The Dark Side of a Beautiful Island

Suguru Arakaki & Sheena Arakaki, OCU

Recently, the number of marijuana-related crimes and arrests in Okinawa has increased. Where does the marijuana come from, who sells and distributes it? We don’t know, but we want to find out where it is manufactured. 

We decided to talk to a person in Okinawa detention center, a 21-year-old man who everyone calls A. To tell the truth, he is one of our best friends. We became acquainted with him through junior high school through club activities, and started hanging out with him privately. From that time, we couldn’t even imagine what he was. He was an honest boy. Many friends were relying on him. The fact remains the same. He is still an honest man. We all liked hip hop at the time, and our image of marijuana was so far away from us and just only things on the screen. 

It was his second year of vocational school, and marijuana suddenly appeared in his daily life. The beginning of experience with it was a simple invitation from a friend. The first time was shocking, and he couldn't stop laughing and everything seemed ridiculous. After that, when he had enough money, he started to smoke on weekends and drink in clubs, and the light of the world shined more beautifully than usual for him. 

After a while he began to buy and sell marijuana to his friends, and the number of customers increased, and the volume of transactions increased as well. He used SNS to contact customers, and delivered his goods to customers who'd bought them. 

Things changed suddenly when he started making money and thinking it was going well. One night, he was waiting for a regular customer as usual, and a police car accidentally passed five meters ahead during the transaction. But he thought he didn’t need to worry about it if he acted normally. As if it is usual. 

But that night was different. The police car, which should have always passed, stopped in front of him. He ran and threw his marijuana, but he was caught by the police. It's been a while since he was arrested, but he can't sleep because he worries about the results of a trial. 

According to his lawyer, if he’s lucky, he will be able to get out this year, but if he’s not, he may have to go jail for several years. We went to the jail to meet him about three months after his arrest, and he was unchanged. It was him as usual. He said he felt sorry for his family and regretted what he had done. What a tragedy for such a young person.

U.S. Military Bases in Okinawa: An Interview with Base Worker

Miho Ishikawa & Koki Kinjo

Abstract: This interview serves as a dialogue among two student investigators at Okinawa Christian University who are interested understanding U.S. military base issues and how they affect local citizens living and working in close proximity to the bases. The interviewee agreed to discuss openly her experiences and thoughts about working part-time as a university student to pay for her tuition at a local university.

Miho Ishikawa: You work on the Kadena Air Base as a one of the Okinawan. But most Okinawan against the bases. As a citizen in Okinawa and a worker on the base, are you for or against the U.S. military bases in Okinawa?

Misaki Ishikawa: I cannot sweepingly say that I am for the U.S. military bases in Okinawa or I am against the U.S. military bases in Okinawa. I am for the bases when I see the issue from only one side, but I am against the bases when I examine the issue from the opposite side. So, I cannot say I am for the bases or I am against the bases, and I cannot say I hope the bases will disappear, neither.

Miho Ishikawa: Do you feel affected by the pollution coming from the military bases? Are you even aware of the pollution and how it affects your your daily life?

Misaki Ishikawa: There are many car accident, and incident caused by the U.S. military troops, I think. There are many people who drive car dangerously. I saw some people who do that, and their license plate ware mostly “Y” number. Of course, I also feel the noise pollution, too. I hear it but also feel it. The noise is the biggest pollution, I think. 

Miho Ishikawa: What negative influence do you think that kind of pollution has on you?

Misaki Ishikawa: The noise of aircraft is extremely annoying, unsetting. I have experienced some negative impacts in my daily life. For example, when I was a high school student, the aircraft from the military bases often flew right over my school during classes, so our classes were routinely interrupted because of the noise. This is a common everyday occurrence. And it is happening even today. Nonetheless, I have not experienced any impact from accidents or incidents, such as in Futenma at Daini.

Miho Ishikawa: I have no experiences of working on bases, so I want to ask the  question. What are your feeling about working on base? Do you feel conflicted?

Misaki Ishikawa: I think there are certainly cultural differences, both positive and negative, that appear attitudes toward people’s work and customs such as giving a tip for good service. Japanese people who work on base, including me, sometimes feel that American people who work at Chili’s, for example, do not appear to care so much about the finer details of their work. I think, in this regard, Japanese people might be better observers of details than their American counterparts. This is a negative point, of course, but one positive is the custom of tipping. This is a positive for workers like me, since our basic pay is so incredibly low. I often receive tips from customers when they feel my service is good. Because of that, I can feel more motivation to work harder. Japan does not have such a system, so I think Japan might consider adopting this system.

Miho Ishikawa: For many decades, Okinawans are against or resist the military bases. Especially in Henoko, there are many opponents. They sit-down strike, and protest in front of the gate of the Henoko New Base. I have visited there once, and I saw the present situation of Henoko, and the people who protest in there. What do you think the protest campaign against the bases? Do you agree with it? Or disagree with it?

Misaki Ishikawa: I understanding the reasons why the movement against the U.S. military bases started in Okinawa, but I don’t think all the way of the movement are good. For example, sometimes the opponents are very loud in front of base’s gate, and the neighbors distressed by noise of the campaign. That makes no sense. There is no meaning if they complain of the noise pollution of the U.S. military bases, but they do same things to the neighbors. Furthermore, there are a few people who give hate speech. I think this is not a good way. I have never visit Henoko, so I don’t know what the truth is, but I know some of them do that.

Miho Ishikawa: I often hear the bad stories about U.S. military bases. What are the advantages and disadvantages of U.S. military bases do you think?

Misaki Ishikawa: I think there are some advantages of U.S. military bases. First, it is easy to learn English because there are a lot of American people close to us. Also, people can learn English by working on the bases like me. Second, we can learn about different culture. By touching upon foreign cultures during daily life, we are able to accept foreign cultures easily. This contact can lead to eliminate discrimination and prejudice. However, there are some disadvantages of U.S. military bases too. First, as mentioned above, the noise of aircraft is terrible. Also, we are threatened everyday by the potential dangers of the crash. Second, military men often cause an incident such as a forcible entry into a house and sexual violence. “A woman was raped on her way home at night by a military man.” Such cases have occurred many times so far. Okinawan people might think these disadvantages have more influence than advantages. It may be a reason why there are so many dissenting opinions about the U.S. military bases.

Miho Ishikawa: As you said, there are many positive effects of the U.S. military bases, but the same time, there are a lot of negative effects of that. What do you think the U.S. military bases will go away from Okinawa in the future? Or they will keep staying in here the same as always?

Misaki Ishikawa: I think the U.S. military bases won’t go away from this land. I don’t understand exactly when is the ”future” as you mean, but I think if that happens, maybe it will be in far-distant future. Or it may never happen. 

Miho Ishikawa: Do you want the bases to go away from Okinawa? Or do you want them to stay in Okinawa?

Misaki Ishikawa: I have never wanted the bases to stay in Okinawa. If anything, I think it is better that the bases go away from Okinawa. As I said, there are some positive effects, but the positive effects like “we can learn different culture” are more easily than in the past. So, we have other ways of knowing different cultures. Comparing the positive effects and the negative effects, there are more negative effects than positive ones. We can re-use the land where the bases are standing now. We can use the land as we want to because the land is ours.

Health Issues in Okinawa

Maimi Goya, OCU

     A beautiful emerald green ocean, clear sky with big white crowds, and friendly grandmas calling you to come inside and eat. Okinawa has so much amazing things to offer you. Those features I mentioned above are just a few. It feels as if the time moves more slowly here, and you have nothing to worry about. That’s one of the biggest reasons why a lot of people fall in love with this small island. Since decades ago, Okinawan people were known to have long-term lives, and we were always on the top of the ranking of “Longevity Prefecture in Japan”. However, the national news reported that we are now out of top 5, and it’s getting worse. Why has life expectancy of Okinawa people gotten a lot shorter so suddenly? Is there a serious problem behind this? This article presents some possible solutions to this unusual situation.

     Before I discuss the possible solutions to the problem, I would like to give more accurate data of this issue. In 2017, Okinawa Times reported that in the ranking of “Average length of life per prefecture in Japan” for the year of 2015, Okinawan female ranked in the 7th place and the male ranked in the 36th. The percentage of death who is under 65 years old for both male and female is the worst out of whole Japan, and the biggest cause of death for male is colorectal cancer and uterus cancer for female. They said that heavy drinking habits, high-calorie foods, and a lack of exercise are considered to be the main reasons for this result. 

     Now, I would like to offer my opinion on this issue. First, Okinawa is a tropical island. Therefore, it’s very humid most of the time of the year here. To keep your body active, you need to eat and store some energy. The same as the Philippines, Taiwan and other pacific islands, food with strong, sweet and sour taste is the best answer to that problem so that you can still eat in this weather without losing your appetite. However, eating strong sweet and sour foods to keep you energetic has a negative side also. Those food tend to have high calories and cholesterol. Adding to that, as the result of advancement of transportation, American and other foreign dishes, also known to have high calories, were adopted by our culture together with the people. 

     Because of this super humid and hot weather, wherever we go, most Okinawans choose to drive cars, ride buses, or take taxis instead of walking. Therefore, the calories and cholesterol we take in are not burnt, and they pile up in our body. 

     Some people also like to drink and smoke. The high calorie food, not enough exercise, and drinking and smoking habit we have nowadays are the result for the mystery. To turn this bad situation back into the healthy happy lives we used to have, I would like to recommend each one of us to start taking better care of ourselves. We could start by eating something with less calories, do a little bit more of walking, or just take annual health checkup and ask for doctors’ advices. The most important thig is, to think more carefully about your own health and make action about it little by little.

The U.S. Military Base Reuse in Okinawa

Rena Kamiyama, OCU

‘Okinawa cannot live without the U.S. Military bases.’ It has been said that the Okinawan economy would not last long without the income from the U.S. Military base. Some people have been saying that even now, and many people believe it.

But is this really true? Under the role of former governor Hiromasa Nakaima, Basic Plans of 21century Vision of Okinawa was drawn up in 2012. And it says that the U.S. military bases are a ‘Major obstacle that prevent Okinawa Development.’

Okinawa prefecture has researched the economic effects on reusing former U.S. military base site in 2017. According to the research, development of the sites effects positively to the Okinawan economy.

There was a housing area of military base in Naha-Shintoshin area, and it was returned in 1987. Induced production value in the area was 87,400,000,000 in 2002. Before the restitution, it was 5,500,000,000. The value became 16 times greater. The number of employees on the base was only 135 a year ago before the restitution. But many more jobs were created, and about 16,000 people work at hotels, restaurants, shops and other businesses are in the area now. The number is 118 times larger than before.

There are other excellent examples of reuse. Mihama area was reclaimed with the restitution of Hamby Airfield and a shooting practice range. And also, the area has grown up economically through reuse.

Reusing sites abandoned by the U.S. military base sounds really good for the Okinawan economy. However, it is not all good. Even if after restitution, Okinawans have to face many difficulties when we try to reuse site. One huge problem is soil contamination. In Japan-U.S. Status-of-Forces Agreement, the U.S. military is not required restore land to its original state. So, polluted land is returned to us.

Before we develop these areas, Okinawans have to examine carefully what was buried beneath the land and clean it first of all. This process requires a lot of time and energy.

Under a soccer ground in Okinawa City, 108 drum cans were found in 2013. Some of them contain dioxin:  a toxic compound that is carcinogenic and teratogenic in certain animals. The site was used to use as a part of Kadena Air Base.

Other examples about site of Camp Kuwae, weapons, unexploded bombs, oil, lead, asbestos and etc. under the returned land. Discovery of extraneous materials and restoring to original site were repeated over and over. These works pushed off  the development.

70.3% of the U.S. military base in Japan in Okinawa is preventing Okinawan economic development. It is obvious. At the same time we have to understand issues on restitution of the U.S. military base.

Mom

Sakura Sunagawa, OCU

If I were to describe my mom in one word, it would probably be “extraordinary.” She can be funny and weird, but at the same time she can be very scary. My mom is the strongest woman I know. She’s fearless and tough, so much so that sometimes I also think of her as my dad.

My mom is weird. That’s why I am weird too (I suppose). We embrace the weirdness together. We both go crazy and do stupid things like: throwing marshmallows at each other, vacuuming each other, and wrestling until we are out of breath. When we drink together, we both start laughing at each other for no reason.

Although she’s silly, she is really a strong, even tough, woman. She never ever complains about anything. She always puts 100% into everything she does. Also, she’s not afraid to kill cockroaches. Every time I see one, I call out to her, and she just crushes it with a tissue. No big deal.

She is funny, sometimes nice, and very powerful. I couldn’t ask for anything more in a mom. She makes me so happy every single day. My mom is a wild wind that blows away all my dark thunderclouds. Even though I come home sad, or aggravated, or whatever, she always puts a smile on my face. She has given me so much in life. Now it’s time for me to achieve my goals and give her everything she needs.

My mom? Best mom or best friend?

A Delivery Room

Noriko Shiroma, OCU

On January 3rd this year, I was at a hospital with my family to visit my newborn niece. Every time I visit a hospital to celebrate the birth of a friend’s or family member’s new baby, I’m flooded with my own delivery room memories. I gave birth to my three children in the delivery room of that same hospital. That room is a sacred place for me, because it was the place my children started their lives, and the place I became their mother.

The delivery room is a battlefield. Doctors and nurses dedicate their best efforts to ensure safe births, not only medically, but also emotionally, by offering succor to mothers during delivery by guiding them on how to breathe in the clutches of excruciating pain, and by telling them when she should push with all her might during childbirth.

Mothers also devote all of their energy to giving birth to their children. Their screams of pain and joy prove this. Most of them are in labor for several hours in a room next to the delivery room. Actually, I was in labor for 36 hours when I gave birth to my first child.

Then when the time comes, they move the woman into the delivery room. I vividly recall the scene when I was moved into that room for the first time. It was a bit chilly there, and looked clean, although it oddly did not smell like antiseptic. However the steps of delivery bed I needed to climb up into were extremely icy.

Every day, many brand new babies are born in that room. The baby that was born just now is bawling for the first time. His skin is clammy. Her hair is wet. How adorable! Their bawling voices express their strong determination to begin their journey, to begin this new, great life.

On the other hand, mothers are filled with a sense of relief after finally giving birth to their child. After all the chaos, she finally gets to see her baby, and hold him in her arms for the first time, with a feeling of almost fear, because the infant seems so fragile. Handle with caution! As I held my first child in my arms in the delivery room, I almost cried with a sense of euphoria. I also felt a little anxiety. One moment I wasn’t a mother, and then, I was. One might say that mothers are also born in delivery rooms.

The delivery room is a sacred place. Many new lives are born there, and mothers begin their new lives with their babies there. By the way, I was not only figuratively, but also literally born in that same delivery room. Only later would I also become a mother there. Although I do not remember the day I was born in one as a baby, I will always cherish my memories of the room that, in every sense of the word, delivered me.

Project Santa Claus

Airi Yenke, OCU

Christmas is one of the most important events for our family. Ever since we had our little boy, it has become even more special than ever. Last year, I decided to give my husband a drone for Christmas. I knew that he had wanted to get one, and I also thought it would be the best gift idea for my husband, who is really a Peter Pan at heart.

On Christmas day, we hopped out of bed like it was a trampoline. We had waited to open our presents for so long. My husband waited to open his present last. My heart was thundering when he was ripping open the wrapping paper. The moment of truth arrived. His reaction was priceless. His first drone! He instantly became a kid again. However, tragedy soon struck out of nowhere.

Only a week after Christmas day, his drone went AWOL in the middle of a flight! I know these things happen, but I was devastated, because I wanted him to cherish and treasure it forever. I couldn't believe what had happened, but I could tell that he was even more disappointed in himself over losing his drone. For that reason, I decided to buy him a brand new one as a surprise.

It was a perfect Saturday morning. The sky was bright blue, like the ocean is here in Okinawa. The drone was delivered to our doorstep. He was relaxing, playing with his phone on the couch, and asked me what was in the box. I asked him to open it and see. It was like Christmas Day all over again.

He literally covered his face with both of hands when he realised it was a new drone! His face got all red. I think it turned out to be an unforgettable Christmas for both of us. I spent lots of my own money getting exactly the same model of drone, but it was absolutely worth it. Why? Because, I've gotten the warmest of feelings deep down in my heart, and isn’t that what everyone deserves on Christmas?