Letter bombs (10): Living in the past
Posted by ampontan on Tuesday, August 31, 2010
IN RESPONSE to the Update: Americans still ugly post, commenter Paul channels his inner conquistador and suggests that Japan should be in perpetual fealty to the United States:
Yeah, they should pay for it. They should pay to move the troops and the (Futenma) base. Any one remember how the US ended up there anyway?
Don’t hit someone and then complain when he sits on your head.
One would have thought the Americans might have found a more comfortable seat for their cellulite butt after 65 years than the Japanese head, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.
Many other Americans have had the same idea, among them Edwin O. Reischauer. He was the American ambassador to Japan from 1961 to 1966 and the man perhaps most responsible for creating scholarly interest in East Asia in that country.
George R. Packard, Reischauer’s special assistant during his service as ambassador, spoke at a symposium in Tokyo in May this year. Mr. Packard related something that Reischauer told him a few years before his death in 1990:
I never thought that the American military would stay this long in Japan, at such strength.
And that was more than 20 years ago.
Roual Deetlefs said
Ampontan.
Won’t Japanese Military spending escalate when the US leaves ? Can Japan afford it ?
———-
This site ranks Japan ninth in the world in military capabilities. If they sold military hardware, they could afford more.
- A.
slim said
I would reject Paul’s Imperial attitude, but it could well be that the cost-benefit analyses Japanese officials do makes even the more seemingly outlandish US requests like that Guam loan come out as far more economical than going it alone. A rearming of Japan on its own might even make the pork barrel heyday of Kakuei Tanaka and his spiritual descendants look like small change.
I wish the US would apply a cost-benefit analysis to our heavy presence in the Western Pacific.
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S: Thanks for the note.
Removing one Marine air base from Okinawa is not really going it alone.
- A.
bender said
Actually, Slim, isn’t the USFJ in Japan because this itself is a big, fat pork barrel project funded by the Japanese?
M-Bone said
In these discussions, people often end up talking about the Marines as if they are the be all and end all. They’re nearly worthless militarily. Japan is providing them with a paid semi-tropical vacation to get the carrier force and nuclear deterrent elsewhere. Japan could easily replace the “strength” of the Marines by investing the money paid to house them in shore to ship missiles. This is something that Japan could likely do without ruffling Chinese feathers.
Aceface said
I don’t think Japanese defense budget will escalate when the U.S leaves,thanks to the Sea of Japan and Pacific Ocean.If America pulls out from Korea,most of the facility in Okinawa will be unnecessary.
bender said
Okinawa was never used for the Korean war, was it? It was used for the Vietnam War and subsequent wars that took place in the Mideast. Okinawa is nicely placed between US bases in Hawaii/Guam and hot spots (Mideast).
I’m not sure if the US will ever decide to pull out of S Korea, but even if it does, Okinawa is still very useful.
Aceface said
Not exactly sure,but Japanese occupation ended only in 1952,so there were no reason for the Americans to use the facility of Okinawa for the war effort in Korean peninsula.However,the tension in Taiwan straits was also a concern at the time.
What I had in my mind is that Taoka Shunji had written that marines in Okinawa is the unit that will be in charge for the rescue operation of American civilian and military families in Korean peninsula.
mac said
And very good weapons I am sure they would be too.
Actually, since the 1950s hundreds of thousands of replica arms from 1920s Thompsons to WWII to date have been made and sold in Japan to a very high quality and realism. Handling them, you could not tell the difference from a “real thing”.
Etc.
Of course, someone does a pretty natty line in replica uniforms, including various Nazi SS, to go with them. There are a number of very high quality magazines documenting and selling this stuff.
I reckon they could tool up pretty quickly if ever the decision was made.
bender said
Actually, so what if Japan’s defense budget is used to defend Japan? It’s actually no one’s bee’s wax.
Roual Deetlefs said
Ampontan.
How the Ukraine fell to Communism, ( and the lessons it can bring to Japan ). I know that Poland also had a similar hamstrung government just before WWII.
http://www.financialsense.com/contributors/jr-nyquist/what-is-past-is-prologue
bender said
Fell to Communism????
You know that the CCCP inherited Russian territory…or in other terms, the CCCP is the “successor state” of the Russian Empire, which I believe Ukraine was a part thereof. Back then, independent statehood of Ukraine was probably very difficult, if ever possible. In fact, unlike Poland, I believe Ukraine lost its statehood a while ago. They never really recovered after Batu destroyed Kiev in 1240? You’re free to correct me if I’m wrong.
Roual Deetlefs said
@ Bender.
It seems that somewhere between the fall of the Tsars and the rise of Lenin, there was a free Ukraine … or rather quite a few of them. From wikipedia :
But perhaps this is a better explanation :