Throughout 1965, Downing was busy with one thing, that is, to run for the governor of Guam, although the governor of Guam now needs to be elected between the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, but in fact the first governor of Guam was elected by the people, and it was not until 1972 that the United States Congress passed a bill agreeing to Guam to send a permanent representative to the U.S. House of Representatives, who has the right to vote on the House of Representatives committee, but not in the House of Representatives......

It took a lot of effort for Downing to get the governor of Guam, and when he was campaigning, because his power in Guam was too great, basically no one competed with him, and finally became the first governor of Guam, but in fact, this governor was just Downing's preparation for the independence of Okinawa.

Although Downing became the governor of Guam, Japan was turbulent and chaotic at this time. The specific reason is that at this time, there was a decade-long, far-reaching cultural event in China that shocked the world (those five words are not allowed to be written, so I use cultural activities to refer to it, I hope you can understand it.) ）

This cultural event was not only a "turmoil" that swept through one country in China, but also a worldwide political movement that shook Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe, the United States and Japan. At least for countries such as Europe, the United States, and Japan, this is a revolution in the political order of their respective countries and the existing international order dominated by the United States, and by no means "turmoil".

In order to understand why the cultural activities that took place in China had such a great impact on Japan, it is necessary to explain the social conditions in Japan at that time.

The 60s, when the movement broke out, was a time when Japan was experiencing rapid economic growth under the "Income Multiplication Plan" policy of the Ikeda administration, and at the same time, social tensions were generally intensifying. Throughout the sixties, Minamata disease in Kumamoto Prefecture, Minamata disease in Agano River in Niigata Prefecture, severe cough disease in Yokkaichi City, and "pain" disease in the Shinto River in Toyama Prefecture became the four major public hazards, and the Japanese government's disregard for the growing pollution caused anger at all levels of society as patients and their support groups filed lawsuits. At the same time, it also caused serious environmental pollution. In particular, the discharge of industrial wastewater has increased pollution in Japan's rivers and coastal waters. Lawsuits related to drug harm are also constantly occurring. For example, a large number of deformed babies are born due to the use of the sleeping pill Salidemeier. Clusters of subacute spinal optic neuropathy caused by the use of the intestinal rectifier quinogene. After the truth of the above events was revealed, the victims filed charges against the pharmaceutical companies and the government.

There was another struggle during this period. About 1,000 households and 3,000 farmers affected by the government's forced expropriation of farmland for the construction of a new Tokyo International Airport in Sanrizuka, Narita City, Chiba Prefecture, were strongly opposed. For the Narita farmers and their supporters, the incident was a blatant manifestation of the government's policy of emphasizing industry over agriculture and even abandoning agriculture in the postwar economic development. In fact, from 1970 onwards, shortly thereafter, the government introduced a policy of limiting the area sown with rice.

The reason for the above problem. First of all, under the high-speed growth policy, the urban planning of the central government and local self-control institutions colludes with major industrial enterprises, giving preferential treatment to enterprises and ignoring the interests of residents. The second is due to the blind belief in modern science and technology and medicine that support the rapid development of the industry. For example, the reason why the truth about various diseases caused by environmental pollution has not been clarified for a long time is precisely because scientific and technological personnel, medical workers and related enterprises have lost their objective and scientific judgment because they have lost their objective and scientific judgment, making it difficult for them to make correct judgments.

Against this backdrop, undergraduate, graduate, and advanced students at two faculties at the University of Tokyo – the Department of Urban Engineering, a Faculty of Engineering, which is closely linked to urban planning by the central and local governments, and the Faculty of Medicine, which is at the top of the medical profession – have fiercely criticized the professors and have begun to go on strike indefinitely. This gradually spread to other universities, and soon 116 universities across the country went on strike. This comes at a time when China's cultural activities are in full swing. Therefore, it is just the right time to learn from each other and help each other.

The above-mentioned contradictions caused by the rapid economic growth of the 60s were the inevitable result of the evolution of the 20 years after Japan's defeat in August 1945. This process of economic development was made possible only when Japan blindly followed the United States. Under MacArthur's occupation, for example, Japan was able to lay the foundations for postwar recovery thanks to American assistance. Subsequently, in June 1950, the United States intervened in the Korean War on behalf of the United Nations, which brought about special needs for Japan ("Korean special needs"), which led to a boom in the Japanese economy after 1952.

There is no doubt that it was the path of following the United States that was established in the first place of defeat. The amazing development of post-war Japan was guaranteed. At the same time that the United States and Japan concluded the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the United States also concluded the Japan-US Security Treaty. It stipulates that the U.S. military will be free to use military bases throughout Japan when launching military operations in the Far East. In return, Japan was placed under the protection of the U.S. military, and its military burden was reduced to the point where it was only necessary to maintain the Security Corps (renamed the Self-Defense Forces in 1954). In this way, Japan was reduced to almost a vassal state of the United States, and Article 9 of the Constitution, which sang the word of renunciation of war, gradually became a dead letter, after the arrival of the era of nuclear competition between the United States and the Soviet Union in the late 50s. It is completely under the nuclear umbrella of the United States. This is precisely the path that the United States has pointed out to Japan in the post-war international order that it cannot choose in its strategy of world hegemony.

Against this backdrop, the 1960 revision of the Japan-US Security Treaty was marked by the outbreak of the "60-year security struggle" in Japan, centered on the all-Japan Federation of Student Governments, a young student organization, to oppose the revision of the treaty. Although the campaign failed to prevent the treaty from being revised, it was a must-have for the next one.

August 1964. Under the pretext of the Gulf of Tonkin Incident (the alleged incident in which a U.S. destroyer was attacked by a torpedo boat from North Vietnam, which was not the case), the United States formally intervened in the Vietnam War and began bombing the Dong Hai in North Vietnam in February 1965. Naturally, the US military bases in Japan and Okinawa played an important role in the war. On the other hand, the largest economic crisis in Japan since the end of World War II was the largest economic crisis in Japan due to the oversupply caused by the income doubling plan, and the number of bankrupt companies with debts of more than 10 million yen has reached 4,212. The special needs arising from the Vietnam War ("Vietnam's special needs") undoubtedly saved the crisis. In 1965, Japan once again entered a stage of rapid development. In this way, after the Korean War, Japan once again gained tremendous economic benefits from the wars of other countries.

In the 20 years since the end of World War II, as mentioned above, the negative consequences of rapid economic growth, such as environmental pollution, pollution of public health, drug damage, and neglect of agriculture, have sparked a critical movement among patients, victims, farmers, and students. These movements naturally became a harsh judgment of post-war Japan for following the U.S. policy, as well as an anti-war peace movement against the U.S. hegemony, represented by its blatant involvement in the Vietnam War. (To be continued.) )