Kevin Maher’s derogatory Okinawa remarks cost him his diplomatic post within days

Evidence

In March 2011, two months after our student group returned to Washington, the Japanese news agency Kyodo News published an article about Kevin Maher’s pretrip briefing. The article used quotes from Maher’s talk that the students had provided to the journalist Eiichiro Ishiyama. Okinawans and others were outraged, particularly with Maher’s description of the Okinawan people as “extortionists” and “lazy.” The article became front-page news in Japan, and Maher’s comments were reprinted worldwide. Within three days, Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell was issuing official apologies in Tokyo, and the State Department was removing Maher from his post. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 831