Futenma

The relocation of the U.S. Marine Base Futenma in beautiful Okinawa is now in deadlock.
It seems no one in Japan wants any US Base in their neighborhood. If we add up all these individual opinions, the only conclusion will be that Japan does not need the U.S. bases. So why are there so many in Japan? That's strange.
What we hopelessly lack in our discussion here is how much security is enough for Japan when we consider the trouble of having the US force in Japan. If we really think it a trouble, we should get rid of some but instead have to accept the insecurity with less US presence. It only seems just a matter of trade-off.
But the trouble for us is we have little idea about what the "security" is.
What is the danger surrounding Japan? North Korea? China? What exactly is the potential danger of them? Are they invading us? Is the Self defense force not really enough? Is there any risk of having US military in Japan? Isn't it more likely to get terrorist attack because we have them here? Who decided the current scale of the US garrison force in Japan?
It is a usual and old trick to incite fear of the people so as to justify military's raison d'etre. There is fear told by someone in the US and Japan alike. Who are they telling us the horror stories? The military-industry complex that Eisenhower dreaded? I'm not sure.
If an organization grows over a critical mass, it begins to develop its strong self-preservation instinct. The US military is huge. It has grown already to exceed the scale that the US people can support. In a way we Japanese financially help them preserve its current mass. Is there any other major reasons why the US takes the trouble of sending a huge military all the way to a "far east" country to keep its security? Is the US such a country with an angel heart? Look at Iraq, Vietnam... We really need to think about it. Now it's even possible to think that Japan is important to them more than the US force is to Japan. Do we need to feed them any longer at least on this scale? I'm not sure.
I expected DPJ to review the US - Japan relationship from scratch and explain the process and result to us, which LDP had not been able to do. But this government has proved almost impotent about it. It seems our premier has already been implanted a fear by someone and get his brain paralyzed. I really get sick and tired of Ozawa DPJ.