EDITORIAL: Maher's remarks about Okinawans hurt all Japanese

We are shocked and angered that Kevin Maher, director of the Office of Japan Affairs at the U.S. State Department, is apparently a shameless bigot.

It has come to light that Maher called Okinawans "masters of extortion" and "too lazy to grow 'goya' (bitter melon)" during an off-the-record talk he gave to university students in Washington D.C. in December last year.

A professional diplomat, Maher is no stranger to Japan. His many years of service here included a stint as U.S. consul-general in Okinawa from 2006 to 2009. If his blatantly derogatory remarks are based on his "understanding" of the land and its people, we don't know what he could have been looking at and experiencing in Okinawa.

Maher said in an interview with Kyodo News that the notes compiled by the students who attended the talk were neither accurate nor complete.

But his statement that the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is not particularly dangerous was nothing new.

He had voiced the same opinion when he was consul-general and raised considerable controversy at the time. We are convinced Maher meant everything he said during the talk.

Drawing the students' attention to the Japanese tendency to differentiate between "tatemae" (what one says in public) and "honne" (one's true feeling), Maher went on to assert, "Okinawans claim MCAS (Marine Corps Air Station) Futenma is the most dangerous base in the world, they know it is not true." We truly wonder how he could make such a pronouncement, and on what grounds.

When Tokyo and Washington agreed in 1996 to relocate the Futenma air station, was it not because of their shared, strong concern that should an accident involving the local citizenry occur at this base in the middle of a residential district, an eruption of anti-base sentiment among the people of Okinawa could rock the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty itself?

When then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld surveyed Futenma from the air in 2003, even he was quoted as saying it was "an accident waiting to happen" and called for its early relocation.

The Okinawa prefectural assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution demanding that Maher retract his remarks and apologize. The Naha municipal assembly noted in its resolution that Maher effectively treated Okinawa like a "colony." We can fully understand their anger.

Maher was quoted as saying that in order to realize the Tokyo-Washington agreement on relocating the Futenma air station to Henoko, the Japanese government "needs to tell the Okinawan governor, 'If you want money, sign it.'"

Ever since the historic change of government in autumn 2009, the will of the people of Okinawa has been crystal clear--that they would no longer bear their excessive base-related burden in exchange for economic benefits promised by Tokyo.

What Maher has missed is not only this change in the mind-set of the Okinawans.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said Tuesday, "(Maher's remarks) hurt not just the people of Okinawa but also all Japanese." Edano is quite right.

We demand a sincere response from Washington. Without first dispelling the Japanese public's mistrust for the United States that Maher's remarks are bound to aggravate, it would be even more difficult for Washington to seek a solution to the relocation issue that is already a big mess.

But come to think of it, did Japanese officials who dealt with Maher never have a chance to challenge his thinking? After all, it is the government's responsibility to ensure that U.S. officials understand Okinawa and Japan correctly.

--The Asahi Shimbun, March 9