Japan Press Weekly

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2010 December 22 - 2011 January 4 [OKINAWA]

Base removal is only way to eliminate its danger

Foreign Minister Maehara Seiji stated in Okinawa on December 21 that the U.S. Futenma base in Ginowan City should be used until its relocation to Nago City will be completed and that he plans to consider relocating schools and hospitals near the base to other locations in the city in order to “eradicate dangerous risks” of accidents. His remark has increased Okinawans’ anger.

“What the minister implied was a direct threat to perpetuate the Futenma base if a new base cannot be built in Henoko,” stated Ginowan Mayor Asato Takeshi, who went on to say, “About 3,600 residents are living within the so-called clear zone of the base. The risk cannot be eradicated only by relocating schools and hospitals.”

The U.S. forces in the United States designate around their base a “clear zone” where residences are prohibited due to safety concerns. However in Ginowan City, 18 public facilities, including schools, daycare centers, and hospitals, as well as more than 800 housing units are located within the clear zone.

Public buildings can’t be relocated

There was an attempt in the past to relocate the Futenma Daini Elementary School, located right next to the Futenma base.

In 1982, under the conservative city administration, a plan emerged to move the school to the site used for U.S. military housing units. It was, however, turned down after the city found that it would need three billion yen to purchase the site.

“In Ginowan City, with a U.S. base at its center, relocation of public facilities is impossible,” said Chinen Chuji, former Ginowan City Assembly member of the Japanese Communist Party. “That is why we call for the removal of the base. By proposing what was already proven to be impossible in the past, the Kan Cabinet refuses to recognize Okinawans’ consensus for no more U.S. bases. The only realistic way to ‘eradicate risk’ is the reduction and eventual removal of U.S. bases,” he stressed.

“What Maehara said is not just an idea expressed by one Cabinet member. Last August, mass media on the mainland widely called for the relocation of public buildings around the base in order to avoid base risks. This is obviously part of a campaign, led by the Demoratic Party of Japan-led government, to further strengthen the Japan-U.S. Alliance,” said Chinen.