(NATSOT MARK TOUR)

“AND THEN, ON APRIL 1ST AT 0530 IN THE MORNING…”

 

(NATSOT TOUR)

U.S. Marine Mark Waycaster leads tours of the 1945 Battle of Okinawa every week.

 

(NATSOT MARK)

“WE DROPPED 4-THOUSAND 5-HUNDRED TONS OF ORDNANCE ON THAT BEACH.”

 

(FILE STILLS FROM U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES/PUBLIC DOMAIN)

Okinawa was the bloodiest battle in the Pacific during World War Two. 14-thousand Americans were killed, as were 150-thousand Japanese military and civilians. And U.S. troops never left.

 

(NATSOT: U.S. MILITARY BASE DRILLS/FONT: DOD VIDEO)

Those American soldiers have been the cornerstone of the post-World War Two pact to protect a demilitarized Japan.

 

(FILE STILL FROM U.S. NATIONAL ARCHIVES/PUBLIC DOMAIN)

U.S. troops deployed from Okinawa to fight the wars in Korea and Vietnam. Soldiers came back for rest and relaxation.

 

(NATSOT CAFE)

 

(OKINAWANS AND AMERICANS, A&W EXT ‘IN OKINAWA SINCE 1963)

The troops also provide economic security. 9-thousand Okinawans work on the bases, and many more, at businesses supporting them. Emblems of the fused culture are all over the island.

 

(TOMOTERU TAMARI, BUSINESSMAN -- IN JAPANESE / ENGLISH VO MAN 1)

14:31 J ANSWER/ // 15:13 IN THIS AREA, THERE WERE MORE THAN 100 BARS.  

 

(NATSOT TAMARAI AND AG LOOKING AT OLD PICS)

 

Tomoteru Tamari’s family owned a restaurant that thrived during the more lucrative years of the Vietnam War years.

 

(TOMOTERU TAMARI - IN JAPANESE / ENGLISH VO MAN 1)

20:48 J ANSWER // 21:03 MY FATHER // HE BECAME SO PROSPEROUS THAT ALL OF US NINE CHILDREN WERE ABLE TO GO TO UNIVERSITY, THANKS TO THE U.S. BASE.

 

(SOLDIERS/FONT: DOD VIDEO)

But those benefits are outweighed for most Okinawans by a feeling of endless military occupation.

 

(STANDUP 56/04:20)

AFTER JAPAN’S SURRENDER IN WORLD WAR TWO, OKINAWA WAS KEPT UNDER AMERICAN MILITARY RULE FOR MORE THAN TWO DECADES. RESIDENTS OF THE ISLAND ONLY GOT THE RIGHT TO ELECT THEIR OWN GOVERNOR IN 1968.

 

Today, there are 29-thousand troops on Okinawa, more than half of the 56-thousand U.S. troops still stationed in Japan.

 

(FUTENMA AERIAL/FONT: GINOWAN CITY)

One of the U.S. military bases -- Futenma Air Station -- sits in a dense urban area right in the middle of the island.

 

(NATSOT NICHOLSON WALK WITH AG)

Marine Lieutenant General Lawrence Nicholson is the highest-ranking U.S. military officer on Okinawa. He says today’s global threats make the mission here as relevant as ever.

 

(LT GEN LAWRENCE NICHOLSON, MARINES EXPEDITIONARY FORCE)

811/58:12 WE HAVE CHINA, NORTH KOREA, RUSSIA AND THE VIOLENT EXTREMISM THAT IS OCCURRING TODAY IN MINDANAO OF THE PHILIPPINES. // 803/24:20 THE LOCATION HERE, A COUPLE HUNDRED MILES SOUTH OF JAPAN PUTS US CENTRALLY LOCATED TO BE ABLE TO TO RESPOND QUICKLY.// 24:45 VERY, VERY QUICKLY TO A KOREAN SCENARIO FROM HERE TO A DEFENSE OF ALL OF OUR ALLIES.

 

(AERIALS FROM OSPREY OR GFX MAP SHOWING JAPAN KOREA-RUSSIA)

Okinawa’s location - within two hours flight time to the Korean peninsula, three hours to Russia -- make it both vulnerable and valuable to the U.S.

 

(LT GEN LAWRENCE NICHOLSON, MARINES EXPEDITIONARY FORCE)

25:46 CERTAINLY, WE'RE CONCERNED ABOUT THE LONGER RANGE MISSILES. // KIM JONG UN HAS LAUNCHED MORE MISSILES IN HIS SHORT TIME THAN HIS FATHER AND GRANDFATHER, COMBINED.

26:03 THE OBSESSION WITH WEAPONIZING AND DELIVERING NUCLEAR WEAPONS HAS CAUSED US SIGNIFICANT CONCERN.

 

(BASE, SOLDIERS + GFX FIGURES OVER VIDEO)

Japan shares the burden of the costs of U-S deployment.  It pays the U.S. $1.7 billion dollars a year for the protection -- about a-third of the 5-and-half billion the military spends in the whole country. The Japanese government in Tokyo also sends Okinawa funds for hosting the Americans.

 

(NATPOP PROTESTERS + SUBTITLE)

“Let’s continue and keep our fight so that we can win!”

 

Despite the government subsidies and spending by military personnel, a majority of Okinawans want the American troops to leave. One of the biggest complaint -- nearly six thousand crimes committed by US military personnel since 1972, according to police records.

 

(GFX 2 HEADLINES)

When three U.S. servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year old girl in 1995, public outrage soared...and propelled talks to reduce troop levels on the island.

 

(OKINAWANS)

In 2014, the crime rate for the U.S military personnel on Okinawa reached a historic low.  But last year residents were reminded of past brutalities….

 

(2016 CRIME SCENE/FONT: COURTESY STARS & STRIPES)

...when a U.S. military contractor raped and murdered a 20-year old woman.

 

AG: 21:15 HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN THESE ATROCITIES?

(SOT: LT. GENERAL LAWRENCE NICHOLSON, MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE)

YOU CAN'T EXPLAIN IT. // WE WERE AS SHOCKED AND HORRIFIED BY THE INCIDENT AS ANYONE. THE FACT IT WAS AN AMERICAN CIVILIAN WORKING ON A BASE THAT HAD COMMITTED THIS WAS DEVASTATING. // WE HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO BE BETTER.

 

(KINJO & AMY ON BEACH)

That pledge is little solace for Kinjo Takemasa. His mother managed a bar near a base in the northern part of Okinawa.

 

(KINJO MOTHER STILL)

In 1974, she died when a U.S. Marine hit her in the head with a brick during a robbery.

 

(SOT KINJO TAKEMASA -- JAPANESE / ENGLISH VO MAN 3)

58:57 I USED TO THINK THE U.S. MILITARY WAS HELPING TO REVITALIZE OUR TOWN. // BUT IT WAS AN ILLUSION, BECAUSE I BECAME A VICTIM.

 

(NATSOUND AIRCRAFT)

Six days a week, protesters gather outside this base to complain about the military presence, including the noise and the safety risks of U.S. aircraft flying above.

 

(NATSOT FUTENMA/OSPREYS)

V-22 Ospreys take off from Futenma Air Station every day. The controversial and accident-prone aircraft takes off like a helicopter and flies like a plane.  They cruise over homes, hospitals, and schools. Practically next door, Professor Masa’aki Tomochi teaches international relations at the University of Ryukyu.

 

(AG & MASA’AKI TOMOCHI ON ROOF)

53:03 AMY GUTTMAN: HOW REGULARLY DO YOU HEAR PLANES TAKING OFF AND LANDING?

MASA’AKI TOMOCHI: EVERY DAY FROM THE MORNING TO NIGHT TIME

(NATSOT FUTENMA/OSPREYS)

56:08 SIX MONTHS AGO, ONE OSPREY CRASHED IN OKINAWA.  

 

(ONAGA STILL PHOTO/AP)

Today, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga is leading the fight to reduce the American military presence.

 

(GOV. TAKESHI ONAGA, OKINAWA - JAPANESE/ ENGLISH VO MAN 2)

33:30 J//35:53 WE DEPEND ON SECURITY FROM U.S. MILITARY BASES IN THIS COUNTRY, BUT THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT, THEY ARE WILLING TO LOCATE ALL THE BASES IN OKINAWA. I CAN'T TOLERATE THIS OVER-CONCENTRATION OF U.S. BASES.

 

(SCENIC LAND SHOT +  GFX DATA)

Onaga calls it an over-concentration, because Okinawa represents less than one percent of Japan’s land. Yet, 64 percent of the Japanese land used for U.S. bases is on the island.

 

(BEAUTY SHOTS + GFX 3 MAP HENOKO BAY AREA)

Since his election three years ago, he’s tried to block construction in this picturesque, sparsely populated area in the northern part of the island called Henoko Bay, where a new base would replace Futenma Air Station.  

 

(AMY GUTTMAN 34:46)

WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE SOLUTION?

 

(GOVERNOR ONAGA / ENGLISH VO MAN 2)

33:14 J // 35:53 I'D LIKE ALL JAPANESE TO SHOULDER THE BURDEN OF HOSTING U.S. BASES. // 35:01 WHEN I SPEAK WITH PEOPLE COMING FROM MAINLAND JAPAN // I SAY, ‘WHY DON'T YOU HOST U.S. MILITARY BASES IN YOUR HOMETOWN?’

 

(SOLDIERS, AIR BASE)

The U-S has agreed to reduce its presence in Okinawa by relocating 9-thousand Marines…to bases in Guam, Australia, Hawaii and other American states. But there’s no fixed timeline for that to happen.

 

(HOUSING CONSTRUCTION ON FORMER BASE)

The military has returned 12-thousand acres of land once used for bases and training to the Okinawan government….with 3-thousand more acres promised. Professor Tomochi sees more risks than rewards in relocating Futenma Air Station.

(MASA’AKI TOMOCHI, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF RYUKYU - IN ENGLISH)

AMY GUTTMAN: YOU DON'T SEE ITS STRATEGIC VALUE?

MASA’AKI TOMOCHI: IF THE US AND JAPAN THINK THAT THEIR POTENTIAL ENEMY IS CHINA, FOR EXAMPLE, IF CHINA LAUNCHED MISSILE TO U.S. MILITARY BASES IN JAPAN, INCLUDING OKINAWA, YOU KNOW, IT'S USELESS.
AMY GUTTMAN 15:29: DO YOU FEEL MORE SAFE OR LESS SAFE WITH THE MILITARY HERE?
MASA’AKI TOMOCHI 15:32 LESS SAFE.//IT MEANS WE BECAME TARGET.

 

(PROTESTERS...THE BAY...THEN KINJO BOAT)

Most Okinawans oppose a new airfield in Henoko Bay, but construction has begun, and the Japanese government is footing the bill.  Kinjo Takemasa has been among those protesting the project and its environmental impact.

 

(SOT KINJO TAKEMASA -- IN JAPANESE / ENGLISH VO MAN 3)

5:31 THIS IS SACRED OCEAN FOR ME.  A SANCTUARY. // I BECAME A PROTESTER, BECAUSE THE U.S. BASE DESTROYED NATURE // AND THE SECOND REASON IS -- THE BRUTALITY AGAINST AGAINST THE OKINAWAN PEOPLE.

 

(TAMARI...DECREPIT BUILDINGS IN HENOKO)

Businessman Tomoteru Tamari, whose father owned that thriving restaurant,

is among the minority of Okinawans who support the new airfield...as do local officials, hoping it will revive the areas’s fortunes.

 

(TOMOTERU TAMARI, BUSINESSMAN, JAPANESE / ENGLISH VO MAN 1)

02:08 J/02:50 SOME RESIDENTS WHO HAD MOVED OUT ARE STARTING TO MOVE BACK. // THERE'S HOPE THE POPULATION WILL INCREASE AND CREATE A BETTER ENVIRONMENT FOR CHILDREN, BETTER EDUCATION.

 

(FISHING AT SUNSET SHOT...COMPLEX...BEACH)

But Okinawa’s government says the island would be better off with more private development. It says this town, built on land reclaimed from the U-S military and now home to an entertainment and shopping complex, has an economic impact 100 times greater than the base that was here before. Okinawans would like to replicate that success...turning more prime real estate used by the military into valuable destinations for commerce and tourism…like this beach, where the U.S. Marines first landed in 1945.

 

###

 

	TIMECODE	LOWER THIRD
1	0:31 – 0:35	DEPT. OF DEFENSE VIDEO
2	1:16	TOMOTERU TAMARI OKINAWA RESIDENT
3	1:22 – 1:27	DEPT. OF DEFENSE VIDEO
4	1:28	OKINAWA, KAPAN AMY GUTTMAN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
5	1:50 – 1:56	COURTESY GINOWAN CITY
6	2:44	LT. GEN. LAWRENCE NICHOLSON MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
7	4:04 – 4:08	STARS & STRIPES
8	4:12	LT. GEN. LAWRENCE NICHOLSON MARINE EXPEDITIONARY FORCE
9	4:41	KINJO TAKEMASA OKINAWA RESIDENT
10	5:43	GOV. TAKESHI ONAGA OKINAWA, JAPAN