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2019 January 23 - 29 [POLITICS]

White House intends to respond to petition calling for halt to Henoko landfill work

The White House began reviewing a petition calling for a halt to the Henoko landfill work for the construction of a U.S. base, a petition initiator, Rob Kajiwara, on January 21 made public on Twitter.

Kajiwara, a descendant of Japanese immigrants to Hawaii from Okinawa, posted on Twitter a message from the Office of Presidential Correspondence in the White House that reads that the White House is “carefully reviewing” his petition. The message also states that President Trump appreciated Kajiwara taking the time to reach out to the public.

Kajiwara used the White House’s online petitioning system called “We the People”. Under the system, each petition that reaches the 100,000 signature threshold in 30 days will receive an official response from the White House within 60 days.

The online petition initiated by Kajiwara in December 2018 gathered nearly 210,000 signatures as of January 22.

Past related articles:
> Campaign to oppose Henoko project obtains backing from Queen guitarist [January 9, 2019]
> Okinawans’ protest against Henoko base project receives solidarity from abroad [December 21, 2018]