Japan Press Weekly

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2009 February 25 - March 3 [OKINAWA]

Ginowan City mayor asks JCP for cooperation in opposition to U.S. Navy hospital construction

Ginowan City Mayor Iha Yoichi on February 24 met with Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo and requested that the JCP make efforts to block the plan to build a U.S. Navy hospital on the site of buried cultural properties in the city.

In 1996, Japan and the United States concluded an agreement to relocate the U.S. Navy hospital from U.S. Camp Kuwae (Chatan Town) to the Ginowan City portion of U.S. Camp Zukeran in exchange for the return of the southern part of Camp Kuwae to Japan.

The planned relocation site is where cultural properties from the Ryukyu Kingdom are buried. Since excavation for research is under way there, Ginowan City has been requesting a change in the construction site.

The mayor said with displeasure, “Both the Japanese and U.S. governments say that they won’t change the plan to relocate the Navy hospital to Ginowan City as if they are working hard only for U.S. forces without regard for Okinawa residents.

JCP Chair Shii promised Iha that the JCP will cooperate with the city in opposing the plan, saying, “It is unacceptable to allow valuable cultural properties to be destroyed.”