January 12 & 13, 2023
Anti-base citizens in Kagoshima Prefecture on January 11 held a rally near the prefectural office building to protest against the commencement of construction work for a new Self-Defense Forces base associated with the relocation of U.S. field carrier aircraft landing practice (FCLP) drills from Iwaojima to Mageshima Island in prefecture’s Nishinoomote City.
Japanese Communist Party member of the prefectural assembly Taira Yukio along with representatives of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party delivered speeches in solidarity.
Participants in the rally urged Governor Shiota Koichi to reverse his approval for the SDF base construction and carry out investigations of a Paleolithic site which was discovered in November last year on the island.
Yamauchi Mistunori, who heads a civil group opposing the relocation of FCLP, said, “The Defense Ministry, without obtaining local consent and holding Diet deliberations, is pushing through with the construction of a new SDF base which will be shared permanently with the U.S. military. Such an outrage is totally unacceptable.”
On the following day in Nishinoomote City, a rally took place in protest against the forcible start of construction work.
A new SDF base on Mageshima Island, if completed, will be designated as a hub for supply and training in defense of the Nansei islands, a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan, all with the supposed threat of China in mind. The SDF base construction project is scheduled to take about four years. After the launch of the project, runways and other facilities needed for the relocation of FCLP will be built in 18 months. The new base will be operational in FY 2025 at the earliest.
Past related articles:
> Citizen-backed incumbent defeats pro-base rival in Nishinoomote mayoral election [February 2, 2021]
> Nishinoomote City mayor opposes planned relocation of FCLP to nearby island [October 8, 2020]
Japanese Communist Party member of the prefectural assembly Taira Yukio along with representatives of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party delivered speeches in solidarity.
Participants in the rally urged Governor Shiota Koichi to reverse his approval for the SDF base construction and carry out investigations of a Paleolithic site which was discovered in November last year on the island.
Yamauchi Mistunori, who heads a civil group opposing the relocation of FCLP, said, “The Defense Ministry, without obtaining local consent and holding Diet deliberations, is pushing through with the construction of a new SDF base which will be shared permanently with the U.S. military. Such an outrage is totally unacceptable.”
On the following day in Nishinoomote City, a rally took place in protest against the forcible start of construction work.
A new SDF base on Mageshima Island, if completed, will be designated as a hub for supply and training in defense of the Nansei islands, a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan, all with the supposed threat of China in mind. The SDF base construction project is scheduled to take about four years. After the launch of the project, runways and other facilities needed for the relocation of FCLP will be built in 18 months. The new base will be operational in FY 2025 at the earliest.
Past related articles:
> Citizen-backed incumbent defeats pro-base rival in Nishinoomote mayoral election [February 2, 2021]
> Nishinoomote City mayor opposes planned relocation of FCLP to nearby island [October 8, 2020]
