No Tanks

Over the years, the Japanese left has rioted to express its opposition to the presence of American bases in Japan under the U.S.-Japan mutual-security treaty. All to little effect. Now the protesters have a more peaceful--and potent--tactic. Since Aug. 5, when a group of Socialist demonstrators sat down in front of a convoy of tank transporters hauling five U.S. M48 tanks, the Army has been unable to move any armor into or out of its huge depot at Sagamihara, where military equipment is repaired for use in Viet Nam. Though some 200 tanks and armored personnel carriers are now bottled up in the depot awaiting shipment, Japan's tough riot police have not been called out against the protesters, who are after all only upholding the law: under local traffic regulations, which U.S. forces are bound to observe, the vehicles are too big to be moved without special permits.

Those permits are issued by local governments, many of them dominated by the opposition Socialists. The central government, with no legal right to step in, can only try to cajole the local authorities into issuing the permits and taking action against the demonstrators.

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