These economic conditions have created a bloated local government bureaucracy. Local unions conspire to keep out new businesses. The two local newspapers, three local banks, and one beer company in Okinawa operate as monopolies. Okinawa has missed out on much of Japan's prosperity. Because of the large military presence, land prices are artificially high.
Medical care is probably the poorest in Japan, and divorce rates are the highest in the country.
Recent polls find that 60 percent of Okinawans continue to support the US military presence in the islands. They understand that without the bases, many of the subsidies from Tokyo would soon vanish, leaving them without a viable economic base for survival. Advocates of the withdrawal of US troops from Okinawa don't give enough attention to these facts or to the realities of the Okinawan economy. Live firing exercises at Camp Hansen began in 1950, and unexploded shells from the Battle of Okinawa are still being found. All these sites will require significant environmental restoration that will, in most cases, take up to five years to complete.