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supporting Komeito as they believed that the party was betraying its original
stance. Having supported together with the JSP, JCP, Shaminren (a party in
Okinawa) Ota, who as a peace scholar was naturally seen as a progressive
force, not everyone agreed to shift in new directions although the reality was
that the bases were still there. Moreover, many people
s work and income
were connected to the existence of the bases. Although naturally everyone still
wanted to get rid of the bases, there was a renewed focus on what to do more
concretely to facilitate a change. Many people in Soka Gakkai were against
this new focus, especially people who had been active over many years in the
anti-base movement. Yet, it also seemed for many a more realistic approach
to try to achieve change, the only option seemingly to cooperate with the LDP
to realise policies and try to alleviate some of the many social ills facing people
in Okinawa. Thus there was a shift from approaching peace as a higher level
of political agreements between governments to try to strengthen people
through improving their daily lives
'
their work situation, poverty and lack of
health care, and the fact that there were few opportunities for young people.
The gap between the peace movement, which stressed
-
'
peace
'
through oppo-
sition, and the reality of people
s lives became more and more keenly felt. The
support for Inamine Keiichi in the mayoral election re
'
ected this shift.
There was also a generational change. Younger people who had grown up with
the bases were less part of the hantai-hantai (literally
'
against-against
'
) movement
'
of their parents
generation. Yet, it was by no means a straightforward shift to
support the position of the LDP. Rather the process had been characterised
by a lot of debate as to the pros and cons of taking this decision. Komeito
became the
during the 10 years of coalition with the LDP; it
based its decisions on the issues of the day, and in this way had a relatively
important in
'
casting vote
'
uence on policies. Today most Soka Gakkai members in Okinawa,
as in Tokyo, favourably evaluate the 10 years of coalition politics. Histori-
cally, while the LDP represented the interests of big business and the SDP
were below those two, rather similar to the JCP. For the current generation of
people in their twenties and thirties, jisseki
-
was the rationale for being in coalition with the LDP. In 2010, yet again as an
opposition party, Komeito had shifted not so much in policies, as in its emphasis on
ideals. A party that no longer has the power to realise policies, Komeito had
become yet again an opposition that could stress its platform in its ideal form.
'
-
or policies that have been realised
There are no other places in Japan where you
find so many politically
active young people as in the Gakkai
, Kubota rightly stresses. Compared to
Tokyo, people in Okinawa even more keenly feel that who is elected matters.
Because of the US bases, and because the clear distinction between right and
left positions have disintegrated in many ways, young people who have not
experienced the protests over Anpo seem willing to listen to policies when
called by their friends in Soka Gakkai. It seems that because there is a con-
tinuous
'
flow of problems related to the base issue, people are willing to talk
and listen more to what Komeito has to say. Kubota continues:
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