V
JAPAN: 1970!
Treaties, Bases, and Students
In 1970 the Japan-U.S. Mutual Security Pact will reach a
critical point.  If neither party to the pact expresses a desire
for its termination, it will automatically be continued.
Thus the pact will not necessarily cease in 1970. However,
after recently returning from six weeks in Japan, it is
obvious to me that 1970 will not pass without heated discussion of the treaty.
The original Japan-U.S. Security Treaty (1951) was a direct
outgrowth of the American Occupation.  The treaty permitted
the U.S. to station "land, air, and sea forces in and about
Japan." The U.S. forces, according to the treaty, could be
used to keep peace throughout Southeast Asia and also — at the request of the Japanese
government — to put down Japanese internal disturbances which were caused "through instigation or intervention by an outside power."
Opponents of the treaty were particularly critical of the potential use of American
forces to keep order in Japan.  They regarded this as an unwarranted infringement on
Japanese sovereignty. Many also feared that instead of providing security for Japan,
the presence of American forces and stockpiles of nuclear weapons would involve Japan
in a w~r.
Although student opposition to treaty revision in 1960 was intense enough to cause the
downfall of the Cabinet of Prime Minister Nobusuke Kishi of the Liberal-Democratic Party,
a series of notes was exchanged and a new treaty was signed.  This was the Japan U.S.
Treaty of Mutual Cooperation and Security.
This second treaty again said that American land, air, and naval forces could use "facilities and areas in Japan." It provided for prior consultations before there were any
major changes in the equiptment of U.S. forces or any new deployment. Both parties
affirmed their intention to peacefully settle any international disputes in which they
might be involved.  They pledged to encourage "economic collaboration" between themselves
and to develop their capacities to resisit armed attack.
Through the years of the Japan-U.S. Mutual Security Pact, the American military presence
on Japanese soil has been an open sore in U.S.-Japanese relations and a focal point for
anti-American opposition in Japan.
There are over 140 U.S. military installations in Japan, more than 40 in and around
metropolitan Tokyo.  (Referring to a base in his home town of Iwakuni, a friend of mind
called it "a city on a base.") The moise of planes, the lowering of "public morality",
the increasing frequency of military accidents, the transportation of large quantities
of oil bound for Vietnam (through metropolitan centers), the air lifting of Vietnam
casualties to hospitals in Japan — these are a partial list of Japanese complaints.
Another point of tension is the control of Okinawa.  The overwhelming majority of Japanese
regard the U.S. control of Okinawa and the big U.S. military presence there (since 1945)
as instruments for carrying out America's strategy in the F r East.  The common view is
that the present Okinawan situation could easily involve Japan in a war. The Japanese
are adamant about the reversion of Okinawa, and sooner or later the U.S. will have to give in.