Current Events > Okinawa demands answers from US after 61 marines contract COVID-19

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https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/jul/12/okinawa-demands-answers-from-us-after-61-marines-contract-coronovirus

The governor of Okinawa island in Japan has demanded that a United States military commander take tougher prevention measures and have more transparency after officials were told more than 60 marines at two bases have been infected with the coronavirus over the past few days.

On Sunday Okinawan officials reported 61 cases, 38 of them at marine corps air station Futenma, which is at the center of a relocation dispute, and another 23 at Camp Hansen since 7 July.

US military officials have told them the two bases have been put into lockdown.

The disclosure of the exact figures came only after repeated requests.

Late on Saturday governor Denny Tamaki spoke on the phone to Lt Gen H Stacy Clardy, commander of III Marine Expeditionary Force, and insisted the US increases its disease prevention measures to maximum levels, stops sending personnel to Okinawa and seals the bases.

It is extremely regrettable that the infections are rapidly spreading among US personnel when we Okinawans are doing our utmost to contain the infections, Tamaki said.

We now have strong doubts that the US military has taken adequate disease prevention measures.

Adding to Okinawans concern is quarantining an unidentified number of American service members arriving from mainland US for staff rotations at an off-base hotel due to shortage of space on base, officials said.

The marines said on Friday that the troops were taking additional protective measures to limit the spread of the coronavirus and were restricting off-base activities.

The statement said measures were to protect our forces, our families, and the local community, without providing details on the infections.

The marine corps installations Pacific said on its Facebook page on Saturday that this week it had had two localized clusters of individuals who tested positive for the virus. It said those who tested positive were in isolation.

Okinawa is home to more than half of about 50,000 American troops in Japan under a bilateral security pact, and the residents are sensitive to US base-related problems. Many Okinawans have long complained about pollution, noise and crime.

Okinawans also oppose a planned relocation of Futenma air base from the current site in a densely populated area in the south to a less populated area on the east coast.

Okinawa has had about 150 cases of the coronavirus. In all, Japan has had about 21,000 cases and 1,000 deaths. Tokyo reported more than 200 new cases for a third straight day on Saturday.

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Uh oh, we know where this is going.
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Some other context to this:

There have been 0 new COVID cases in Okinawa since April, US military numbers have never been included in this figure because the US military refuses to disclose COVID information.

New reports show 60+ US military infections this week. This information was leaked to the press and not disclosed voluntarily. It is suspected that this sudden spike is related to several large July 4th parties last week and military related personnel breaking their mandatory two-week quarantine.

It is currently impossible to perform tracing, quarantining, and monitoring for Japanese citizens who have come into contact with infected US personnel. This is because the US refuses to disclose the necessary information to local health officials.

Japan currently bans Americans and other individuals from high risk countries from flying into Japan to avoid COVID spread, but this restriction does not apply to US military and affiliated personnel.

US military officials have repeatedly assured the public that all new arrivals to Okinawa are subject to their own thorough quarantine procedures. However, it was leaked recently that many of these quarantines were held at rented apartments or hotels in local communities that were never informed that buildings in their neighborhoods were being used as COVID quarantine centers.

TLDR: After a small initial outbreak in march, Okinawa prefecture has been extremely successful in containing COVID and brought down daily new cases to 0 for a period of several months. However, the US military is now responsible for a huge spike in infections that threatens to put all of this progress at risk, which is made worse by the US side's refusal to cooperate with local health officials.

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Oh fuck

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Ugh. This is just one more reason to have the US quarantined from the rest of world.

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When the World Police make the rest of the world worse

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Why the fuck do we even have bases outside the U.S?

Would people be happy if China had a military base in New York City?

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hockeybub89 posted...

Why the fuck do we even have bases outside the U.S?

Would people be happy if China had a military base in New York City?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_
with_overseas_military_bases#China

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monkmith posted...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_
with_overseas_military_bases#China

And would we be happy if China had one here like they do in Tajikistan? The U.S. has more overseas bases than anyone and we should probably have none, nor should anyone else.

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Fair

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"Overseas" Tajikistan and China literally share a land border lmao, what a goofy catch-all term.

hockeybub89 posted...

Why the fuck do we even have bases outside the U.S?

Force projection!

Look at South Korea. Their government is so terrified of the US leaving and being invaded.
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Time for Okinawa to kick us out.

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time to stop the cultural genocide in okinawa and fuck the US troops off

#freeryukyu

https://minorityrights.org/minorities/ryukyuans-okinawans/

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hockeybub89 posted...

And would we be happy if China had one here like they do in Tajikistan? The U.S. has more overseas bases than anyone and we should probably have none, nor should anyone else.

just pointing out the fact that its a common practice for larger powers to throw their weight around. calm down.

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Yeah, this isn't good.

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Okinawa should really think very carefully before saying anything foolish. After all, if it wasnt for America and Daniel LaRusso, Chozen would have probably taken over the entire island by now, and Sato would still by a tyrant.

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The Popo posted...

Okinawa should really think very carefully before saying anything foolish. After all, if it wasnt for America and Daniel LaRusso, Chozen would have probably taken over the entire island by now, and Sato would still by a tyrant.

translation. Japanese should lick the boots of Covid infected US soldiers

ModLogic posted...

time to stop the cultural genocide in okinawa and fuck the US troops off

#freeryukyu

https://minorityrights.org/minorities/ryukyuans-okinawans/

Now this is concern trolling.

monkmith posted...

just pointing out the fact that its a common practice for larger powers to throw their weight around. calm down.

China didn't have anything except that SIGINT base until 2017. Interesting.
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CruelBuffalo posted...

translation. Japanese should lick the boots of Covid infected US soldiers

Not at all. But they should make some sort of a Daniel LaRusso themed month of celebration. And while were at it, I think a statue of Miyagi the size of the Statue of Liberty should be built in Reseda, CA.

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CruelBuffalo posted...

translation. Japanese should lick the boots of Covid infected US soldiers

That's pretty much what the SK government tells its citizens while they turn a blind eye to all the military personnel's fuckwittery.
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Bio1590 posted...

That's pretty much what the SK government tells its citizens while they turn a blind eye to all the military personnel's fuckwittery.

well seeing that the alternative is NK shelling seoul while china helps their army steamroll through, yeah i can understand why...

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hockeybub89 posted...

Why the fuck do we even have bases outside the U.S?

Would people be happy if China had a military base in New York City?

We have bases in Japan because of the WW2 treaty

Japan cant have its own overseas army, so we are basically stationed there to protect them from external threats

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Samurontai posted...

Japan cant have its own overseas army, so we are basically stationed there to protect them from external threats

Hasn't that been changing recently? I vaguely remember Abe wanting to expand Japan's military.

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Ivynn posted...

Hasn't that been changing recently? I vaguely remember Abe wanting to expand Japan's military.

They cant legally have a standing army

they have a defense force, but they can only use it for... defense. They cant cooperate in overseas battles or anything like that

so yeah, they have a military, but not an overseas military. Or international or whatever you want to call it

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why the fuck do we still have a base there anyway

Kinda fucked isn't it?
US are suppose to be there for their protection
US acts like assholes because it knowing Japan doesn't have the stones to say "Get out of our country" because as soon as the US leaves the better equipped nation will invade the island and the JSDF would be powerless to stop them by themselves.

The US military might ignore this or worse they might retaliate for having their dirt leaked.

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Poop2 posted...

why the fuck do we still have a base there anyway

Because its basically our job to protect Japan, because of a shitty treaty we made following WW2

Honestly, why we still have this treaty period is insane to me

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tremain07 posted...

Kinda fucked isn't it?
US are suppose to be there for their protection
US acts like assholes because it knowing Japan doesn't have the stones to say "Get out of our country" because as soon as the US leaves the better equipped nation will invade the island and the JSDF would be powerless to stop them by themselves.

The US military might ignore this or worse they might retaliate for having their dirt leaked.

Actually Japans military is one of the strongest in the world, so its not really about a better equipped nation attacking them

The only problem is, if they were attacked, they wouldnt be able to carry out counterattacks, so itd be a war they were forced to just basically lose due to attrition

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Samurontai posted...

Because its basically our job to protect Japan, because of a shitty treaty we made following WW2

Honestly, why we still have this treaty period is insane to me

yeah no one's at war with japan and that was almost 100 yrs ago.

Poop2 posted...

yeah no one's at war with japan and that was almost 100 yrs ago.

Not to mention that Germany is allowed to have a standing army and everything as well

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Poop2 posted...

yeah no one's at war with japan and that was almost 100 yrs ago.

about 5 minutes after we leave china would just roll on in. lets not forget they're still royally pissed at china for all the raping/murdering pre-ww2.

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It's really about to be the American Virus

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monkmith posted...

about 5 minutes after we leave china would just roll on in. lets not forget they're still royally pissed at china for all the raping/murdering pre-ww2.

China wouldnt risk attacking any UN nation, especially not a NATO affiliate

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monkmith posted...

about 5 minutes after we leave china would just roll on in. lets not forget they're still royally pissed at china for all the raping/murdering pre-ww2.

no they wouldnt.

if they are rolling anywhere its taiwan or over protesters in HK

Samurontai posted...

China wouldnt risk attacking any UN nation, especially not a NATO nation

yes, china and russia definitely care about the UN and NATO...

maybe they'd just roll into the former US bases, declare that 'many japanese citizens asked them to come protect their country', and just stay like what russia did in Ukraine?

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Poop2 posted...

no they wouldnt.

if they are rolling anywhere its taiwan or over protesters in HK

dont tell me the western propaganda ive beem feeding on is wrong. china will def roll into japan.

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monkmith posted...

yes, china and russia definitely care about the UN and NATO...

maybe they'd just roll into the former US bases, declare that 'many japanese citizens asked them to come protect their country', and just stay like what russia did in Ukraine?

1) China is not Russia

2) If China is scared to attack or invade even Taiwan, what makes you think theyd have the balls to attack Japan?


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Poop2 posted...

no they wouldnt.

if they are rolling anywhere its taiwan or over protesters in HK

taiwan has an actual military, they'd actually be able to put up a fight.

in a world where the US completely pulled out of japan, you'd have a power vacuum like what happened with iraq. and china, seeing japan as an old enemy and a great place to better control that large part of the pacific, would slide right in.

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monkmith posted...

taiwan has an actual military, they'd actually be able to put up a fight.

in a world where the US completely pulled out of japan, you'd have a power vacuum like what happened with iraq. and china, seeing japan as an old enemy and a great place to better control that large part of the pacific, would slide right in.

Except that wouldnt happen at all. There wouldnt be a power vacuum

China wouldnt be able to mount an actual invasion of Japan without months on top of months of preparation, and at a huge cost economically

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we can still 'be in the area' without the bases

we still have some in s. korea for fucks sake.

we have floating bases called carriers. fancy stuff.

Poop2 posted...

we can still 'be in the area' without the bases

we still have some in s. korea for fucks sake.

we have floating bases called carriers. fancy stuff.

And Guam

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ModLogic posted...

time to stop the cultural genocide in okinawa and fuck the US troops off

#freeryukyu

https://minorityrights.org/minorities/ryukyuans-okinawans/

And remove the only thing giving china pause in the region yea great idea.

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Poop2 posted...

why the fuck do we still have a base there anyway

Because it fucking takes a long time to move military forces and assets to respond to events in East Asia, when your closest station is Hawaii or San Diego.

Have you guys never played any board or video games where controlling space is super important?

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hockeybub89 posted...

Why the fuck do we even have bases outside the U.S?

Would people be happy if China had a military base in New York City?

Because Japan would rather have US bases than Chinese bases.

ZeroX91 posted...

And remove the only thing giving china pause in the region yea great idea.

so you are condoning the cultural genocide of the Ryukyuans because china *may* do something.

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Poop2 posted...

why the fuck do we still have a base there anyway

Having multiple locations throughout the world to forward stage troops, weapons, and equipment is a good military strategy.