February 16, 2011
The government is forcibly conducting the construction of U.S. military helipads in the Takae district of Higashi Village in Okinawa, arousing anger among local people.
The Okinawa Defense Bureau has used trucks and dozens of construction workers to block a road and bring heavy machinery and other equipment to the construction site. While voicing the need to reduce U.S. base burdens on Okinawa, what the government is doing in Takae totally disregards the demands of local residents calling on the state to sit at a negotiation table with them before starting the construction work.
Destroy environment and livelihoods
The Japanese and U.S. governments at the 1996 Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) agreed to build six helipads at the U.S. Northern Training Area in Okinawa in exchange for returning to Japan part of the area. With the additional helipad construction, the total number of helipads at the training site will be 21.
If the new military facilities are built, the Takae district will be surrounded by helipads with one of them located only 400m away from residential areas. U.S. helicopters are already flying over local people’s houses at low altitudes day and night. This dangerous situation will undoubtedly become worse with the completion of the helipads construction.
Another issue is the possible deployment of the state-of-the-art vertical takeoff and landing Osprey aircraft which emit a huge amount of noise and which are accident-prone. In response to questioning by Japanese Communist Party Lower House representative Akamine Seiken, Defense Minister Kitazawa Toshimi stated in the Diet that the use of the additional helipads by Osprey aircraft is “possible.”
The precious natural environment of “Yambaru” (Northern Okinawa) is threatened to be destroyed by the helipads construction for the sake of “U.S. military operations”. Often described as the “Galapagos of the Far East,” the rich forest is the habitat of 4,000 wildlife species, including the endangered Okinawa rail.
Send local demands to the US
The Northern Training Area is the site for the helicopter unit stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa’s Ginowan City. The helipads construction, therefore, must be blocked in order to achieve the total removal of the Futenma base.
The Japanese government must respond to Takae residents’ demands and negotiate with the U.S. government to cancel the building of the new military facilities.
The Okinawa Defense Bureau has used trucks and dozens of construction workers to block a road and bring heavy machinery and other equipment to the construction site. While voicing the need to reduce U.S. base burdens on Okinawa, what the government is doing in Takae totally disregards the demands of local residents calling on the state to sit at a negotiation table with them before starting the construction work.
Destroy environment and livelihoods
The Japanese and U.S. governments at the 1996 Special Action Committee on Okinawa (SACO) agreed to build six helipads at the U.S. Northern Training Area in Okinawa in exchange for returning to Japan part of the area. With the additional helipad construction, the total number of helipads at the training site will be 21.
If the new military facilities are built, the Takae district will be surrounded by helipads with one of them located only 400m away from residential areas. U.S. helicopters are already flying over local people’s houses at low altitudes day and night. This dangerous situation will undoubtedly become worse with the completion of the helipads construction.
Another issue is the possible deployment of the state-of-the-art vertical takeoff and landing Osprey aircraft which emit a huge amount of noise and which are accident-prone. In response to questioning by Japanese Communist Party Lower House representative Akamine Seiken, Defense Minister Kitazawa Toshimi stated in the Diet that the use of the additional helipads by Osprey aircraft is “possible.”
The precious natural environment of “Yambaru” (Northern Okinawa) is threatened to be destroyed by the helipads construction for the sake of “U.S. military operations”. Often described as the “Galapagos of the Far East,” the rich forest is the habitat of 4,000 wildlife species, including the endangered Okinawa rail.
Send local demands to the US
The Northern Training Area is the site for the helicopter unit stationed at the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa’s Ginowan City. The helipads construction, therefore, must be blocked in order to achieve the total removal of the Futenma base.
The Japanese government must respond to Takae residents’ demands and negotiate with the U.S. government to cancel the building of the new military facilities.
