US MILITARY BASES IN JAPAN Lecture by Mr.Daisuke Tsuchiya

As the video introduction below explains the Japanese electorate gave a mandate to the present Government to go further than any other administration to address the highly controversial deployment of US Military Bases as stipulated by the post-War constitution which came out of the occupation after Japans defeat in World War II.







Mr. Daisuke Tsuchiya is officially designated as Deputy Director Japan Information and Cultural centre , Embassy of Japan ( London , UK).This makes him a quasi-diplomat and , by , previous experience in his career as translator to 3 past Japanese Prime Ministers as well as a delegate to negotiations with the US Military about a host of Japan Civil/US Military covenants a highly skilled and consummate , gifted , political mine-field operator.

Normally a lecture even broaching , yet alone titled , the highly delicate , and ever contentious topic of US Military bases on Japanese Sovereign territory would be one that The Japanese Embassy would not openly discuss in a public setting with an open question and answer session to clarify the concerns and position of the Government of Japan to this post War arrangement.

But the recent elected Government in Japan was elected on a platform to address the serious matters of the Japan/US Military arrangement and also to resolve long standing resentments in Japan about the Strategic value and Civil disruption of the US presence.

So it was most welcome to hear this informative lecture from an Official with insider knowledge and understanding of this delicate and touchy topic.

The first issue to the understanding of US Military Bases situation is the current constitution of Modern Japan written after the War and applied in 1950 with Article 9 stating a formal Military posture in which the US provides for the shortfall of the Japanese commitment to never engage in forward posture warfare , nor to have a large Airforce , nuclear capability or a Naval regional strength.This means Modern Japan is in a dependency constitutional relationship to have a permanent US Military presence on its soil regardless of popular domestic support or not.

From the US point of view the strategic importance of the Island of Okinawa is of infinite military and forward force projection value as it can house a massive Air and forward assault combat Marine component to police an area of immense political value in terms of future US leverage in South East Asia and China.

Okinawa house more US military than nearly all the other Bases in Japan combined as far as active forces ready to intervene at short notice is concerned.At points over 75% of the Island was in effect US sovereign soil as Base Agreements with Japan make Japanese Law inoperable , in most cases even crimes , sometimes violent crimes like rape , perpetrated by US personnel outwith the Base confines cannot be acted upon by Japanese Law enforcement without the express consent by the US Military.

Okinawa was the only portion of Japan which was occupied by the US during World War II , in a massive battle which yielded a quarter of a million casualties , including over 100,000 civilians.The US used the Island to bomb the Japanese mainland and retained the Island under its protectorate until 1972 , when it was finally handed back into formal Japanese sovereignty.

The conclusion of the talk was that though the present Japanese Government may be able to extract some concessions from the US , over superficial matters such as reduction of night-time flying and noise pollution protocols the US arrangement with Japan in terms of Military presence is more an extension of the defeat in World war II , than a mature Joint Covenant for the 21st Century.This was borne out by the extremely intelligent questions in the Q&A session in which , one, asked if Japan could not still honour the stipulations of Articles in its Constitution by having Joint Military protection agreements with some other powers than the US.There was no need to answer that question.

Another question which was tactfully played with a straight bat was , is the US Military presence in the region a stabilising factor between regional agreement or a catalyst for perpetual and ever rising tensions.

KEITH JAMES AND ANDEE AT THE RENFREW FERRY

I advertised this concert to my Friend James , nice name for a Glaswegian , as "The Mother of All Understated Concerts" and he was not disappointed.In fact he loved it so much he bought 2 cds right after.

The video below gives an indication of the superbly crafted songs which Keith keeps alive form the days of Davy Graham and early John Martyn.





Keiths most notable contributions have been his project to set some of the finest Poems of Frederico Garcia Lorca to Music.He has acheived this with such accomplishment a critic from BBC Scotland declared " Lorca Lives!" when reviewing one of the 2 Albums which this glorious artistic project has provided.Keith has even gone to the trouble of translating some of the work of Lorca himself to bring the Poems of Lorca to a grateful Musical Public.








This album also has its own dedicated and website , the beauty of this wonderful project is that it was not a self-indulgence by Keith himself but a commissioned endeavour by the niece of Lorca (Laura Garcia Lorca) which was initially offered to Elvis Costello , but then ultimately given over to Keith who did not let the Family name down.
You can hear some tracks from the album in this description and feature page of Keiths own website.







The reason the Lorca Family were so happy to approach Keith was from the success of his first album on Lorca which generated a tour of over a 100 concerts and received great critical acclaim.You can hear some tracks from the Album , including a full length version of Diamond which Keith played at the Renfrew Ferry Concert.

The Musical celebrations of Lorca are very timely and apt , especially as Lorca himself composed Music for some Canciones himself and appreciated the instrumental accompanyment element of the written poetic word.

Jimmy is certainly looking forward to the next visit in Autumn , hopefully Keith will be able to perform some more songs from the Magical Lorca project.

BUFFALO BILLS WILD WEST SHOW IN GLASGOW LECTURE

Academic and Writer Tom F. Cunningham gave a fascinating presentation of the Historic visits of the Famous Buffalo Bills Wild West Show to Glasgow in early 1890s and 1900s.

Firstly the myth of whether the legendary Indian Chief Sitting Bull attended was , literally , laid to rest.He died about an year prior to the Show first arriving in Glasgow.

The other mystery as to why a whole generation of Indian Chiefs would subject themselves to what may appear to be a humiliating climbdown in dignity of participating for casual public entertainment was cleared up.After the Battle/Massacre of Wounded Knee the leadership of the Indians were held as a form of captives bound over to keep the peace.With the alternative of continuing in Captivity in a closed Zone under the watchful eyes of US Marshalls or joining up with the scheme of being led by Buffalo Bill Cody to tour the US and Europe , the appeal to be part of a mobile captive unit was a preferable and strongly appealing option.



Cunningham has written a Book about the Wild West Shows connections with Glasgow.

One notorious connect between The Wild West show and Celtic is the new years day match in 1892 between Celtic and Dumbarton as was the tradition of having New Years games being kick-off by a celebrity attraction.Celtic ended up losing the match 0-8 , a record defeat for the club.

Glasgows reputation as an avid supporter of cultural and theatrical events was proved when the week spent by the Wild West Show in 1904 raised the biggest attendance of any venue outside the Shows major US centre of Chicago.

The video below is rare archive footage of the show taken from circa 1902.



Ultimately the novelty and appeal of The Wild West style shows began to ware off with the advent of Cinema and other forms of popular entertainment.

Sadly , Bill Cody got caught in a spiral of debt which he was never quite able to shake off , he passed away with a decent though dwindling fortune in 1917.

RAMALLAH at the MAYFESTO at the TRON THEATRE

The Mayfesto Theatre Festival at the Tron is the first year of an enterprise advertising what it says on the Tin , namely, Global Issues.Personal Responses.Astonishing Theatre.

The video below is an introduction to this highly perceptive , engaging , intensive , absorbing programme of hard hitting Social and Humanitarian plays.As the introduction from the director suggests the Glasgow Theatre audience being amongst the best in the world is not merely a easy going platitude from a snug politician but rather an astute observation which explains why this City punches far above its weight in the Theatre and Cultural scene.



The first play was by the talented and highly rewarded playwright David Greig.He wrote a play in conjunction with the Palestinian Human Rights Lawyer Raja Shehadeh a few years back which won the coveted Amnesty International award for the best Human Rights play at the world renowned prestigious Edinburgh International Fringe.

David also delivered a play to coincide with the setting up of the Twinning of Falkirk with the beleaguered Palestinian community of Jayyous which has been torn apart from the Apartheid wall being built by Israel which has been declared illegal by the International Court of Justice which advises the UN on matters of International Law.This event was launched in conjunction of the Human Rights Advocacy body called The Scottish Friends of Palestine.

The play Ramallah is adapted by David Greig from the ward winning Book by his friend Raja which won the 2008 Orwell Prize for Literature.





The play is about a chance encounter by the character portraying Raja with an Israeli Settler.

The Middle play is by Italian Feminist Franca Rame called , unsubtly , An Arab Woman Speaks.Even the Scotsman Theatre critic is impressed with the passionate delivery of actress Cora Bissett.

The third play is again a piece by David Greig and brings a quality programme to a close by bringing the tensions of International Political struggles into the impact of close Family Relationships.

DIRTY OIL at the GFT

Canada is the Worlds largest supplier of Oil to the US.
The US consumes 20 times more gasoline than the second biggest user.

A lot of cheaply extractable oil in Canada is Tar Oil , surface sand containing more oil than any other oil field outwith Saudi Arabia.A lot of it is located in the state of Alberta on land designated as reservations for local Native Indians.The Film explores the Health and pollution issues affecting the region with local concerns coming up against massive foreign corporate investment.




Surprisingly the Telegraph has given the documentary a generous well considered review.

As a counter-balance the Riz Khan Programme on Al Jazeera has a multi-part documentary giving a corporate orientated geo-political energy reserve scholar that gives very illuminating macro-political views which so disconcertingly little regard to the long term plight of the most affected communities on the ground which have to suffer and deal with the long term health implications of the massive extraction process.