Photo/Illutration Residents protesting the start of construction for a new garrison for the planned deployment of the Ground Self-Defense Force’s Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft at Saga Airport gather on June 12 in Saga city. (Soichiro Yamamoto）

Saga Airport is in the middle of a vast expanse of wheat fields in Saga Prefecture.

When I visited it recently, golden stalks of wheat swayed in the breeze while skylarks sang in the sky. Here and there, I saw the straw hats of farmers who were taking short breaks from harvesting.

Did they sense they would not be returning next year?

Work began on June 12 at the new Ground Self-Defense Force base, built on what used to be farmland abutting Saga Airport, to prepare for the deployment of Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft there. 

But it was only last week that the Kyushu Defense Bureau of the Defense Ministry told locals during a public meeting, “We do not know the date (of when work will start).” Really?

If the government needs to bolster its defense capabilities in the southwest, the Defense Ministry must go out of its way to explain its reasons as clearly and thoroughly as possible to the locals, who will be bearing the burden.

But for whatever reason, the ministry invariably resorts to deception or obfuscation and damages its reputation as a result. I can never understand why.

Pressured by local concerns, the ministry promised in writing that no U.S. troops would be permanently stationed at the GSDF base.

That’s another thing I don’t understand. I do not want to jump to the conclusion that the government has made a promise it cannot keep, but I am sure Tokyo and Washington are of the policy of increasing bases for shared use.

I worry that when the document promising “no permanently stationed U.S. troops” is held over the fire, the real message that will emerge may read something like, “U.S. forces will not be permanently stationed (albeit they will be repeatedly stationed long term).”

If the Defense Ministry insists it can stop the operations of U.S. forces, I challenge the ministry to prove that in Okinawa Prefecture, for example.

Bird song mnemonics have been around since olden times. The skylarks of wheat fields, for example, are said to sing in Japanese, “Ritoru ritoru hi ichibu” (literally, “Charge an interest, charge an interest, at the daily rate of one ‘bu.’”)

There’s your debt collector. And the skylark’s chirped warning is that if you make a promise you can’t keep, you may be fine now, but you’ll be in huge trouble later.

--The Asahi Shimbun, June 13

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Vox Populi, Vox Dei is a popular daily column that takes up a wide range of topics, including culture, arts and social trends and developments. Written by veteran Asahi Shimbun writers, the column provides useful perspectives on and insights into contemporary Japan and its culture.

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