Maher’s Slip of the Tongue Is an Unbelievable Insult

It seems that the man in charge of the U.S.’ negotiations over the relocation of Futenma military airfield holds Okinawa in contempt and scoffs at the problem of the base itself.

Kevin Maher, head of the Office of Japan Affairs at the U.S. State Department and former consulate general of Okinawa, is reported to have said in a speech given to U.S. college students that, “Okinawans claim MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Futenma is the most dangerous base in the world, they know it is not true.” He then pointed out that other airports in Japan are near residential areas.

The students were preparing for a research trip to Tokyo and Okinawa last December when Maher advised them to “be careful about ‘tatemae and honne’ […] the idea that words and actual intentions are different.” We are disappointed that the U.S. State Department’s head of Japanese Affairs would run his mouth and display such prejudice in front of college students coming to Japan. It’s a mistake that forces us to question his professional competence.

Maher stirred controversy during his time as consulate general by making similar comments that Futenma was not dangerous. Will the Japanese government be able to continue discussing Futenma while partnered with a diplomat who negates the entire process as far back as the mutual agreement reached during the Hashimoto-Mondale summit in 1996? We don’t believe so. To deny the dangers of Futenma is to destroy the basis of Japanese-American diplomacy on the issue. His comments belittle 15 years of negotiations, including the resignation of former Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, who promised the base “out of the prefecture, at the least.”

The college students took notes during the speech, but Maher denies their clear transcript of his remarks, saying, it is “neither accurate nor complete.” Perhaps his past remarks about Futenma being “not dangerous” were his “honne.” Even worse were his comments that Japanese people use their “culture of consensus as a means of extortion…By pretending to seek consensus, people try to get as much money as possible. “He also derided Okinawans as “lazy,” saying they are “masters of manipulation and extortion.”

Compared with other countries that allow U.S. troops to be stationed on their territory, Japan shoulders an enormous share of the expense. Our tiny island of Okinawa is home to most of the troops, and they are stationed at a base built by the army of “bayonets and bulldozers,” as the tyrannical U.S. occupation force was once called. Given Okinawa’s history, the cost of the base and the damage caused by it, we are sickened that a U.S. diplomat would spew out contemptuous words like “manipulation” and “extortion.” We are fed up with simple black and white arguments, that Japanese politicians use “tatemae and honne,” so “U.S. ambassadors who speak the truth are criticized.”

Maher has worked with the embassy since the 1980s and is generally supportive of Japan. It seems that many years of negotiations may have warped his outlook on the country. He is quoted as saying, “Tokyo needs to tell the Okinawan governor, ‘If you want money, sign it,’” and, “Okinawan politicians will agree to a deal in Tokyo only to return to Okinawa and claim they did not reach an accord.”

Maher and the pro-relocation faction seem to harbor strong feelings of distrust. That may be why both the Japanese and U.S. governments have dispensed with a local consensus and are moving ahead with discussion of Henoko as a site for the relocation. The U.S. is pushing for a decision by this spring. So the talk of “reducing Okinawa’s burden” was all lies.