A Proposal to 
 

 U.S. Decision Makers 
 

 for Resolution of the 
 

 “Okinawa Problem”
 
 
 

 
 

PROLOGUE	2
1.  PATTERNS IN OKINAWAN SOCIETY	4
2.  CAPABILITIES OF OKINAWAN LEADERS	7
3. THE PROBLEM OF THE US COMMANDER IN OKINAWA	8
4.  THE OKINAWA ISSUE WILL GROW MORE COMPLEX	11

 
 
 
 
 

PROLOGUE

 In the 21st Century, the tensions from the Cold War in Asia are clearly on the rise.  Yet, there are moves now afoot to reduce the U.S. military capabilities currently resident in Okinawa.
 The situation is becoming such that a grave error by either the Government of the U.S. or Government of Japan in trying to dissipate or respond to this force reduction movement, will have pervasive impact on the preservation of peace and security in East Asia.  For that reason, this report was compiled in some haste to help preclude problems.
 The executive leadership not only of Okinawa but of all Japan finds itself at a crisis point.  In achieving its postwar recovery under cover of the Japan-US Security Treaty, Japan passed some 56 years never once having experienced armed conflict nor a single shot fired in anger.  Nor since recovery has it been able to establish a common national agenda.  Indeed, the “Peace & Pacifism” basis of Japanese education today has proven inept at providing a badly needed elite capable of decisive strategy.
 Japan today is at its limits in putting off resolution of its many problems.  The ab-sence of any clear policy on Okinawa is but one example. 
 Okinawa’s candidates for executive or assembly office are not elected based on their qualifications but on how enthusiastically they have pursued the personal ties cultivated through golf, weddings and funerals.  As a consequence, the Okinawan politician has little time to study issues even as lately, his political slogans ostensibly reflect the vox populi by calling for “Reduction of the US Military” or “Reduction or Elimination of the Marine Corps from Okinawa.” 
 Little in the way of leadership or responsible thought can be expected of such crowd-pleasing politicians or the self-proclaimed intelligentsia of Okinawa’s universiti-es who refuse to consider how impor-tant security and national defense might be.  It has instead become b the default for such politicians and members of the local press to make political hay through extremist anti-military pronouncements. 
 To avoid exacerbating the situation, Japanese politicians and ministers from the mainland make statements intended to placate the public sentiment in Okinawa.  This has helped give dinosaur proportions to the anti-base movement its monstrous role.
 In conjunction with this, the defeat to the United States in the Japan-US war left Japan and particularly our free press, with an abiding aversion to anything military.  The Japanese also suffer from an internalized guilt over the policies enforced against China and Korea.  This same thesis (Ger. ‘thought platform’) has been carried over into the debate on Okinawa.  Leftist pronouncements such as “Some 75% of the U.S. force in Japan is concentrated in Okinawa,” or “The Great Loochoo (Chinese, ‘Ryu-kyu’) Kingdom was felled by invasion from Japan”, lead to the frantic, blind spreading of ever growing funds and monies by the national government.  In the 28 years of the post-Reversion era, between 1972 and the year 2000, the Government put some 10 tril-lion 401.8 billion yen into Okinawa (approx. 4X China’s total ODA). 
 The linguistic roots of the Okinawan people clearly shows them to be Japanese although until the 1879 annexation by Japan, the islands were administered by a Chine-se immigrant minority.  The overwhelming majority of the population strained as an agricultural labor force under conditions akin to Communism.
 In the wake of the Soviet collapse, the United States has lost its watchfulness and awareness of the need for readiness; the morale of its military is at a bottom.  Indeed in the Clinton years, the payroll cuts and booming domestic economy appear to have made it difficult to recruit the best and finest. 
 Japan too has suffered from the same conditions -- in the Taisho Era following the end of World War I, and during the post-WWII economic boom.  During these years, the commanders of Japan’s forces were sorely troubled.  Unable to muster qual-ity recruits, officers were constantly dismayed by the problems repeatedly caused by troops on liberty.  As a Maritime SDF Officer during this era, every time I watched my troops depart the base I just prayed:  “Please don’t let any of my men cause an inci-dent.” 
 It is exactly because conditions are the way they are that this is precisely the moment for the two governments of the United States and Japan to work more closely together, to better understand each other, to form a mature relationship between equals akin to the ties between the United States and England.  If we are to ensure the stable operation of the U.S. military in Okinawa, the general public of both nations must be made aware of the real situation in Okinawa, which will allow objective responses. 
 

1.  PATTERNS IN OKINAWAN SOCIETY

 Roughly 15,000 or 60% of the U.S. troops in Okinawa are U.S. Marines.  At 12 minutes past noon on January 23 this year, Senior Marine and Okinawa Area Coor-dinator Lieutenant General Earl Hailston sent a ‘Personal For’ e-mail out to 13 ad-dressees on the proper leadership and discipline of Marines.  However, the e-mail also disparagingly referred to Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine and Kin Mayor Katsuhiro Yoshida:  “I think they are all nuts and a bunch of wimps.”
 There is valid reason for this.  At 7:30 in the evening of January 9, a U.S. Marine photographed the underwear of a high school girl displaying herself from a Kin Town flower bed.  The Marine was caught then held by the girl’s boyfriend and some of his friends. 
 On January 25, the case was settled with a 50,000-yen fine for infraction of regulations.  However, starting three days after the incident (January 12), the Okina- wan press labeled this “a case of willful molestation” and continued to report in this sensationalized vein despite the protests of the girl’s legal guardian. 
For a people who often profess their strong love for peace, at 63 per population of 10,000, Okinawans have Japan’s highest rate of criminals and thugs.  This is some 1.8 times the national average.  Okinawa also leads in assaults and rapes.  (In 1996 et al, Okinawa had 0.29 rapes per 10,000 population, the worst rate in Japan.)
But I digress.
Just two days after the 9 January incident, on 11 January, Colonel Michael C. O’Neal, Commander of Camp Hansen where the Marine who took the picture is sta-tioned, visited the Kin Town Mayor in contrition.  Giving this no consideration, on the following day, the Kin Town Assembly passed a unanimous resolution demanding the “Reduction of the Marine Forces on Okinawa,” followed on 15 January by a similar demand by the Nago City Assembly, which was in turn, followed on 19 January by the same demand from the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly. 
Nor was that all.  Kin Mayor Yoshida flew to Tokyo on 14 January to hand deliver papers to Defense Agency Administrative Vice Minister Sato?his Opinion Statement and Protest called for the same Marine Corps reductions.  That same day, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) President Makoto Koga declared before an assembly of Kyoto News affiliates, “We will consider reducing the U.S. Marine force.”  So en-couraged, the leftist forces are sure to push for Marine Corps reductions in the future. 
Actually, Hailston’s e-mail also included the following:  “I tell you that this latest incident in Kin has been blown out of proportion.  The anti-base reformists have been given the freedom to attack with no cover or counter remarks by any of the locals who falsely claim to be our friends.  This situation went from the Governor, both Vice Governors, Mayor Yoshida and a Diet Member separately telling me in person last week that ‘while this is bad we understand and appreciate your efforts’ to all of them standing idly by as the OPG assembly passed an inflammatory and damaging Resolu-tion (to reduce the Marine Corps presence (sic)).” 
However, of the two local papers, the Okinawa Times and The Ryukyu Shimpo, the latter on 6 February, highlighted the portion critical of the Governor and Mayor Yo-shida ? the part about “nuts and wimps” ? and widely publicized this as “an insult to the people of Okinawa.”  Okinawa Times then hastily followed the Shimpo lead, thus ex-panding the controversy.
In point of fact, The Ryukyu Shimpo’s Managing Editor Choiichi Takamine is a registered member of the One Tsubo Anti-war Landowners movement.  On the eve of the G-8 Summit, both local papers published derogatory coverage falsely proclaiming, “US military Crime 10x Okinawa Rates.”  (The unsubstantiated information was provided by Tsutomu Arakaki, a lawyer and member of the One Tsubo Anti-war Land-owners.  However, although both papers were forced to print retractions, The Ryukyu Shimpo again printed a story saying the U.S. Forces crime rates were about the same as local crime rates.  (Actually, it is about 1/2 the local rate.) 
Both papers and the leftist leadership called for Hailston to be fired based on the contents of his e-mail, and they were even joined by Diet member Masaji Nakamura of Okinawa, currently serving as Deputy Prime Minister.  Not stopping, Nakamura al-so declared, “They (the U.S. installations) are just as they were during the Cold War era as he endorsed the idea of reducing the U.S. Marine presence. 
Kosaburo Nishime, President of the Okinawa Liberal Democratic Party, has joined the local press in declaring USMC withdrawal to be “the common desire of all Okinawans.”  Is this true?  There are some surprising facts.
On January 19, the Naha City Assembly debated passing a resolution calling for U.S. Marine reductions.  However, here, one courageous Assembly representative invoked controversy by noting, “The facts of the incident are still unknown.”  The re-solution failed to pass when just two or three other Assembly reps supported this.  What happened next is the problem.  Leftist activists and local media followed the man home, bombarding him with derogatory comments and his fax with nasty mes-sages.  Four large bills were prominently posed throughout his neighborhood saying, “Resign from the City Assembly, you should be ashamed to show your face in public.”
The entire spectrum of events recalls to mind what Fuyu Iha, father of Oki-nawan literature, defined as the worst character trait of Okinawans in his classic, “The Old Ryukyus” (pub. 1942):  “builders of mountains out of molehills.” 
Actually both Camp Hansen in Kin Town and Camp Schwab in Nago City are where they are today due to intense lobbying by the parents of today’s townsmen.  In fact, in the early 60’s, Okinawan resistance to the U.S. military presence was the mirror opposite of what we see today. The general public chanted the mantra of Ryukyuan-US friendship in chorus with the two local papers, who reported U.S. military crimes ob-jectively, no differently than they did crimes by Okinawans.  The 1955 arrival of the III Marine Amphibious Force to Okinawa from mainland Japan had set off a second wave of major base construction projects, and Okinawa’s economy was rolling in money.
The media then certainly did not protest the USMC presence; indeed their cov-erage was consistently favorable. 
On the eve of the Battle of Okinawa, the Prefecture’s citizens learned that in a 1920 attack on the Japanese garrison in Russia’s Nikolaevsk, Red partisans had massa-cred some 700 Imperial soldiers and Japanese civilians.  This gave rise to prejudice in Okinawa of “Whites are barbarians.”  However, the humanitarian conduct of the U.S. landing force so captured the hearts and minds of Okinawans that even pre-War Com-munists were moved to be pro-American. 
The following 27 post-war years of U.S. investments and administration left behind more pervasive and farther reaching impacts than simply providing defense se-curity from Okinawa.  It decimated the pre-war causes of deflation that had been es-tablished under the Japanese system, routed long prevailing practices of intermarriage and poor sanitation, and upended the engrained acceptance of male superiority and fe-male subservience which had encrusted and consumed Okinawan society. 
This can be easily shown statisticly.  The (1937) prewar balance sheets of the people of Okinawa showed excessive loans.  Against 6.4 million (Imperial era) yen in deposited funds, the outstanding loan balance was 16.5 million yen with the gap grow-ing ever wider up to the Battle of Okinawa.  In contrast, at 1972’s Reversion to Japan, deposits of some 336.513 billion yen offset 289.65 billion yen in loans outstanding.  The population too grew 59% from its (1937) prewar peak of 597,902 to 954,000 at Reversion. 
This author’s mother was one of the many who had no opportunity beyond elementary school in the prewar era.  After the war, she studied English and typing at an on-base school, and later, as a pioneer business woman, started her own business which carried her to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Tokyo.  In that day, young people crowded English classes all around the island.  Okinawa was on its way to becoming a U.S. version of Singapore. 
However, in the 1960’s, the people of Okinawa decided to reverse this course.   This was primarily driven by Japan’s emerging Left which began to wield its strong in-fluence over the public media and universities around the end of the Vietnam Conflict.  Then came the infamous Nixon Shock and its sharp drop of the dollar against yen, and the equally rapid cooling of Okinawan passions for America and things American.  Today, the Japanese government’s extended pickling of Okinawa in subsidies and wel-fare money first saps, then rots the entrepreneurial ardor of the people of Okinawa. 
Where The Ryukyu Shimpo once touted its “abiding appreciation for the deep humanity and generosity of the U.S. troops,” today, it refuses to so much as report any good they do.  For example, on November 13 last year, the Commander of Camp Kin-ser (located in Urasoe City), U.S. Marine Corps Colonel Paul R. Puckett passed away from a brain hemorrhage.  Immediately, his organs were donated to two Japanese in Kyushu in the first ever case of a U.S. military donor giving to Japanese (NHK radio November 17 broadcast).  Nor is that all.  There is no way for Okinawans to know that numbers of U.S. military personnel in Okinawa have signed donor cards promising their usable organs to Japanese nor how in one case, a Municipal Civil Servant Union official physically routed U.S. personnel who came to volunteer their time in a search for a missing child. 
What we must note here is that the two local papers hold a combined reader-ship of 97% in Okinawa.  This derives from Okinawa’s unique obituary practices?a widely read section of the papers. Besides giving details on the memorial service, an obituary includes the deceased’s rank, names all close relatives and friends, and comes at an exorbitant price that ensures newspaper operations.  (Mainland obituaries name only the deceased and are free.) This service and the prices set are a cartel monopoly. 
Additionally, the mainland papers that otherwise hold sway throughout all Ja-pan cost at least 50% more and must be brought in as air freight which makes them half a day late.  These factors ensure that the near total control by the local papers of the Okinawa’s readership will continue for the foreseeable future. 
 

2.  CAPABILITIES OF OKINAWAN LEADERS

 Even as Governor Inamine personally appeals to the two governments of Japan and the United States for ‘base reductions’, he clings to a 15-year use condition that has no logical basis in his program for intra-Prefecture relocation of Marine Corps Air Sta-tion Futenma.  This figure, which did not even surface in his policy until a year after he assumed office, has led to major stumbling blocks in relocation. 
 The Leftist support for opposition candidate former Governor Masahide Ota might just as well have won the election two years ago ? by rejecting the practice of “revengeful changes”, Inamine has not only failed to discharge so much as one Ota sup-porter from the OPG, he uses former Ota confidants including the Vice Governor and Treasurer. 
 More than a few citizens of Okinawa harbor doubts about Inamine’s ability to lead.  Even a Vice Governor unabashedly and publicly says, “He’s not a man to make his own decisions.”
 The mass media too mock him, agreeing among themselves, “His habit of ex-aggerating means you have to find out what’s really going on to write a story.”  They delight in pressing Inamine on something he said, then watching him get himself deeper into trouble. 
 The leadership at Kin should also be viewed askance.  The Mayor is a regis-tered member of the One-Tsubo Anti-war Landowners.  And to get back to an earlier subject of this paper, he has shown no intention of combating the serious juvenile delin-quency problem in his town. 
 An interesting example shows the level of Kin government leadership.  In September of 1999, to mock the Bank of the Ryukyus which was already reeling from the consequences of loose and inept management, the Mayor withdrew some 20 million in Kin funds from the Bank without the approval of or any submission to the Town As-sembly, and invested the money in a private venture.  Anywhere else in Japan, the As-sembly would have called for his dismissal and the public would have called for an ac-counting.  But earlier in May of that year, the Mayor had officially agreed to relocation of the Sunabe Communication Facility to the military area within Kin’s boundaries and the Government of Japan, as supportive funding for SACO, had given Kin 270 million yen in unrestricted monies.  The huge windfall had destroyed the perspective of the Kin Assembly representatives and townspeople.
 
 

3. THE PROBLEM OF THE US COMMANDER IN OKINAWA

At around 1400 in the afternoon of the same day as Lieutenant General Hail-ston’s 23 January e-mail, Ambassador Issei Nomura of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Okinawa Liaison Office chaired a special session of the “Working Team to Prevent U.S. Military Incidents and Accidents.”  The attendees included U.S. representatives LtGen Hailston and his subordinates, senior DFAA officials, a Vice Governor, and the Mayor of Kin.  During the session, the OPG representatives strongly pressed the U.S. military for more effective disciplinary measures.  General Hailston expressed his strong dis-pleasure, declaring, “Okinawans do not consider how much the U.S. military contribut-es to the local community.”
 

My investigations into the January 9 incident in Kin, brought me an almost painful awareness of how LtGen Hailston must feel.
I visited the actual site of the altercation at the same the original incident had occurred.  Neighborhood residents told me, “The papers warped everything.  It’s a delinquent hangout; the kids are problem children.”  Just as reported to the Naha DFAB (Defense Facilities Administration Bureau), junior high and high school girls were loitering about in their uniforms despite that fact that it was already dusk while nearby, the boys huddled together in hostile groups.  Conditions here are bad enough that Police have placed a sign at the entryway to the area, “Shakedowns are a felony.”  These are not common sights in Japan. 
Unheeding of such conditions in his own back yard, the Mayor of Kin flew to Tokyo on January 24 to demand of the MOFA Director of North American Affairs and the officials responsible for Okinawa issues, the “complete and thorough education for U.S. military troops.” 
In truth, Okinawa’s annual delinquency rates and foster care rates average 30 to 40 points higher, at some three times the national averages.  Children are sent to ju-venile detention halls at about five times the national rates. 
The mainland press fails to look for the underlying truths, merely parroting what is readily available from local media sources.  This expands the problems.
As conditions are resolved, the local media and Okinawa Prefectural Govern-ment target new issues such as base environmental pollution problems.  However, as is apparent from the Ministry of Health’s 1998 review of 1,901 municipal and local gov-ernment dumps and garbage control areas throughout the nation, 73% or 22 of the 30 dumps in Okinawa were cited for radical violation of standards.  The reports says there is imminent danger to the underground water table and other threats as well.  However, not the OPG nor the municipal authorities make any moves toward rectifying the situa-tion.  They almost certainly intend to shift the blame onto the military.
To ensure continued operations at Kadena Air Base, some voices in the Gov-ernments of Japan and of the United States are suggesting allowing some reductions in the U.S. Marine presence will placate the people of Okinawa.  Such a move however will only refocus a freshly encouraged Leftist drive on Kadena itself.  The original fo-cus will use environmental issues as the attack front.
Let me close with a few notes on Okinawa Governor Inamine, to provide a hopefully meaningful insight into the strange bedfellow relationship of the Japanese Government and the OPG. 
The Governor has an annual salary of 28.5 million yen.  This is the second highest of the seven prefectures of southern Japan (Kyushu), topped only by Gover-nor Hiramatsu’s in affluent Oita.  In direct contrast, the per capita annual income of Okinawans is Japan’s lowest at an annual 2.15 million yen.  Governor Inamine clearly is paid for more than he earns. 
Of all the prefectures of Japan, only Okinawa’s annual budget is consistently raised in the Ministerial conferences, under the auspices of the Minister for Okinawa Issues and Northern Problems.  Okinawa’s economic planning is provided by the Cabinet’s own Okinawa Planning Bureau where special national policies are also ar-ranged.  Actual negotiations with the U.S. military authorities is conducted by the Okinawa Liaison Office of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  Put bluntly, the Oki-nawa Prefecture Government does not operate at the same level as all the other Pre-fectural Governments in Japan. 
In defense, the OPG Administration Office weakly notes that the current Governor’s salary is 1.93 million less than what he was paid in his previous post as Chairman of Ryukyu Oil Co.  How well does the reader know Ryukyu Oil? 
The present Governor’s father, Ichiro Inamine, established the firm during the postwar U.S. Occupation.  It reaped incomparable profit as a near monopoly in areas under U.S. control.  Such conditions led the firm to become the primary sour-ce of funds for the anti-Reversion movement up to 1972. 
Young heir Keiichi Inamine first entered the public eye in August of 1996 as Deputy Chair of the Commission for Discussion of Okinawa Base Issues (a.k.a., the Shimada Commission) established as a non-governmental agency under Chief Cabi-net Secretary Hatakeyama (now deceased).  There, he was adamantly opposed to the U.S. base presence. 
The Inamine of those days had not the eyes nor ears, nor courage to see that the Government of Japan would attempt to defuse the anti-base movement by spreading ever growing subsidies, nor to see through the media program or Leftist moves on Okinawa. 
On February 8, LtGen Hailston called on the Governor in his formal Alpha uniform, to offer apologies.  Ruled by his emotions, the Governor refused to shake Hailston’s hand, and quickly departed after saying, “Okinawa is atop a bed of lava that has been seething for 56 years.”  TV coverage of this scene noted the failure to extend even the most basic universal courtesy and even the Governor’s staunchest supporters quailed.  Inamine’s failures of leadership have created great fissures and conflict in his Support Group and in the Conservative coalition.
The conditions remind this writer of “The Lost Ryukyuans” penned in 1926 by Japanese writer Kazuo Hirotsu, published by Chuo Koron.  Hirotsu noted an Okinawan’s observation:  “As Ryukyuans, we been so long under the mainland thumb that we no longer have the heart to try to trust the Japanese.  Of course there are some differences in degree, but this is more or less true for all of us.” 
At the time, Okinawa’s economy was in shambles, and the four Diet repre-sentatives from Okinawa had just presented a joint petition for relief to the national Government.  The petition urged the Government to provide “special measures equivalent to those granted to colonies.” 
As evident, the people of Okinawa have always been caught up in strong political passions to the exclusion of needed work in more productive endeavors such as focusing on education.  Nor has this aspect improved over the last three quarters of a century.  (However, because there were no U.S. installations then, the situation did not attract the attention of the pre-war Japanese public.)
 

4.  THE OKINAWA ISSUE WILL GROW MORE COMPLEX

Of late, the level of dependency of the Okinawan economy on subsidies has risen 10.6% from the level at Reversion to 34.2% today, twice the national average.  In addition to this, the Government has been able to subsidize some 45 IT (Information Technology) firms into coming to Okinawa in attempts to alleviate the unemployment problem (also twice the national average).  However, the management of these firms have encountered some serious problems with the low productivity of Okinawan labor. 
Local youngsters raised in a welfare environment have few incentives to leave Okinawa to seek work in mainland Japan, and are even less aware of the outside world. 
There are also growing problems in international security.  In August, 1997, a multi-partisan delegation from the Okinawa Prefecture Assembly was hosted by Py-ongyang.  Since then, they have joined together in repeatedly declaring, “North Korea is not a nation to initiate war.”  Okinawa’s North Korean sympathizers have formed a Juche Study Group and in conjunction with the Socialists and Komeito of Japan, have joined in an attempt to draw a United Nations agency to Okinawa. 
What deserves most watch however, is the emerging revisionist portrayal of our history with China.  As written by the professors at the University of the Ryukyus: ‘the Ryukyus formed an independent Kingdom whose people were particularly blessed with peace and freedom, with China as our most understanding partner and ally.’ 
The May 27, 1999 issue of Hong Kong’s daily Eastern Star (sic) noted “the Ryukyus now should be as they always were, subservient to China.”  Chinese have more than once indicated China would draw on the 400 year history of Chinese control and Ryukyuan allegiance to the successive emperors to again lay claim to these islands. 
 

I here offer some thoughts to the U.S. authorities.  Please do everything pos-sible to encourage Japan to assume the responsibilities of a fully independent, sovereign state.  This might require revising the Security Treaty to alleviate the current inequi-table burdens in assuring regional security, and requiring Japan to bear its full and fair share of responsibility.  For Okinawa policies that ensure a continued U.S. military presence, you must nurture people of talent who truly bridge between the two states.  To better provide such, why not allow enrollment of selected Okinawan children into the Department of Defense elementary and junior high schools.  As is evident in the results of the US supported GARIO ? Fulbright exchange student program for Oki-nawans, the university education stage comes too late to develop the elite you need. 
Also, programs such as the Pacific Command’s Advanced School for Military Strategists (exchange studies program) in Hawaii should also convene in Okinawa. 
Let me be blunt.  If you fail to ensure a stable Okinawa position for your most important weapon in regional conflict, the U.S. Marines, because you cannot cope with a well orchestrated public sentiment, this will send the wrong signal to all quarters. 
In the 15th Century, China controlled the waters of the East and South China Seas.  Japan then was isolated, even as most of Asia gradually bowed to Chinese con-trol.  A withdrawal of U.S. Forces from Okinawa means that the East China Sea will be under the control of China much as the South China Sea already is.  This can not have positive impact on U.S. national interests. 
 

A Biographical Sketch of the Author
Ryunosuke Megumi

Born 1954 in Koza City. 
Class of ’78 graduate with major in Management, National Defense University, commis-sioned by Maritime Self Defense Force following OTC (at Edajima), resigned as Lieutenant in 1982 after completing duty on the Fleet’s “Around the World” voyage.
Commenced employment with the Bank of the Ryukyus in 1987; studied the U.S. Depart-ments of State and Defense, the Florida State Treasury and Tourism programs, and the Free Trade and Commonwealth systems of Puerto Rico under the May, 1997, U.S.I.S. May program for foreign journalists. 
Resigned July 1997 from the Bank of the Ryukyus to serve as journalist and com-menta-tor.  Currently residing in Okinawa. 
E-mail:   ryunosuk@cosmos.ne.jp 
URL:   http://www.cosmos.ne.jp/~ryunosuk/
 

By the same author: 
“The Emperor’s Captain:  the Life of Commodore Kenwa Kanna of Okinawa” publisher, date.
“The Okinawa No One Dares Write About”, PHP Research Institute, 2000.