While the world awaits the result of the US presidential election it’s a timely moment to draw attention to a new book published last month documenting the toxic influence of American power in Asia. Poisoning the Pacific is by Welsh investigative journalist Jon Mitchell who is based in Japan and writes regularly for the Okinawa Times newspaper.
In writing the book Mitchell had access to 12,000 pages of US government documents under the US Freedom of Information Act. He also did his own extensive research and interviews with local people and military veterans. As a result, his book “chronicles the US military’s decades-long contamination of indigenous lands across the Pacific as well as the ocean itself, endangering lives and ecosystems across the vast Pacific Ocean.”
While Guam features heavily, much attention is also paid to Okinawa where the US seized land and violated human rights with the full support of Japan. The author writes of the continuing US legacy of radioactive waste, nerve agents, and chemical weapons such as Agent Orange.
The review of the book in the UK’s The Guardian newspaper says that the US has maintained “a base” in Okinawa for decades. If only that were true! The reality is much worse, with much of the main island still occupied by numerous military bases more than 75 years after the end of the Battle of Okinawa.
It is unlikely the US government will be thrilled with the book. In fact, Mitchell received much opposition to his investigations and was also monitored by the US marine corps criminal investigation division. Thankfully, he was able to conclude the book and it sits nicely alongside another recent book on Okinawa, Akemi Johnson’s excellent Night in the American Village mentioned here last year.
As for the US presidential election, it would be nice to believe that the appalling Donald Trump will be soundly beaten. Sadly though, for Okinawa at least, it will make little or no difference who wins while Japan’s PM Suga is intent on continuing his country’s support for America and its military bases that litter the island.
Poisoning the Pacific is published by Rowman & Littlefield.
Power of Okinawa 