Gov’t must listen to Okinawa’s urgent demand

Japan Press Weekly

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Gov’t must listen to Okinawa’s urgent demand - Akahata editorial (excerpts)

Okinawa’s Ginowan City Mayor Iha Yoichi announced his plan to file a lawsuit against the central government to determine the illegality of the presence of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in his city.

His move is based on recommendations published by lawyers and legal experts, which claim that the base violates the city’s autonomy and forces it to shoulder unbearably dangerous conditions.

The Futenma base, described as “the most dangerous base in the world” even by the U.S. Secretary of Defense, is located in the central part of Ginowan City. Military aircraft fly over residential areas form early morning to the middle of the night, causing a huge amount of continuous noise.

In 2004, a CH-53 helicopter stationed at the Futenma base crashed on the main building of the Okinawa International University in a densely populated area of Ginowan City. While there were no casualties, it could have been a terrible disaster with many casualties.

As Mayor Iha has pointed, the presence of the Futenma base increases the city’s financial burdens and tramples on its autonomy. For instance, the municipality had to set up three fire stations at locations around the base since it occupies a large area in the heart of the city. Without the base, one centrally located fire station would have sufficed.

The municipal government cannot adopt ordinances to regulate noise caused by the U.S. military facility or conduct research on cultural properties buried under the base borders because the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) gives the U.S. forces the right to control all movement on their bases.

What the central government must do is to sincerely listen to the local demands and ease the unbearable conditions for the people in Okinawa, and not to load further base burdens on them by implementing the Japan-U.S. agreement to build a new U.S. military facility within the prefecture.

- Akahata, July 16, 2010