Thursday 23 January 2025
12:00pm – 1:15pm (UK) / 9:00pm – 10:15pm (Japan)

Okinawa’s Military Bases and the US–Japan Alliance

Online webinar, accessible remotely via Zoom

Organised by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation

Booking closed

Okinawa has one of the heaviest concentrations of US military bases in the world. The relocation of the US Marine base to Henoko in northern Okinawa is framed by Japanese politicians and some analysts as crucial to “deterrence”. Critics, on the other hand, argue that deterrence is merely a pretext used by the central government in Tokyo to perpetuate a political agenda that discriminates against Okinawans.

In this webinar moderated by Professor Heigo Sato, Dr Paul O’Shea analysed the deterrence claims made by relocation proponents from the perspective of various factors including the capabilities of the US marines and their credibility, and then talked about the potential impact on the long-term resiliency of the US–Japan alliance.

A recording of this webinar can be viewed here:

About the contributors

Prof Heigo Sato (moderator)

Heigo Sato is a Professor at the Faculty of International Studies and President of the Institute for World Studies (IWS), Takushoku University. He was Senior Research Fellow at the National Institute for Defense Studies (NIDS) before joining IWS in 2006. He joined NIDS in 1993 as a Research Fellow covering International Security Studies and US Politics and Foreign and Security Policy. He was a Special Adviser to Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada on disarmament and nonproliferation from June to September 2010.　He is a former president of the Japan Association of International Security and Trade, and currently a board member of the Japan Association for International Security. Professor Sato is the author of numerous articles on international relations, security issues, arms control and disarmament, and political economy

Dr Paul O’Shea

Paul O’Shea is Senior Lecturer at the Centre for East and South-East Asian Studies at Lund University. His primary research interest is the international relations of East Asia, particularly Japan’s relations with the United States. In recent years he has published a number of academic and popular articles on the US-Japan alliance. He has written numerous articles on Okinawa military bases and the Senkaku/Diaoyu Islands territorial dispute.