By Over at Japan Probe he has translated a report from Fuji TV about complaints against the US military SOFA with Japan:
Shown in the video:
- Members of the US military do not need alien registration cards to live in Japan.
- They don’t need to pay Japanese sales tax when shopping at on base stores.
- Japanese police are only allowed to arrest US troops if they are caught in the act of committing a crime. In other cases, they must request permission from the US military to question or detain members of the US military. This makes it difficult for Japanese police to carry out investigations.
- The Japanese government must pay for base expenses, including the salary of Japanese civilians who have jobs working for the bases. [Japan Probe]
Click to link to read more and see the video, but apparently the new government that was recently elected in Japan is promising to look at revising the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the two countries. Like their Korean counterparts it appears the Japanese left is using sensationalized GI incidents to play towards Japanese nationalism because their claims against United Forces Forces Japan (USFJ) are totally bogus.
Let’s start with the alien registration claims. US military in both Korea and Japan have military ID cards that give them SOFA status in each respective country and are thus exempt from alien registration cards. The sole purpose of the alien registration demands by the activists is in order to treat US military personnel as sex offenders. These activists want the servicemembers to register so they can inform the public of where servicemembers live off post. What is interesting is that for people in Okinawa who are supposedly so concerned about troops living in their cities, they sure are upset about USFJ moving as many people on post as possible.
The sales tax complaint is the most bogus complaint because the US military doesn’t pay sales tax on base any where in the world to include within the United States. If these activists want the bases to pay sales tax then maybe they should start spending more money to pay for their country’s own defense considering the incredible discounted security blanket Japan currently receives from the US military. Also if these activists want to change the SOFA so the US military can pay for on base workers then lets fire all the Japanese and hire Americans. I’m not sure what the percentage is in the Japanese SOFA, but in Korea 65% of the work force is Korean and these workers are paid mostly by the Korean government. It is the similar in Japan. This is easily the dumbest complaint by these activists.
As far the delay in questioning US military personnel it is interesting that the Fuji TV report didn’t bother to explain why the US requires this provision in the SOFA. USFJ doesn’t immediately hand over servicemembers in order to ensure their civil rights are not going to be violated due to Japanese detention and coerced interrogation tactics that have been condemned by even Amnesty International. This TIME article is a great read on how shady the Japanese legal system can be against US military personnel. In the article the servicemember is accused in a he said, she said rape case which according to the article many of the women on Okinawa didn’t believe the rape happened. This Stars & Stripes article about another false rape allegation is another great read. In this case the accuser actually testified in court that she made the rape story up because she was mad at the servicembers for throwing away her cellphone. This testimony didn’t matter as the servicemember was still convicted. These are both great examples of why a SOFA is needed in Japan.
And here is one final note in regards to GI crime on Okinawa, in 2008 crime did increase in 2008, but if you look at the crime rate over the past few years the US military crime rate is actually lower than the surrounding population.
Click this link to see a variety of good graphs about the Okinawa crime rate.
As you can see much like with the situation in Korea the complaints against the SOFA has little to do with reality and more to do with creating perceptions by repeating the same accusations over and over again until everyone begins to believe they are true.
For further reading on Status Forces Agreements I highly recommend everyone read this prior posting of mine:
GI Myths: The Unfair US-Korea SOFA
2:46 am on September 15th, 2009 1
GI, Maj Mike Brown may not have raped that juicy, but he kidnaped another Asian teen in the US.
http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&am…
8:24 am on September 15th, 2009 2
On the timing of questioning, anybody with good knowledge of the law in Japan: how does it limit questioning for Japanese suspected of a crime?
In the US, if you are not caught in the act or close to the scene in terms of place and time, then the law stresses heavily the use of — court orders – warrants.
If the police do not capture you within the vincinty of the crime scene and/or within a limited amount of time, then they need to go before judges and layout a reasonable case for why you should be arrested to get a warrant to do so.
Even in questioning, the police are limited. If you are detained near the scene and time, they can hold you in order to get you to answer some basic questions – like giving an ID and say why you are there. You don't have the right to refuse to identify yourself, though if you do, you aren't likely to be charged with it.
But beyond such basic questions, even when caught in the act, you can shut your mouth and demand a lawyer, and in some states, as soon as you demand a lawyer, the questioning has to come to an end.
What is it like in Japan?
Because it sounds to me like the show was complaining about things that are taken for granted in the US legal system and in other countries that have developed along Western lines in their legal system…
9:06 pm on September 15th, 2009 3
Something mentioned in a previous blog may be comming into play not only in Japan but in other countries where US troops are stationed. As we continue to fill our ranks with a large number of gang bangers and individuals who want to be like them the image of Americans and the American GI is quickly changing. Leadership seems to allow US military members to revert back to their "style" when off duty. This "style" is walking through the hometowns of the citizens of countries wearing clothes that hang off their butts, using gutter language and intiminating anyone who gets in their way. This is a big change from the days of the draft when the ranks of our services reflected the American society in general. Even then, in some countries, you were required to wear your service dress uniform when you went off post. We may never get back to that point but I personally feel leadership needs to enforce a higher personal dress code and standard for off duty military personnel.
9:50 pm on September 15th, 2009 4
The difference between the anti-Americans in Japan and the anti-Americans in Korea is vast. The AAJ's are real bonafied commies. They are generally wackos, and even the leftist avoid them. They are not from Okinawa, but they feed the greedy NGO's money and people.
In Korea they could be anywhere on the political spectrum. In Korea the right the left and center are all what would almost seem to be nazi like nationalism to your average American. And the right left and center, young and old, educated and backwater all believe in the same anti-American rhetoric. They are just waiting to come out of the woodwork.
What does this mean? The Japanese commies have no real public support, but the Koreans do.
12:18 am on September 16th, 2009 5
Just a couple of minor corrections for the sake of accuracy.
The USFK KN workforce is about 65% of the civilian component. The ROKs pay a maximum of 71% of the KN salaries.
USFK KNs are "direct hire", meaning they are hired and managed by USFK. In Japan, the LNs are "indirect hire", employed by the Japanese government.
11:43 pm on September 16th, 2009 6
Thanks for the details John. Corrections made.