Japan Press Weekly

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2013 April 3 - 9 [OKINAWA]

US base to be built at Henoko in 2022 in spite of Okinawans’ opposition

Prime Minister Abe Shinzo and U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos on April 5 jointly announced that a new U.S. base will be constructed at Henoko in Okinawa’s Nago City by fiscal 2022.

The new base plan has come forth as a replacement for the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma base located in the densely-populated city of Ginowan in order to lessen negative impacts on local residents.

The two sides, however, left the door open for the Futenma base to not be returned by saying that its reversion will be possible in FY 2022 “or later”.

Both governments also assented to the handover of six U.S. facilities, located south of the U.S. Kadena air base in Okinawa, though on the condition that they will be relocated to other locations. They added that their transfers will move ahead over a step-by-step time period between 2013 and 2028 “or later.”

Commenting on this plan, Nago City Mayor Inamine Susumu pointed out that the reversion of the six U.S. bases is in fact assuming that their relocation will be somewhere in Okinawa. He said, “No one, including myself, in Okinawa believes that will reduce our burdens.”

Japanese Communist Party Secretariat Head Ichida Tadayoshi said, “It is intolerable to accept another base construction in exchange for the return of the base.”

Citing opinions expressed by all 41 municipalities and the prefectural assembly in Okinawa against the construction of a new U.S. base, Ichida criticized the announced plan as impermissible for a supposedly democratic country.

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A rally protesting the planned reclamation work associated with the construction of a new U.S. base took place on April 5 in Nago City.

Mayor Inamine said, “We have already made our position clear and we can no longer go back to the past,” and called on the about 1,300 residents who urgently assembled to continue raising their voices against the base construction.

Higa Yuichi, chairman of the city assembly, said, “Let us keep supporting our mayor and demanding that the construction be stopped!”

JCP member of the Lower House Akamine Seiken sent a message in solidarity to the Nago citizens, and Upper House member Itokazu Keiko, elected from Okinawa, also took part in the rally.