Government diverting farm budget to construct U.S. Marine barrack on Ie-jima, Okinawa

Japan Press Weekly

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Government diverting farm budget to construct U.S. Marine barrack on Ie-jima, Okinawa

The Japanese government has allotted a part of the Agriculture Ministry's budgets for the construction of a barrack at U.S. Marine Corps Auxiliary Air Field on Okinawa's Ie-jima Island. Historically, this is the second case of using non-defense ministry money for building a U.S. military facility in Japan. The airfield has been mostly used for U.S. parachute landing training.

The barrack's construction is associated with the Agriculture Ministry's plan to construct an underground (30~70 meters below ground) dam to ensure water supply for farmers on the island due to the low amount of rainfall.

At the order of the Cabinet Okinawa General Bureau, the construction work started in FY 2004 and is to be completed in FY 2013 as part of the farm ministry's irrigation business totaling 25 billion yen.

About 30 percent of the island area (22.8 square kilometers in total) has been exclusively used by the USMC, which makes it impossible for the dam construction site to cover part of the USMC facility site. Being anxious of possible water pollution from the airfield, the USMC at the beginning inclined to accept the plan. However, its approval was settled at the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee meeting on May 17, 2008.

Japan accepted the construction of a new USMC barrack for an Operations Support Detachment (OSD=13 U.S. and 22 Japanese personnel) reportedly at the civil district of Maja, outside the U.S. air field.

Mayor Oshiro Katsumasa of Ie-jima Village at the village assembly session last January stated that the conclusion came at the Japan-U.S. Joint Committee under the condition that the USMC OSD barrack, which has become old, will be relocated and newly built.

It is very rare to use Japan money other than the defense ministry's for U.S. military facilities in Japan, only next to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, whose budget was diverted to build U.S. naval officers' housing in Sasebo, Nagasaki Prefecture.

Two briefing meetings were held in the island over the plan, in which residents expressed opposition to the plan.

- Akahata, May 24, 2009