PM Hashimoto and Okinawa
In February 1996 or so, when Prime Minister of Japan Ryutaro Hashimoto fondled an idea of asking US President Bill Clinton to return the US Marines' Futenma base, Okinawa, to Japan, he called some high-ranking bureaucrats to the PM office.
Having heard the idea, an elite official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said to Hashimoto, "Sir, it is not a good idea!" Another one of the Defense Agency (now the Ministry of Defense) also stressed, "Sir, it is too sudden for us to get prepared for this issue."
As a horrible assault on a school girl by US soldiers happened in Okinawa in 1995, Okinawa people were then strongly against the presence of US troops in Okinawa Island. The Japanese Government was then taking every measure to soften anti-US sentiment in Okinawa.
US military bases in Okinawa Island facing China and Taiwan over the East China Sea have key strategic values. No matter how much Okinawa people want to get rid of crimes and inconveniences US troops have brought on them, it is impossible to drive Americans out of the Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture among 47 ones in Japan. Since June of 1945 when the Battle of Okinawa was fought by the US and the Empire of Japan, the US military have kept very wide and big bases, naval ports, and air stations in Okinawa. The US Marine Corps has its air base in Futenma at almost the central part of the island. The base is surrounded by residential areas, business streets, and schools, making it the most dangerous base in Okinawa or in the world.
So, PM Hashimoto wanted to improve the situation in Okinawa. He wanted to convince Okinawa people that his Cabinet was very much concerned about the plight Okinawa had to bear for national defense and security of Japan. But as high-ranking officials of the Japanese Government suggested that it was too premature to take up the Futenma issue in the coming meeting with the US President, Hashimoto held back from this diplomatic idea.
The logic the elite officials took was that without full coordination and consent among officials on both the Japanese and American sides in charge of Japan-US security issues a negotiation between the Japanese prime minister and the US President about the US Marine Corps Base in Okinawa cannot be successful; if it fails, it will harm honor and reputation of Prime Minister Hashimoto, since the Media would surely report it.
But in the (unofficial) meeting with President Clinton held in California, Clinton asked Hashimoto whether he had any other topics, after having discussed some main theme. So, Hasimoto dared to bring up the Okinawa issue. "Can we discuss whether the US can return a US Marines base in Okinawa to Japan?" said Hashimoto. Clinton responded smartly to help Hasimoto save face. Subsequently, US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma became an official issue between the two Governments.
And finally in April 1996, both the Governments agreed that the Futenma base should be totally returned to Japan in seven years, though the US Marine Corps could get an alternative base some less-populated place in Okinawa.
Though for various reasons still the US Marines continue to use the Futenma base, the direction has never been changed. Incumbent Prime Minister Shinzo Abe intends to fulfill the plan to relocate the US Marine Corps base as soon as possible, though there some strong opposition from Okinawa people who request complete abolition of US Marine Corps' bases but not relocation.
Nonetheless, those Japanese elite bureaucrats who did not help PM Hashimoto launch the agenda on the Futenma base never showed regret, so lamentably, though they of course cooperated with PM Hashimoto for the Futenma project after the Clinton's decision to return the base to Japan in exchange of a new one to be established in an area posing less burdens to Okinawa.
The lesson is that the enemy of Okinawa is elite bureaucrats in Tokyo rather than the White House.
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Mar 2:24 And the Pharisees said unto him, Behold, why do they on the sabbath day that which is not lawful?
Mar 2:25 And he said unto them, Have ye never read what David did, when he had need, and was an hungred, he, and they that were with him?
Mar 2:26 How he went into the house of God in the days of Abiathar the high priest, and did eat the shewbread, which is not lawful to eat but for the priests, and gave also to them which were with him?