This article republishes a passage originally posted on October 1, 2015.
Through a conversation with a young person from Okinawa, it portrays the sensibilities of those actually living in Okinawan society, in contrast to common assumptions surrounding Governor Onaga and the anti-base movement.
It highlights differences in perception regarding the base issue, generational attitudes, government spending, and Okinawa’s level of prosperity.

2019-04-21
Because the bases are there, the government has, compared with other prefectures, preferentially poured tax money into Okinawa.
At that, the other person nodded quite naturally and said, “Yes, I think so too.”

The following is a passage I published on October 1, 2015.
Speaking of Onaga, I recently met an ordinary Japanese person who, naturally enough, possessed none of the abnormality that characterized him.
The person was working at a restaurant run by a solid company.
Because the person was from Okinawa, the conversation became lively, and when I explained my own view of Onaga, the person agreed.
“I did not vote for him in the election.”
Very few of the people engaged in the anti-base movement are actually Okinawan, and many of those who voted for Onaga were elderly people who did not really understand anything.
Young people like us do not hold at all the sort of views Governor Onaga expressed.
Young people do not think that the mere existence of the bases is entirely evil.
As a result, there are also many opportunities to become close to Americans, who are people of another culture, and around me as well there are people who count Americans among their friends.
In other words, the person told me that there are in fact more young people who think about things in a completely natural way, no different from us.
To add further….
We do not think at all that Okinawa is poor.
Rather, we think it is prosperous.
That is what the person said.
In response, I said this.
That is only natural.
Because the bases are there, the government has, compared with other prefectures, preferentially poured tax money into Okinawa.
At that, the other person nodded quite naturally and said, “Yes, I think so too.”