Okinawa vs the US Military: The Decades-Long Feud | Wendover Productions

0:00It's Friday, October 24th, 2025, and this place is buzzing. A popular month to visit what's become a popular place to visit, waves of tourists wander the shops and restaurants of Cocosai Street. Splitting south, many then amble into the covered, ever vibrant Makishii public market. It's hot, reaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit or 32 degrees Celsius, so many visitors, most hailing from mainland Japan, have taken to the island's beautiful beaches or the many national and nature parks littering the island, exploring the comparatively cooler climate of the subtropical forest. And they've taken to other islands entirely, hopping on fairies to explore the natural beauty of the nearby neighbors. Depending on their interests, the tourists spread. The foodie rambles the city, the freediver heads for the coral-lined coast. But on an island of only 463 square miles or 1200 square kilometers, or an island three fourth theory of Hawaii's Oahu, there's only so far the tourists can disperse. With some 700,000 visitors arriving a month and a permanent population of 1.5 million,

1:0050% larger than Oahu's, this place is always buzzing. Of course, Friday, October 24th, 2025 is a bit of a holiday in itself in the United States. Friday's in fall mean high school football, and this school is no different as the KBHS dragons are set to host the Humphrey High School Blackhawks for a game that will crown a regional champion. Now, Americans playing American football with American parents and fans in the stands on a school campus that neighbors a kadova, pop eyes, and Burger King on one side, and the suburbs on the other is not novel. But zoom out. This place, it turns out, is also that place, the tiny tourist island with the beaches, and both places are in Japan. This is Okinawa, an island that takes only two hours to drive across from tip to tail, and an island that hosts two entirely different worlds at once. This is the core of the American Air Force's presence in the Pacific, and all the America that comes with it runs headlong into a proud, distinct culture and a densely populated people. With little wiggle room, divergent goals, an imbalance in power, a complicated history,

2:04and an uncertain future, for decades there's been a lot of this and this and this as worlds and ways of life keep colliding. How things got so hotly contested on this little island is best summarized by the home of Kuba Sakai High School's rival, Kadina High School. With 717 kids enrolled, it's the largest American High School in Japan. Largest is a theme here. By personnel, at around 20,000, Kadina is the largest American airbase in the Pacific. The 18th wing, which runs the base and is capable of everything from fighting, to resupplying, and rescuing, has the largest assortment of planes and helicopters at around 80 pieces of equipment. The wing support group, which handles everything from accommodations and logistics to budgeting, aviation and mayoral duties of the base, is the largest in all the air force. And the base itself, hemmed in by urban Okinawa on both sides, boasts a golf course, countless parks and sports fields, and a host of suburban housing developments that from above look like they could be from anywhere in middle America. How this base ended up as the largest is directly linked to the event that gave Okinawa such

3:08widespread name recognition. Often recognized as the bloodiest battle in the Pacific, the battle of Okinawa was also the longest. What would prove to be the last major battle before Japanese surrender, overtaking these islands so comparatively close to the Japanese mainland, took months. Making landfall in April of 1945, US troops immediately took the then Japanese Kadina air strip. With the foothold in the center of the island, US troops have based their assaults from the area, including the common-deer airbase. Thus, by the time Okinawa fell, then Japan soon surrendered, the US had already set up operations on the islands. As World War II gave way to American occupation of Japan, and as the battle lines of the Cold War began taking shape with an increasingly aggressive North Korea looking to unify its peninsula, and a rising Chinese Communist Party, Okinawa seemed a logical position to maintain a US foothold from an American perspective. It made sense from a Japanese perspective too. Because of article 9 of this document, the 1945 Constitution of Japan, the country could not make war nor maintain an army. Because of this treaty, for someone to provide defense, Japan would rely on the US, allowing

4:12the US to maintain a presence within Japan. And because of article 3 in this treaty, Okinawa, should the US want to take it on, would no longer be administered by Japan, but would rather be run solely by the United States. By the terms of peace largely dictated to it from the rest of the world, Japan had no reason to push back on the US expanding its presence on Okinawa. It was no longer theirs, and the bases on the island was served to protect their interests. With now allied major world powers, it made sense to dot the strategically advantageous island with as many bases and military installations as it could bear. For those on the island, well, they didn't have much say. Beyond the beaches and warm weather, Okinawa's draw for tourists is its differences from the mainland. While Japanese today, and part of Japan from 1879 to World War II, Okinawans are proudly Okinawan. A distinct ethnicity that celebrates a history and heritage unique to the Ryoku Islands. While Japan doesn't recognize the population as a minority, the UN has recommended considering Okinawans as an indigenous group in order to begin protecting the local dialect and culture.

5:16In many ways, and after many centuries of intermingling, there are plenty of similarities to the rest of Japan, but given the island's largest city is far closer to Shanghai and Hengzhou and Taipei than Tokyo, there's plenty of Chinese influence too. Different food and a more laid-back way of life has served to bring tourists in recently, but such differences have also had a way of being leveraged in the pursuits of bigger nations. The estimates vary, but 150,000 is the common number cited when discussing how many Okinawans, either civilian or conscripted by Japan, died in the Battle of Okinawa, making them the leading group in casualties. Stuck in the middle, both Japanese and American soldiers appointed atrocities towards the local population. Once under American command, there really wasn't much consideration as to Okinawan interests, either. Unadopted the US dollar, cars drove on the right side of the road, and as Korea then Vietnam required more and more attention and military resources, the US bases expanded across much of the island's most desirable flatlands, pushing a growing Okinawan population to build

6:17it denser and denser cities. Fresh treated by the expanding presence and comparatively slow economy to that of Japan's, Okinawa pushed for a return to Japanese rule in 1972, they got it. But still a pacifist country by its constitution, and still reliant on the US for defense, there was little reason for Japan to question the size and quantity of the bases. And since then, the status quo hasn't really changed. Bases that boomed during the Cold War have right sized a bit, and some land has been returned here and there, but the map still looks like this. Within these lines, some 3,000 active military members from all branches work, train, and live. Accompanying them are another 50,000 Americans that make living their full time possible. The family members, the school teachers, and the support staff working for $40,000 a year at the grocery store, or $110,000 as a principal at the elementary school. And within the fences of the likes of Kandina Air Base, or Camp Foster, or Air Station Futema, there's far more than just the novelty fast food place or high school football stadium

7:18to remind one of the connection back to the US. Rather, these simply are the US. With fully developed pre-K through 12th grade educations, after school activity programs, recreation centers, exchanges that effectively serve as shopping malls, suburban developments and single-family homes, these bases don't remind of America, they simulate it. And for those born on these bases, including celebrities like Robert Griffin III or Zach Brian, they're not born with a dual citizenship or Japanese citizenship, they're born an American citizen. But while fenced in, these bases are permeable, at least in one direction. While Okinawans aren't welcomed into these bases, the American station here pour out onto larger islands. With housing at a crunch, service members are asked to live off base while those living on it are pushed to explore the island when they're off work. And this is where most problems originate. If you've heard Okinawa mentioned in the news lately, it's probably because of this video of a military policeman brutally body-sliding someone who ultimately turns out to be an American veteran over whom he had no legal jurisdiction.

8:21Where this happened and why is informed by the uneasy overlap of two cultures and a set of rules agreed upon in 1960. The incident was on Gate 2 Streets, where a Kedina Air Base gives way to a section of Okinawa City littered with bars and clubs frequented by those working at the base. The individual was approached on this street in the early morning hours and was demanded to show identification by American military police. Now, the fact that MPs are patrolling off base to begin with may raise an eyebrow and perhaps the concern of a local Okinawan. But it's allowed because of the status of forces agreement between Japan and the US, which in this case provides that MPs may patrol off base in special agreed upon circumstances with jurisdiction only over US service members. And why the cops were out asking for identification was because off base service members are banned from drinking from 1am to 5am. This ban and subsequent patrol was in response to a set of domestic violence cases committed by service members on local women. The effort to curb late night drinking is not a new strategy on the island, and crime in sexual assault by US service members is not a new problem.

9:25High profile sexual violence in murder cases, followed by massive protests, have rocked the island in the 1990s, the 2010s, and the 2020s. Adding fuel to these massive flare ups is the locally held belief that only a small portion of sexual violence is fairly reported and subsequently tried by the Japanese and military legal systems on the island. They make a compelling point. As of the same 1960s status of forces agreement between the two countries, US forces on the island are uniquely protected. For crimes committed on base or on duty, the US has primary jurisdiction, and in these incidents, the paper trail can get light. Through FOIA requests, one reporter found that in pursuit of seven separate sexual assault investigations on the island from 2017 to 2019, none were made public. As for arrests that happen off base and off duty, while these are pursued and tried through Japan's legal system, the US still has the right to consent to or withhold extradition if the service member made it back onto base. Even if apprehended off base, the service member can't be taken into custody for questioning before prosecution.

10:26Together these protections make it far harder to build a case in prosecute, so Japan doesn't. From 2001 to 2018, the prosecution rate for criminal offenses committed by US military personnel was 13%, compared to the 44% national rate. As of a deal struck between Japan and the US six decades ago, Okinawans feel like they're losing out on fair treatment in the justice system, leaving them uniquely vulnerable. If one major complaint is structural in a legal sense, another is structural in the physical. A simple overhead shot makes it glaringly obvious that the island's most important installations sit right next to densely populated urban areas. Thus accidents occurring at one are likely to impact the other. How much was the case when a helicopter based at Futema crashed into the next-door neighbor university in 2004? While no one died, Okinawans have protested base locations and their sheer busyness over fear that the next accident will be the big one. With eight crashes in and around the island in 2016 alone, with the arrival of the accident prone and much-beligned MV-22 Osprey in 2012, with the occasional helicopter part falling

11:30and landing on elementary school and daycare properties, locals think it's only a matter of time before luck runs out and one of these many accidents turns into a tragedy. Then there's the less dramatic but dangerous all the same pollution leaking from these military installations. Again because of the 1960s' Satisfortune Agreement, it's really difficult to get an exact picture as to just how much pollution is emanating from these bases and training facilities because Japan's not allowed to check. Only when it confirms spill reaches a confirmed volume can Japanese officials go in and inspects, but otherwise these bases are left to their own devices. The FOIA request from 2016 has shed some light onto what exactly has been spilled on the island since the 1990s, and it's a lot. Diesel in 2011 and sewer in 2013 from Kandina made its way to the Hizur River, which towns in the base itself used for drinking water. PCBs, chemicals banned in the US in 1979, were improperly disposed of somewhere around here in the 70s and after being mentioned by a whistleblower sparked a testing program that found contamination across the base.

12:30Finally, a revelation over chemical dumping in the ravines around the base in the 1960s came to light in the 2010s, causing major concern for the residents nearby, along with those sending students to these schools. While the official statements told residents that cleanup went well and that there's little to worry about going forward, 107 pages of test results were redacted within the FOIA materials. In addition to what's been dumped in the water and buried in the ground, there's also the air and noise pollution that rocks the island too, as jet fuel fumes and the howl of f-35s are just part of everyday life here. But beyond what the US does at these bases, just the simple fact that they exist at such a scale is a cause for major frustration to Okinawans. One fifth of the entire island is taken up by the US military, and while the island is compensated for the land, the rent is fairly meager when one considers the economic potential for all this favorable flatland. Take this swath of land here. Since the 50s, this was the Awasi Meadows golf course. According to the Americans who played it over the years, it was busy, beautiful, and had an amazing and affordable restaurant in the clubhouse.

13:31But returned back to the island, the space serves a lot more. There's a massive mall that's hit 10 million customers, there's high-rise housing, there's a hospital, all things that serve local needs and spur the local economy. This isn't an isolated example either. In Naha, there used to be this, the Everdispers Maci Minato housing project. In 1987, it was returned back to Okinawa and now it's a bustling commercial center with housing, museums, parks, and shops. A study taken on by the Okinawan government in 2015 calculated that the economic impact of the area as US housing produced $33 million, and after the commercial district have been established, produced about $1 billion, a 32-fold increase. American-style land use anywhere is rather inefficient, but on such a small island with such a massive population, places like Kadina, with its golf course and its sprawling Merrick Park, Washington Heights, Stilwell Park, and Sturley Heights neighborhoods represent the height of inefficiency and a rent for such land should it accurately reflect the land's value would prove absurdly high.

14:31But there's little reason to think much is bound to change here anytime soon. With the exact contours of conflict and potential conflict in the far-pacific have changed, the US strategy remains remarkably similar to what it looked like in the 1950s with the establishment of the island chain strategy where the US would contain Asian communist powers through strategically located Pacific Island bases. Split between two island clusters, Okinawa sits right on the northern edge of the first island chain and extremely close to the Chinese mainland. Making the island feel increasingly central is China's increasingly aggressive stance towards Taiwan. With Kadina the nearest American base to the island, Kadina's role is not just to project American might in the region, but potentially be the first to provide it. Often referred to as a keystone of the Pacific, no matter the local frustrations over flyovers in pollution, the only reason for Kadina to shrink in size or stature would be one dictated by US military strategists in the context of China's maneuvering. Again leaving history to repeat itself and leaving Okinawans to deal with repercussions of decision making by a far away power.

15:32Of course, as a Japanese prefecture populated by Japanese nationals, Japan has a say in Okinawa's land allocation, but from a larger geopolitical standpoint, their interests lying with those of the US as to their security concerns. From a defense perspective, a bunch of bases far away from the mainland, but near the region's biggest threats and potential conflict zones is pretty optimal. Japan hears Okinawan complaints and may even sympathize, but national security concerns outweigh the plight of the islands. In fact, rather than questioning bases on the main island of Okinawa, Japan has begun positioning its own missiles on other Okinawan islands as their own military capabilities slowly grow. Recently, military activity on the island has signified that things may look different in the near future. In November of 2025, the 18th airway at Kadina undertook readiness exercise BH261. The goal of the exercise was to test and through the practice speed up their ability to make runway repairs on the fly. In press releases, it was framed as a successful exercise. From an Okinawan perspective though, such an exercise is unsettling at best.

16:37Preparing to repair runways is an implicit recognition that Kadina is no longer just the forward operating base for the US Air Force in the region, it's potentially also a first target. Not only does Okinawa remain at the mercy of the same large powers that fought over it in World War II, it's increasingly within the crosshairs of a third. For decades, the island has called for a change. Things are in fact changing here, but not necessarily for the better. What is only getting better as time goes on though, if I may say so myself, is this season of Jetlag the game. Right now you can get caught up on season 16 on the YouTube channel, but if you want to get ahead, there's another way to watch. Stay a week ahead and skip the ads by heading over to Nebula, the sponsor of today's video. Nebula is a streaming platform founded by creators for creators that has helped awesome projects like Jetlag get off the ground. And every day, Nebula's library gets a little bit deeper. Another exciting project that appears on Nebula is Joe Scott's oldest and newest places on Earth. This takes Joe Scott out of the studio and into the big wide world to explore some of

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