The Mainichi answers common questions readers may have about the recent Japan-U.S. talks on reviewing the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan and the type of burden that Okinawa Prefecture carries by hosting U.S. military bases.

Question: Japan and the United States have recently decided on reviewing the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. What are the details of the bilateral talks?

Answer: In 2006, the two governments issued a road map for the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan in which they agreed to proceed with the following simultaneously: (1) relocate Air Station Futenma from its current location in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the Henoko district of the prefectural city of Nago; (2) relocate approximately 8,000 U.S. Marine forces from Okinawa to Guam, and (3) return land occupied by six U.S. military facilities located to the south of Kadena Air Base to Japan.

However, in the recent revision of the 2006 agreement, it was decided to first proceed with (2) and (3), and the relocation of the Air Station Futenma will later be treated separately. The Japanese government hopes that by pushing forward the relocation of U.S. forces overseas and by returning land from the U.S., part of the "physical" burden, inflicted on Okinawa's residents by the presence of the bases, will be reduced in a tangible manner, which will hopefully lead to a breakthrough in the Futenma relocation problem. Okinawa residents have fiercely opposed the proposal to relocate the Air Station Futenma to a separate location within the prefecture, based on which negotiations on the issue have remained deadlocked.

Q: We often hear the phrase "Reduction of Okinawa's burden from hosting U.S. bases," but how much of the prefecture's land do the bases actually occupy?

A: As of the end of March 2011, facilities used exclusively for U.S. military forces occupied a total of 22,878 hectares (228.78 square kilometers) of Okinawa's land -- the equivalent of more than 18 percent of the prefecture's main island. Furthermore, 74 percent of all U.S. military bases in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa. When the United States returned Okinawa to Japan in May 1972, U.S. military bases occupied a total of 27,893 hectares in the prefecture, but 18 percent of the land was later returned to Japan. Meanwhile, as of the end of March 1973, U.S. military bases located in mainland Japan occupied a total of 16,960 hectares, but by late March 2011 they were decreased by more than half to a total of 8,086 hectares.

Q: When were U.S. military bases originally stationed in Okinawa?

A. This goes back to the Pacific War (1941-1945). With the end of the Okinawa Battle in 1945 and the beginning of the U.S.-led allied occupation of Japan, the United States seized several areas and immediately constructed military bases, including the present Kadena Air Base, Air Station Futenma and Camp Hansen, at these locations. During the occupation, in order to expand the bases, U.S. military forces turned to various methods, including the infamous "bayonet and bulldozer" land requisition, which used physical force to expropriate land from local residents.

Q: There is a long history of U.S. military involvement in Okinawa. But why are military bases concentrated in Okinawa even today?

A: Okinawa is relatively close to the Korean Peninsula, China, Taiwan and Southeast Asia. Because of its strategic location, Okinawa became the "the keystone of the Pacific" for the United States. Even after the end of the Cold War, with political instabilities in the Pacific region, including the rise of the Chinese military presence and the instability on the Korean Peninsula following the Korean War (1950-1953), both Japan and the U.S. agreed that it was important to continue maintaining the military bases for "deterrence" reasons. This explanation is also given by both governments as the reason why Air Station Futenma is to be kept within the territory of Okinawa Prefecture in the future as well.

However, it is very difficult to judge what the term "deterrence" exactly refers to, and the Japanese government has failed to provide a more concrete reason for the necessity of relocating the Futenma base within the prefecture. Okinawa residents have for years suffered from the presence of U.S. military bases, and have continuously claimed that "If the U.S.-Japan Security Treaty is this vital for Japan, it is important that mainland Japan shares part of Okinawa's burden." This widespread public opinion in Okinawa is also the reason why the current Okinawa governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, continues to demand that the Futenma base be relocated out of the prefecture. (Answers by Teruhisa Mimori, Kyushu News Department)