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Foreign Military During Control On The Street

Decent Essays

Liana Arnot
Professor Dominguez
English 101
4 December 2015 Imagine stepping outside and there was a foreign military in control on the street that you live on. Having one 's home invaded by an unfamiliar person is a scary and traumatizing experience. It encourages a person to take more precautionary measures to ensure that their home is safe, but being watchful is not always a guarantee of safety. This concept reflects what the people of Okinawa experienced in the nineteen forties and still struggle with today. The beautiful island of Okinawa is located south of Japan and is composed of several small islands. Okinawa was its own Ryukyu Kingdom before it was annexed by the Japanese in 1879 (mainichi.jp). Today, the Japanese government itself does not truly treat Okinawa as an equal to mainland Japan. In fact, many of the Okinawans do not consider themselves to be Japanese and actively voice that their culture is starkly different than that of the Japanese people. The Japanese government is placing these bases on the Okinawan’s home without consulting them. It is an unfair act upon the locals because their home is being taken from and they can do nothing to stop it. The bases are not only disliked by the locals but it is also harming their marine life and polluting their environment. Mainland Japan is fully capable of housing the new military bases but they would rather throw it on the nonviolent island of Okinawa. The locals of Okinawa have not had a pleasant experience

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