Japan Press Weekly

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2010 April 14 - 20 [US FORCES]

5,000 rally in Tokyo for removal of U.S. Futenma base

They raised a sign that read “No Base!” in Tokyo’s Hibiya Amphitheater, expressing solidarity with Okinawans who are planning to hold a major rally on April 25. They also marched in demonstration to the Diet building.

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo stated on the stage, “The more places the Hatoyama Cabinet names as possible alternative sites to the Futenma base, the more anger it raises among the public.” He said that the government should stop trying to find a relocation site and start negotiating with the U.S. government for the unconditional removal of the base.

On behalf of 16 delegates from Okinawa, Arakaki Shigenobu, representing the Okinawa United Action Liaison Council (Toitsuren), said, “The land, the sky and the sea are all taken away by the U.S. forces, even our dignity.” He revealed that since the 1972 return of Okinawa to Japan, Okinawans have been subjected to 26,413 crimes and 456 accidents caused by U.S. military personnel.

Two women spoke as representatives of Kagoshima’s Tokunoshima Island, one of the government’s proposed sites for relocation of the Futenma base. On March 28, 4,200 people took part in a rally against the possible relocation to the southern island with a population of 25,000. They said, “Tokunoshima Island and Okinawa are like sisters. We recognize their hardships as ours and join forces with them for the removal of the U.S. base and not its relocation.”
- Akahata, April 15, 2010