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Military
Peace Groups Grapple with Yokosuka Base
Thursday, October 14, 2010
Warship
Yokosuka- (PanOrient News) In Yokosuka City, Kanagawa Prefecture, where a major US Navy base is located, Japanese peace groups held an event on October 9th to commemorate Article Nine of the Japanese constitution, which mandates the maintenance of peace without armaments.
Hundreds of people gathered on a cold and rainy day to hear a lecture by Okinawa Times reporters, the release of movie which describes the struggle for Okinawa's reversion in the early 1970s, and a music concert.
After the indoor events were concluded, smaller groups participated in two outdoor events.
The first was a tour of the locations where US military personnel perpetrated crimes against local Japanese civilians.
Attorneys of the Yokohama Godo Law Office described a number of criminal events that occurred on or near Yokosuka's Yonegahama Street.
For example, at 6:30 am on January 3, 2006, Yoshie Sato, a part-time worker, was robbed and murdered by US serviceman William Reese. In the process of robbing her of 15,000 yen in cash, she was beaten so badly that she eventually died of a ruptured liver and kidney. According to the lawyer, Reese was looking for someone to rob and beat since he had lost his money drinking the night before. Mrs. Sato's widower joined the tour and appealed that such an incident never happen again.
The tour also included the spot where a US soldier murdered a taxi driver this March. The taxi driver was stabbed to death while he was checking a credit card given to him by the soldier.
After the crime tour, about sixty people joined a chartered cruise of Yokosuka harbor. Under heavy rains, the boat departed Mikasa Park to view naval residences, the hospital, storehouses, and oil fuel terminals. Some of these belong to the US Navy and some to the MSDF.
Many ships and submarines were spotted in the harbor, including Aegis warships and the first MSDF helicopter aircraft carrier. Kazuhiro Suzuki, the navigator of the tour, said that the MSDF warships were built along US models.
A young woman, who had never seen such a sight before, told PanOrient News: "I feel afraid. It seems that the US and Japan are cooperating together to wage a war in the future. I cannot believe what I have seen."
A man in his 50s commented, "I wanted to see the reality. In order to protect Japan's peace, US bases must be withdrawn."
PanOrient News
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