The Asahi ShimbunNovember 23, 2004
NAHA-The streets are deserted in the main entertainment district of Kin, Okinawa Prefecture. Barstools remain empty well into the night, and the usual rowdiness and brawls are long gone.
The main clients are now fighting half a world away.
The U.S. military assault on the city of Fallujah in Iraq has had visible effects on areas in Okinawa Prefecture that are home to U.S. military bases.
The number of Marines stationed in Okinawa has been slashed by a third this year.
According to military sources, three infantry battalions and air force units-about 3,000 personnel in all-left Okinawa Prefecture for Iraq in February.
Reinforcements of 2,000 members of the 31st Marine Expeditionary Unit were dispatched in August to the insurgent stronghold of Fallujah.
The absence of the Marines in the prefecture is both good news and bad news for the locals.
``Business is bad,'' said a 61-year-old proprietor of a restaurant in the Kin entertainment district, which sits in front of the U.S. Marines' Camp Hansen. ``Sales have dropped to less than a third.''
Usually there are about 26,000 to 29,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in the southernmost prefecture, of which 15,000 to 18,000 belong to the U.S. Marine Corps.
Some estimates now put the total number of Marines in Okinawa at about 10,000.
The reduction has made it easier on Okinawa police. In the first six months of this year, there have been only 22 suspected criminal cases involving U.S. military personnel, a 30-percent decline from the same period last year, according to Okinawa prefectural police.
And there have been no serious crimes, such as robberies, so far this year involving U.S. personnel. There were four such cases last year, the police said.
``What matters is that the overall number (of military personnel) has declined,'' a police official said.
A 51-year-old owner of a restaurant that is a favorite haunt of U.S. infantrymen in Kin said his establishment got fairly rough after the troops learned they were heading for Iraq.
``After the dispatch was decided, we began getting a lot of troublemakers who got drunk and rowdy. Fights broke out,'' he said.
Things have quieted down now. ``(But) I am worried they are going to go wild again after they return to Okinawa.''
Many of them will not return.
The Pentagon has reported 15 deaths of Okinawa-based servicemen in Iraq so far.
The U.S. battles in Iraq had an earlier effect in Okinawa Prefecture.
On Aug. 13, a CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter took off from the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan and crashed at the adjacent Okinawa International University. Three servicemen were injured, but there were no casualties on the ground.
According to the U.S. military accident report, the maintenance crew had been swamped with work to prepare choppers for Iraq. One part got left off the helicopter, ultimately causing it to crash.
The report contained the following account: ``The accident occurred on the third day of a consecutive three-day, 17-hour shift.
``The mechanic on night duty was suffering from a lack of sleep and could not stop his hands from shaking. I took over and adjusted the back rotor, and told him to go home.''
According to Ginowan city, of the 56 helicopters normally stationed at the Futenma base, more than 40 have been sent to Iraq.(IHT/Asahi: November 23,2004)
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