Visualizing complaints about the American military presence in Japan
September 11th, 2009 by James
In a news segment yesterday morning about the Okinawa military base issue, Fuji TV included a summary of some of the complaints Japanese have about American troops enjoying special privileges in Japan. To help the audience understand, they put their cartoonist to work.
Shown in the video:
- Members of the US military do not need alien registration cards to live in Japan.
- They don’t need to pay Japanese sales tax when shopping at on base stores.
- Japanese police are only allowed to arrest US troops if they are caught in the act of committing a crime. In other cases, they must request permission from the US military to question or detain members of the US military. This makes it difficult for Japanese police to carry out investigations.
- The Japanese government must pay for base expenses, including the salary of Japanese civilians who have jobs working for the bases.
The DPJ recently agreed to a coalition government, giving in to requests from its partners, the Social Democratic Party and New People’s Party, that it take a more aggressive stance towards revising the status of forces agreement between the US and Japan. Hatoyama has also maintained that his government will end Japan’s military aid to the international mission in Afghanistan.
Related link (Japanese): The Social Democratic Party is an extreme leftist party that advocates the total dismantling of Japan’s military and an end to the U.S.-Japan alliance. It recently made headlines for its strong opposition to a parade of Japan Self-Defense Forces troops, referring to their carrying of unloaded rifles as “menacing” and dangerous.
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Now, why on Earth would regular Japanese folks give a cr@p whether US Forces need to carry ARCs or not? Japanese citizens don’t have to carry any form if ID; and presumably the US forces do need to carry military ID.
I can at least understand the basis for the other examples, but ARCs? Now you’re just whining!
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A brief snippet of a conversation about the ARC I had with a close Japanese friend a few years ago.
DC: Do you think it’s right that I should have to carry id 24/7, or face imprisonment?
J-pal: Yes, of course, because you are foreigner.
DC: And do you think it’s right that, when you lived in the UK, you were not required to carry any id at all, ever?
J-pal: Yes! Because I am Japanese!
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i don’t think it’s “whining”. I know most people don’t, but last time I checked, if you’re a legal immigrant (ie. permanent resident) in the US, you have to carry your green card with you at all times. From the Immigration and Nationality Act:
“Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him. Any alien who fails to comply with [these] provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
how is that any different from being required to carry an arc in japan?
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“Any alien who fails to comply with [these] provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
So what happens in the unlikely event you are asked for it?
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They might be fined, or they might be detained.
In some extreme cases, they are deported.
http://www.philadelphiaimmigrationlawyerblog.com/2008/02/your_green_card_always_always.html
http://www.city-data.com/forum/illegal-immigration/202276-ice-raids-winco-grocery-stores-magic-2.html
http://forums.immigration.com/showthread.php?t=271584
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/227/story/25392.html
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One time, I was driving back from a visit to Canada to the US across the border, and the border patrol agent took a look at my green card along with the paper envelope that it came with.
He studied it and then remarked “This is awfully clean”. I thought he was congratulating me on how good a job I was doing in taking care of it, so I was about to say thank you, when he gave me a suspicious look and asked if I usually carried it around because it certainly didn’t look that way.
Caught off guard, I stammered (since I usually kept it safe at home), to which he declared that I was required to have it on me at all times by law and that I could face a fine or jail time in the event that I was caught without one.
So unless that guy was exaggerating, incarceration is within the realm of possibility regarding green cards.
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From the law: “shall upon conviction for each offense be fined not to exceed $100″
Much better than 200,000 yen. Also, what I am more interested in is how often aliens are asked to show it, and in what situations. From those links, it seems that “Hispanics” are being targeted. I’ve never carried ID when walking around in the US as a tourist, since my only ID is my passport, but I now wonder if a copy of that would be an idea.
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I, for one, think the obligation to always carry gaijin card is not necessary. Any ID will do.
200,000 yen is an maximum, isn’t it?
“. I’ve never carried ID when walking around in the US as a tourist,”
Perhaps you looked like a typical American.
I don’t think Koreans and Chinese in Japan are often asked to show ID on the street.They don’t look different.
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“Perhaps you looked like a typical American.”
Yes I do, but my point was that I was not aware of the requirement to do so and might be more careful in the future.
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What would a typical American look like in California? The sad thing is that even though people are aware that there are many Asian, African, European, etc.. immigrants, in the U.S. when you say ‘illegal immigrant,’ it is usually in reference to Latinos, who are then categorized as Mexican.
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Remember also that unlike in Japan where there are police boxes all over and the cops will just walk right up to non-Japanese-looking people and ask to see the card, in the US it’s only immigration officials who can demand to see it (primarily when entering the country).
In Japan tourists have to carry original passports and anyone visiting for even 90 days has carry an alien card; in the US only permanent residents (not people on other kinds of visas such as students, spouses, and company employees) have to carry them. And since the US doesn’t forbid dual nationality, these green-card holders can always acquire US citizenship without losing anything, and then not have to carry anything ever.
The situations are comparable, and US Immigration can be a lot meaner than Japan’s sometimes, but when it comes to making people carry papers, Japan’s is much more onerous.
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Actually, in the U.S., if your city or town’s law enforcement is given immigration officer status, they can demand to see proof of your legal status after they stopped you for an offense, such as running a red light, etc. The problem however, as evidenced in Maricopa County in Arizona under Sheriff Joe Arpaio, is that people were being racially profiled first, stopped for some infraction, and then questioned on their status. All of these efforts across the U.S. by law enforcement is being done to satisfy the complaints of citizens who are worried about the ‘invasion’ of illegals. I see a lot of the same rhetoric in other countries when it comes to their opinion on foreigners.
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FYI
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irony is that tokyo politicans are complaining much louder than Okinawa people them,selfes. neither do they tell everyone what will bacem with okinawa when us forces will be gone and tokyos yakuza and their politican dogs will finaly take over this island.
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the bit about the arc, it isn’t whining at all, in fact, it’s no different in the us. last time i checked, every legal immigrant always has to have their green card on them. whether they do or not is a different matter. from the immigration and nationality act:
“Every alien, eighteen years of age and over, shall at all times carry with him and have in his personal possession any certificate of alien registration or alien registration receipt card issued to him. Any alien who fails to comply with [these] provisions shall be guilty of a misdemeanor.”
i fail to understand how this is any different from foreigners in japan being required to carry an arc
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oops, sorry, posted the same thing twice.
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Interesting dialogue, but that wasn’t my point. I’m not talking about the general requirement for foreigners to carry their ARC.
The story is about (apparently) some Japanese people feeling that the US Military get an unfair privilege through not having to carry an ARC. I contend this is illogical.
Firstly, the law that exempts them from needing an ARC is a Japanese law, based, I assume, on the SOFA.
Secondly, I have to believe that US Military are required to carry some form of ID, on and off base, be it SOFA or military ID or something. Thus, if they are required to carry ID, albeit it different ID, how is it materially different from having to carry an ARC? Where’s the privilege?
If anything, it is the Japanese citizens who are privileged, in this instance, because they have the right not to carry any ID. So it seems to me that using the ARC as an example of US Military privilege is inaccurate and misleading.
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DC: And do you think it’s right that, when you lived in the UK, you were not required to carry any id at all, ever?
J-pal: Yes! Because I am Japanese! and the foreigners are not required to carry any id by law in U.K. and Japanese are foreigners in U.K.
Didn’t you miss the last part of what your J-pal said in Japanese?
I can pick up illogical utterances by anonymous people from the U.K, and post comments about it on a blog, but it surely is a bad taste.
Is it a norm on the blog you frequent?
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Did you overhear my conversation, ponta? Or see the expression on my friend’s face? No, you didn’t. My Japanese friend seemed to be surprised at the mere notion of a Japanese national having to carry id anywhere, but that it was perfectly natural that a foreigner should. It was a classic ware ware nihonjin moment.
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What I am saying is that either your J pal is illogical or you misunderstand what he said and it is a bad taste to post such a comment. What’s the point?
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>What’s the point?
A fair question. And the answer is the indignation mentioned in this article that US servicemen don’t have to carry alien cards. Why the indignation? Is the idea of having foreigners standing on Japanese soil while not carrying alien cards so ‘alien’ to the Japanese?
>or your J pal is illogical
Unfortunately, when it comes to Japanese attitudes to foreigners, especially wrt law enforcement and related issues, logic seems to be the least important factor.
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“Is the idea of having foreigners standing on Japanese soil while not carrying alien cards so ‘alien’ to the Japanese?”
My own experience is that most Japanese don’t even know we have to carry it.
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My own experience is that most Japanese don’t even know we have to carry it.
Right. It’s just hard to believe that the ARC is a bone of contention between the US Military forces and the regular Japanese guy on the street…
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Indignation? I don’t see the indignation. It is just the report. And the report’s point is that the U.S. servicemen don’t have to register (while Japanese as well as non-Japanese have to).
If that’s the conclusion and the point you wanted to illustrate by your J-pals, it is as illogical as drawing the conclusion that people from North Island are illogical and racists by picking some illogical and racist utterances by some people form North Island.
I can give you bunch of real racist, xenophobic and violent instances by people of North Ireland, (not anonymous people that we don’t know if they exist or not like your J-pal,) but I wouldn’t draw the conclusion that when it comes to North Islander’s attitudes to foreigners, logic seems to be the least important.
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North Island = the northern island of New Zealand.
Northern Ireland = the remaining vestige of English colonialism of Ireland.
Which one do you mean? The former? I’m sure there are tons of racists in the North Island, mind you….
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overthinker
Thanks, I mean people in North Ireland
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It’s actually Northern Ireland, not “North” Ireland. That’s one way to help distinguish them. Another is that while they both have the Queen as head of state, the North Island is not at war with the South….
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It does seem a bit whiny, the only thing I can sympathize with is the criminal part of it.
The rest, I mean, give me a break!
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I think it is discrimination law toward the Japanese
at first, Japan still fighting agaist discrimination of western
nation..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dXT0xHJP1W4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwyXXmZYXVY&feature=related
日本外交明治
I think these things make xenophobia.
Why does not the foreigner insist on this?
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Aside from some minor pride problem, the Japan-USA alliance was beneficial to Japan in my opinion. They should stick with them.
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Looking at its policies from the Wikipedia link, the SDP only looks extreme from an American point of view. Aside from a more pronouced pacifism (understandable in Japan), it looks pretty standard left-wing stuff to me, in the sense of actual left wing, not the fake left that often passes for it these days. I’d vote for them.
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The foreigner misunderstood the Japanese the right wing or left wing
basicaly ultra right wing or nationalist are anti- wenstern
they belive a pan-asianism
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dragon_Society
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geny%C5%8Dsha
so, it can say ultra nationalist took the japanese administratio
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Not paying Japanese sales tax on the American base?
Can we remind them that Okinawa was American territory (won completely legally in the war) until we kindly returned it to Japan out of the goodness of our hearts in the 1970s (and apparently in exchange for being able to keep a base there, we should also have thrown in “and you will never be allowed to whine about it!” in the deal.
Maybe we shouldn’t have given it back. Then ALL the Okinawans would be paying American taxes
Take back Okinawa!
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And at the time of the battle, 100 years had yet to pass since Japan militarily annexed Okinawa, making it officially part of Japan. In fact, when the US gave back Okinawa, barely 100 years had passed.
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Yeah, the sales tax thing is a bit silly.
I thought it was legally American territory inside the base, meaning it’s like trying to charge sales tax in a foreign country.
But I’m not naive enough to think that the return was *only* out of sheer good will. If you can get away with keeping your established military presence in the Far East without dealing with all the pesky local governance, get paid to do it, and look like a nice guy in the process, I’d say it’s a pretty sweet deal
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I can’t say with exact certainty about whether or not US bases hold the same status as embassy grounds, but I spent a lot of time in the Army, and my dad the Air Force, and on every single military base in every single country I’ve lived in we’ve never paid host nation taxes when making purchases on the base. In fact, even in the US you don’t pay US taxes on goods bought on the bases. I don’t see the US military making an exemption any time soon just to appease some whiners.
Americans not needing ARCs doesn’t seem like a big deal either. I don’t recall anyone in my family needing ARCs when we lived in Germany either. Again… whining!
The part about not being able to arrest them unless they are caught in the act holds true on US soil as well. Hell, a dealership can’t even repo and tow a vehicle as long as its on-base. Not unless they go through the Provost Martial. Again… whining.
The last part is the only part that I think is a bit… stupid. The US military pays base employees everywhere else I’ve ever been, so why is it different in Japan? I think it’s time the Japanese stop paying for something that happened before most of them were born. The US military should pick up those payments.
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Well, just as US forces demand the same everywhere else doesn’t necessarily mean the complaints here are not valid. They need to be addressed on their own – is it right and just, for example, that a dealership cannot repo a car on a US base? And if so, why?
BTW, is the Provost Marshal (not Martial) likely to stonewall any such request, or is it simply just an intermediary step?
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“won completely legally in the war”
Except for the fact that the Cairo Declaration stated that the Allies would NOT take Axis territory as spoils of war. And while it was not long since Okinawa was formally brought into the Japanese Empire, it had been pretty firmly under the Japanese thumb, in the form of the Satsuma, since the early 17th century.
However I agree about not paying sales tax on US bases. What I don’t agree with is the virtual impossibility of getting any restitution if you are in a traffic accident with a US military vehicle, who are, as this indicates, moreor less outside the law.
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“virtual impossibility of getting any restitution if you are in a traffic accident with a US military vehicle, who are, as this indicates, moreor less outside the law.”
If you’re involved in an accident in the US while driving a military vehicle you’re required to comply with local authorities and file the police report. The damages, if the military personnel is at fault, will be paid out to the claimant. Not sure why it’s different in Japan. Should be the same.
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Lets see. Japan makes war on America. America kicks Japan Ass. Japan Surrenders. America keeps a military base on Japan’s soil. Gee, I wonder why giving the LOSING countries police force carte blanche against the winning Military personal is a bad idea???
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“you’re required to comply with local authorities and file the police report.”
That might be an issue. There being no way to ensure this is done. However from what I have heard, the issue is more with the insurance problems.
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I guess we should’ve just given Okinawa back to Okinawa and had been done with it. Their cartoonists are just not up to the task of creating these super informative pieces.
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Okinawa chose to return to Japan for myself.
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For yourself?
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You must be an important person indeed!
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Yes, okinawan chose it
http://oki-jiji.com/?pid=9187870
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そうじゃなくてｗｗ
まさか本当にこう意味で言ってる訳じゃないでしょ？
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そんなもんです。「for myself」は問題あり。
もしかして、「自分の意思で沖縄人は返還の道を選んだ」？
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I think hoihoi is an American.
I am not sure if he got Japanese citizenship or not, though.
See Comment by hoihoi
2009-02-04 16:24:28
http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=8564
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単に間違っただけ。気づいても間違いが訂正できないでしょう
pontaさん、私の英語力を見ればわかるでしょう。
私はすばらしい人は、すばらしいと賞賛します。
アホは徹底的に叩きます。
しかし多くの外国人は日本で犯罪を犯しても、彼らをかばいます。
不思議ですね。
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ponta – in the thread you mentioned, hoihoi quoted someone else: “Also, cheers to hoihoi for quoting from my “American Innkeeper in Japan” blog.”
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“しかし多くの外国人は日本で犯罪を犯しても、彼らをかばいます”
「彼ら」って誰ですか？
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外国人犯罪者のことじゃないの？
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hoihoiさん
ごめんなさい。
私の勘違い。アメリカ人ならおもしろいと思った。
Overthinker.
Yeah, I was mistaken. ご指摘ありがとうございます。
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hoihoi isn’t a native J speaker.
「私はすばらしい人は、すばらしいと賞賛します。
アホは徹底的に叩きます。
しかし多くの外国人は日本で犯罪を犯しても、彼らをかばいます。
不思議ですね。」
There are mistakes in this sentence that a native speaker wouldn’t make.
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as for okinawa, Democratic Party of Japan’s vision
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2m-DU9Ag3c
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I live in Okinawa. The people that are the most upset are not the Okinawan people. In fact it is the people on the main land that cause all the stink. Yes, in the past there have been a few idiot military guys doing bad things here but 99.9% are nice and law abiding people.
The protests that you see on the news are set up in Osaka or Tokyo by Event companies. The same companies that set up rock concerts hire students to come to Okinawa and protest. They pay them 20,000 JPY. I had a few “protestors” come in to my shop and they told me about it. I asked them, “What are you protesting?” They said they didn’t know and that they were registered with a promotion /event company in Tokyo. The got a job offer that let them get a free ride to Okinawa and 20,000 Yen Cash. They show up, the news shows up and there you have it. It is all bull hockey!
In Okinawa now, people are upset because the base commanders have said that all the single military people have to live on base now. all the Fudo-sans are going nuts because they can not over charge Japanese tenants like they do the military. You have to understand what is going on here. You have a bunch of old guys that were totally scamming the J=gov to get money. Now that it is getting cut back they are freaking out!
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Really, the piece misses two important issues:
1. Noise complaints. This morning, while I was contemplating a deep philosophical issue, a loud military jet flew over my house, breaking my concentration. There are areas of Okinawa where you can’t understand your own word at times, starting from the early morning hours, thanks to the US air force.
2. Environmental problems. There are plans to build a new US military airport in the North of Okinawa, in an area with sea grass meadows, an increasingly rare coastal ecosystem.
So, I definitely hope the new Japanese government is taking a strong stance against these bases here, as promised.
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Starting in 2010 about 15,000 Military members and their families will be relocated to the island of Guam. Will that make you happy?
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And that’ll stop the base from flying loud planes early in the morning and building an airport….how?
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1. US Military fall under SOFA. A military ID is the subsitiute for an ARC. Anyways, if you compare the requirements for a ARC to that of a military ID, you will find that the invasion of privacy far exceeds anything you can imagin in any communist or socialist country. So if you are a tad bit jealous of US military personnel having supposed “special rights,” come and live in their world and you will find that nearly all aspects of their lives are controlled with social laws, that only apply to them and would never be tolerated in a free country.
2. Shopping on military installations protects them from currency fluctations and provides difficult to obtain goods that cannot be reasonably imported and maintain the same cost back in the USA. One reason the USSR had morale problems is that they could not provide an equivalent standard of living in any country they deployed troops to.
3. Japanese employees on US bases creates jobs. If these jobs were paid for by the US, US citizens would be working there. As far as I remember, Japan is a socialist country and therefore all members of society need to be employed. Shall we consider eliminating several thousand jobs and throw all of these productive employees onto the street further stressing social services or create jobs through a proxy organization?
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American soldiers shoudn’t be allowed to leave the bases.
If you’ve ever met a couple of them drunk at Roppongi, you know what i mean. The worst bunch of assholes in the universe.
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Great – anecdotal evidence.
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I’d just like to throw some positivity in here. I once met an old lady on a train around Yokohama, and we got talking, and she said that she really liked the American servicemen. She said she’ll never forget when she boarded a train with no empty seats, and simultaneously 6 American Navy men stood up and offered her their seat, whereas a Japanese man typically wouldn’t do such a thing. She also thought they were cute when they participated in the festivals.
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Bad American soldiers should be beat with the blunt end of a rifle for stepping out of line.
There are a lot of really nice soldiers over there. And frankly, if I was one of them, I’d be pretty pissed at the douchebags that commit crimes and make it difficult for the nice soldiers to enjoy Japan.
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“This makes it difficult for Japanese police to carry out investigations. ”
Hahahaha – since when COULD they actually ‘carry out’ an investigation anywhere.
And if the people of Okinawa are complaining now, just wait til the military leaves and takes their money and jobs with them.
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The drawings are pretty funny.
The one for ‘no sales tax on bases’ looks like they don’t have to pay for what they buy anywhere.
The one for not requiring to detain if the crime was not witnessed just looks like the guy gets away if no one witnessed a crime.
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Im really tired of Japan pulling this kind of bullshit. I went to Kansai University and I was with two white guys and a korean guy, when some cop comes up to us out of the blue and asks us what we were doing here. I told him, in Japanese, that I was a student, then he asked where and I said Kandai, then he asked me to show ID. I looked at him weird and showed it to him, he looked at it and said ,in Japanese, ” hey this isn’t racial discrimination, its like getting pulled over when you’re driving.” I just said to him, usually you dont get pulled over for being white. Then when he said he would ask other foreigners for their ID too, I said my friend standing right next to me here is korean and you didnt ask him for an ID. Then I just said whatever and walked away. My friend said the cop was asking him if I was mad at him after I left. haha.
If you ask me the DPJ is screwing up with making a big deal of the military presence in Japan, if they ever want those F-22s or F-35s Japan, this isnt a good start.Also this whole “lets cut emissions 25% by 2020 thing is really gonna screw over alot of big industry factories. So far Hatoyama is being a douche
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Great Idea Japan, lets get rid of all the military personnel and then lay off all the Japanese civilian workers in one of the poorest prefectures in Japan, all so there wont be any “evil foreign men”(i.e white,black, and mexican guys) raping girls and not paying taxes on base.
In response I motion that Hawaii gets rid of all their duty free shops for Japanese people, we dont want any “yellow monkeys” getting tax free stuff. See the stupidity Japan?
Oh yea last time I checked, if no one witnesses a crime, you usually get away with it, if your not on camera..unless there’s semen and blood everywhere.
If I was a member of the DPJ I would be happy they were there because it allows you to cutback on defense spending and do something that’s actually important right now,RAISING THE BIRTH RATE. Use all that money you’re saving and PAY MARRIED COUPLES MORE MONEY so they can have C H I L D R E N. Jesus, this isn’t rocket science Japan.
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Your post is a wealth of poorly targeted conflation and misinformation. Congratulations both on missing the point, and on your excellent strawman construction technique.
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And what misinformation is that? Hatoyama has been pushing his emissions and military presence pitch since he got a seat, while the declining birthrate IS a big problem. If Hatoyama really knew what he was doing, then why is he calling Hirohisa Fujii out of retirement to come hold his hand? Also tell me, what would the removal of a US military base do the local economy? Tell me a positive effect to any of this and I’ll shut up.
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Positive effect of the removal of military bases in Okinawa on the local economy:
It would greatly increase Okinawa’s popularity with European tourists. This is a subtropical island in a safe country with great food. Just that most Europeans don’t want to travel to places with huge military bases and jets flying overhead….
You are not requested to shut up, but to acknowledge or counter the argument.
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I wouldn’t consider increasing European popularity as a notable effect for boosting Okinawa’s economy. It wouldn’t be nearly effective enough to counter the devastating effect the removal of military presence would bring.
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The economic impact of the removal of 35,000+ U.S. personnel from Okinawa is going to be mitigated by increased European tourism? Despite the Yen being stronger against the Euro than it has been since CY 2002? Seriously…seriously?
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How much money do European upper middle class couples on vacation spend? A lot.
How much money does Joe Marine, who joined the service in first place because he was too poor to pay for his education, spend off base? 20$ for beer on Friday?
I don’t consider the dive bars & taco stands around the bases a solid economic base, and doubt that their disappearance would be too hard on the Okinawan economy.
Many of the Japanese people working on the bases should be able to find tourism jobs. Don’t forget to factor in the cost of these bases to the Japanese state.
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Why does the Japanese government consider the negative aspects of foreign troops based on its soil less important than the positive ones?
Could it be because it allows Japan to spend less on its own defense? Could it be that, and the 1% rule, are a great boon to the Japanese government, allowing it to spend a much smaller fraction of GDP on military matters than most other large powers, while allowing nationalistic grumbling about the situation to continue without real consequence?
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yeah Social Democratic Party FTW!
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The US military have infested the world for far too long. They should go home all of them.
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I live on Ishigaki island and I’m always riding around on my bike with my camera in my backpack in case I find something interesting to photograph for my website (which is about Ishigaki). About 5 months ago I was riding past the port and I saw a huge crowd protesting outside the gates. Some cars emerged and people started lying in front of them and waving signs etc.
At the time I thought this was a workers’s union protesting about lay-offs. It turns out that the occupants of the cars were members of the US Navy. Needless to say, they weren’t welcome. Even the mayor himself was one of the protesters.
My Japanese friends joked later that I was lucky not to by lynched. (I was in the middle taking photos – no wonder they were looking at me funny).
I was quite surprised at the level of anger displayed at this unscheduled visit by the US Navy. Perhaps it was seen as the thin end of the wedge.
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Japanese people (and government) have been patient long enough with the US (military) – they should ship out to Kansas or Kentucky or wherever they came from. Too bad Japanese generally are too nice as people, screwing with the local people somewhere else the servicemen might not make it back to base…and don’t worry Okinawan economy will be fine, LOL.
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