By C. A. Pomeroy and W. D. Miller, Jr.
In the wake of the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, Okinawa is being given further support
to build itself up into an IT and multimedia base. Originally offered the opportunity
in exchange for accepting the national government's proposal to move the U.S.
forces' heliport at Futenma offshore, the island prefecture is being geared
to become the content production base and telecommunications hub (by siting
servers and call centers) for Japan vis-a-vis Asia.
On condition of anonymity, the originator of the offshore heliport idea (who
notes that the initial outlook was to have it based much further away from Japan)
said that the Okinawa "Multimedia Island" concept was brought forth by (former
Prime Minister) Ryutaro Hashimoto and (current Liberal Democratic Party Secretary-General)
Hiromu Nonaka with support from Ministry of International Trade and Industry
(MITI) and other bureaucrats as a trade-off for having Okinawa continue to bear
the brunt of the American military presence.
However, with the success of the Summit which has led the Japanese government
to push for projects that center on the Internet (in particular for the educational
field), there is now new impetus to turn Okinawa, long known for producing artists
as well as being a trade base, into a content software generator and an Internet/telecom
"station" that looks out on the reviving Asian market. It is said that since
the U.S. military still maintains large outposts throughout the islands, it
may be asked to help provide "spin-off" military technology for the benefit
of the host prefecture.