What I’m saying is that despite the acute exaggeration by Japan’s far right wing. There is some truth to it. Until we are able tolearn from these continued mistakes. There will always a Nationalist Right Winger to exploit the emotions of the locals. In other words, STOP FEEDING FUEL TO THE FIRE!

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.

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.

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.

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.

since the US doesn’t forbid dual nationality, these green-card holders can always acquire US citizenship without losing anything

FYI

“A lot of U.S. citizens think that immigration is just another set of papers that somebody fills out, but they don’t understand how labyrinthine, how arbitrary and how fraught with error it is,” said Susan Bowyer, managing attorney of International Institute of the East Bay, which helped Rivas with her case. “Without the ability to convince immigration officers that Maria’s case needed special attention, she would have died before she had a chance to fulfill her dream of returning to her home.”
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4176/is_20060904/ai_n16708025/

While recognizing the existence of dual citizenship and permitting Americans to have other citizenships, the U.S. Government does not endorse dual citizenship as a matter of policy because of the problems that it may cause. Claims of other countries on dual-national U.S. citizens often place them in situations where their obligations to one country are in conflict with the laws of the other
http://www.multiplecitizenship.com/wscl/ws_USA.html

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?

「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.

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

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.

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.

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.

A fair question. And the answer is the indignation mentioned in this article that US servicemen don’t have to carry alien cards。

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).

>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

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.

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.

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!

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…

My own experience is that most Japanese don’t even know we have to carry it.

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.

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.

「彼ら」って誰ですか？

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.

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。

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.

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.

See Comment by hoihoi
2009-02-04 16:24:28

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=8564

BTW, is the Provost Marshal (not Martial) likely to stonewall any such request, or is it simply just an intermediary step?

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.

Okinawa chose to return to Japan for myself.

私のために沖縄は戻る事を選んだ。

まさか本当にこう意味で言ってる訳じゃないでしょ？

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2m-DU9Ag3c