While U.S. Ambassador Thomas Foley was receiving an award Jan. 9 aboard the USS Blue Ridge for his contribution to increased visits by U.S. naval vessels to Japanese ports, the mayor of Tomakomai, Hokkaido, was expressing opposition to a planned February visit to his town by the flagship.
And this local-level opposition seems to typify the attitude toward U.S. forces in Japan. Despite expectations that the new U.S. administration of George W. Bush will call for closer security links with Japan, those ties have not been progressing at the local level.
Even before the Ehime Maru was accidently sunk by a U.S. submarine off Hawaii, relations between local governments and U.S. forces in Japan were strained -- especially in municipalities that host U.S. bases. Some towns in Okinawa, for example, have been calling for the total withdrawal of U.S. Marines from their neighborhood in the wake of a series of incidents involving U.S. servicemen. Opposition from local municipalities, particularly to port calls by U.S. ships, has caused headaches for the Japanese and U.S. governments as authority over the use of major port facilities lies with local governments.