if Japan told us to leave now, we’d have to. Most japanese want us here because it gives them added protection against the rest of Asia (who hates them). Japanese people are the most pro-US people I’ve met. Our traditional allies like the UK hate us way more than the Japanese, and we don’t even have any major bases in the UK.
http://www.hormel.com VonSkippy

Are they REALLY sure it’s the actual Aircraft Carrier and not just a whale with a large plank on it’s back?

USS George Washington arrives in Yokosuka

Recent Comments

Further Reading

South Korean Government Demands That International Hydrographic Organization Use “East Sea”

Japanese Documentary About Sea Shepherd’s Protest Activities in Taiji (English Subtitles)

Babies Born on March 11th Receive Special Present

Washington Times Freelancer Slams Former Employer, Fails to Ethically Disclose Relationship?

Christopher Johnson Attempts to Silence Criticism of His “Gaijin Gulag” Article (Legal Threats!!!)

Tabloid Reports About Yu Darvish’s Love Life: Kirara Asuka & Miho Koga?

Does K-Pop Group KARA Have Ties to North Korea?

Tokyo Gate Bridge

Sara Errani Admits She Avoided Tennis Tournament in Tokyo: Feared Radiation

Chinese Workers Who Survived March 11th Tsunami Return to Tohoku

Categories

Archives

Subscribe

Japan Blogs

Korea Blogs

Linkroll

Other Asia Blogs