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Japan gov't relieved by Scotland's 'No' vote, wary of Okinawan separatism
Figures in the Japanese government are breathing a sigh of relief after Scotland rejected independence from the United Kingdom in a Sept. 18 referendum.
The government sources feared "chaos" should the Scots have voted "Yes," but it was not so much the prospect of market and diplomatic complications that had them worried, but rather the effect it may have had on a strengthening separatist movement in Japan itself -- in this country's southernmost prefecture of Okinawa.
The current Okinawa Prefecture corresponds roughly with the territory of the former Ryukyu Kingdom, which was an independent state until 1879.
"As the government of Japan, we'd like to decline to comment (on the Scottish result), but a very chaotic situation was avoided and that's a good thing," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told reporters at a Sept. 19 news conference.
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/perspectives/news/20140920p2a00m0na007000c.html
