遠々洛外
  • 遠々洛外のブログ - Far Beyond the Miyako Blog

A few thoughts about the MV22 Osprey and events in Okinawa

20/6/2012

 
As was reported in one of my earlier posts, the fallout from news received from the United States on Thursday, the 14th of June that a MV22 Osprey aircraft, the same sort of aircraft scheduled to be deployed to the Futenma Marine Base in Okinawa, had crashed injuring its crew of five continues to capture the attention of security watchers in Japan, possibly more so than the joint exercise planned between Japan, the US, and South Korea on Thursday and Friday this week.

At a media conference held on Friday last week, Defence Minister Morimoto said that Japan had requested from the United States a full briefing on the circumstances that led to the crash, given the degree of public interest in Japan in relation to the Osprey and its somewhat less-than-stellar safety record (an issue of particular concern to the Okinawans given the crash of a US Marine helicopter into a building on the campus of Okinawa International University in Ginowan City in 2004). During the course of questioning from journalists, it became increasingly clear that Japan had not received any additional detail on the crash other than what was already available via open source materials. Given the relatively short time frame following the crash itself and Japan's request for information, such a situation is entirely understandable, although it does raise a pertinent point.

Given expectations that the Osprey might warrant additional attention by the militaries of both countries in response to any mishaps, the fact that the only information available to the government of Japan was sourced from newspapers and other media reports is surprising.  In contrast to the crash of a F/A-18 Super Hornet in Virginia two months ago that prompted an request for information from the Australian Department of Defence (given the fact that the aircraft concerned was not of the same class used by the RAAF), the crash of an Osprey would presumably elicit a rapid response by the US government given the sensitivity of the entire question of deployments of Osprey aircraft to Okinawa.   

Such is the level of mistrust between the federal government and the citizens of Okinawa regarding the Osprey that the issue could provoke the prefectural government into halting all discussions with Tokyo on base relocation and refusing to acquiesce with US demands that the deployment of the Osprey go ahead as planned (i.e, August 2012). As Professor Gavan McCormarck so vividly illustrated, the question of bases in Okinawa has reached a point in which neither side appears willing nor able to agree to the demands of the other, no matter how many calls for "understanding" are made. The Osprey question has merely exacerbated what was a complex issue, and that cannot be a positive development given the amount of debate already expended on the issue of base relocation.

Comments are closed.

    Author

    This is a blog maintained by Greg Pampling in order to complement his webpage, Pre-Modern Japanese Resources.  All posts are attributable to Mr Pampling alone, and reflect his personal opinion on various aspects of Japanese history and politics (among other things).

    弊ブログをご覧になって頂きまして誠に有難うございます。グレッグ・パンプリングと申します。このブログに記載されている記事は全て我の個人的な意見であり、日本の歴史、又は政治状態、色々な話題について触れています。

    Categories

    All
    Disasters 災害
    Edo Period 江戸時代
    Japan Australia Relations 日豪関係
    Japanese Politics 日本の政治
    Japan Korea Relations 日韓関係
    Kamakura Period 鎌倉時代
    Meiji Period 明治時代
    Miscellaneous 雑学
    Muromachi Period 室町時代
    Regional Politics 地域の政治
    Regional Politics 地域の政治
    Second World War 太平洋戦争
    Sengoku Period 戦国時代

    Archives

    January 2023
    January 2022
    December 2021
    August 2021
    October 2020
    September 2020
    July 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    December 2019
    July 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    March 2017
    January 2017
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012

    RSS Feed

© 2023 www.farbeyondthemiyako.com. All Rights Reserved.