March 3, 2019

An Okinawan American man who opposes the construction of a new U.S. base in Henoko recently began a new petition campaign against the Henoko base project through the White House online petition system “We the People”.

The fourth-generation Japanese-American living in Hawai, Robert Kajiwara, just three days after the February 24 Okinawa prefectural referendum launched the online signature-collection campaign to block the Henoko project. So far, nearly 6,000 people signed the petition.

Stating that Okinawans expressed their will with an overwhelming “No” vote in the historic referendum, Kajiwara in the new petition campaign demanded that the essence of democracy itself along with the coral reefs of Okinawa be saved and that the unwanted project to construct a new U.S. base be stopped.

Under the “We the People” petitioning system, petitions which collect the required 100,000 signatures in 30 days will be responded to by the U.S. government within 60 days.

Kajiwara in December 2018 initiated a petition calling for halting the Henoko landfill work until the referendum is conducted, which was signed by more than 210,000 people, including the rock group Queen's guitarist, within 30 days.

Past related articles:
> White House intends to respond to petition calling for halt to Henoko landfill work [January 23, 2019]
> Campaign to oppose Henoko project obtains backing from Queen guitarist [January, 9, 2019]