http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/...9?ocid=UE07DHP

A number of islands are of strategic value to the major powers competing for influence in Asia, and Okinawa is one of those islands. The locals have understandably never been fond of the U.S. military presence there, and use every crime committed by a service member (tragically in this case a murder by a former service member who remained in Okinawa after he left the service) as another factor to generate momentum to oust the Americans.

Okinawa Murder Case Heightens Outcry Over U.S. Military’s Presence

“We’ve heard apologies and promises of prevention hundreds of times, for decades, but it hasn’t had any effect,” Okinawa’s governor, Takeshi Onaga, said in an interview. Okinawans still bitterly remember a 1995 rape of a 12-year-old girl involving two Marines and a Navy sailor, which led to protests, as well as more recent episodes.
The bases never made Okinawans rich: The prefecture has the lowest per-capita income in Japan, one-third below the national average. Now, dependence on them is in decline, Mr. Meguro said, and with it Okinawans’ tolerance for the problems they bring.

Some in Okinawa would like to follow the example of the Philippines, which pushed out the American military in the early 1990s and redeveloped a major Navy base, at Subic Bay, into a lucrative resort destination.

“When it comes to the economy and tourism, it’s ‘Welcome, China,’” Mr. Meguro said. “Of course, it glosses over the fact that the Philippines has started to invite American forces back because it’s being menaced by China.”