Billions in Japanese aid has not lifted Okinawa’s economy above last place

Evidence

While Japan has spent an estimated $70 billion to raise Okinawa’s level of development to Japanese standards since the end of the U.S. occupation in 1972, per capita income there remains the lowest among Japan’s 47 prefectures, at around 70 percent of the national average. The unemployment rate remains the highest nationwide, at 7.5 percent. People are realizing “this money is not to build a sustainable economy,” said Sato. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 875

Categorization

• XREF: Relates to the claim that base economies create dependency rather than sustainable development — parallels debates in the reader’s graft/infrastructure thinking.