Japan Press Weekly

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2019 January 16 - 22 [POLITICS]

Mayonnaise sea bottom will lead Henoko base project to dead end

Akahata on January 22 reported that the Abe government has decided to make a revision to the project to construct a new U.S. base in Okinawa’s Henoko district because the seafloor in some portions of the planned construction site was found to be as soft as mayonnaise and thus a revised plan needs to be implemented.

The central government has to obtain approval from the Okinawa governor in order to carry out any additional work. With Governor Tamaki Denny opposing the Henoko base project, there is no chance of his accepting Tokyo’s request for permission to conduct the soft ground improvement plan.

Commenting on the issue, Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Koike Akira at the Diet building on January 21 said to the press, “The existence of soft sea floor at the construction site has long been pointed out. The government long denied the findings, but at last it was driven into admitting to the ground problem and making a revision to the Henoko project to take necessary measures." He said, “Governor Tamaki will not give his approval to the improvement work, which means that the base construction will become impossible to carry out. The government should stop the ongoing reclamation work without delay and give up on the U.S. base construction in Henoko.”

Past related articles:
> Okinawa governor requests Miyakojima mayor to rethink his refusal to participate in Henoko referendum [January 10, 2019]
> < Okinawa to hold prefectural referendum over Henoko base project in February 2019/A> [November 28, 2018]