Japan Press Weekly

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2016 August 3 - 9 [POLITICS]

More than 1,000 people rally to block helipad construction in Takae

As the Abe government is pushing forward with the construction of U.S. military helipads in the Takae district in Okinawa, more than 1,000 people on August 6 assembled near the construction site to hold a rally to block the construction work.

In the rally, Nakamura Mamoru, who has been conducting a protest sit-in in Takae, said that he had never imagined that such a large number of people would come together in Takae to oppose the helipad construction. He went on to say that more and more people in Japan are angry about the Abe government’s handling of the Takae issue. Nakamura called on the rally participants to keep working to block the helipad construction, put a halt to the government plan to build a new military base in Henoko, and create an Okinawa without military bases.

Japanese Communist Party lawmaker Akamine Seiken delivered a speech in solidarity and said, “Many people have been exerting tremendous efforts to protect the natural environment in Takae. It is totally unacceptable to construct a military facility in this precious forest.” Parliamentarians Itokazu Keiko (independent) and Fukushima Mizuho (Social Democratic Party) also took part in the rally.

On the previous day, Akamine, Itokazu, and other Okinawa-elected Dietmembers investigated an allegation that the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau, in association with the Takae helipad project, cut down trees in a national forest without permission from the local forest office of the Ministry of Forestry. The lawmakers listened to explanations from forest office officials at the Okinawa prefectural government building.

One official said to the parliamentarians that the defense bureau on August 3 notified the forest office that the bureau had cut down trees in the national forest near Takae before engaging in consultations. The forest office carried out an on-site investigation and found out that around 60 trees were cut down along the road leading to the helipad construction site. The defense bureau explained that it had “mistakenly” logged the trees, according to the official. The forest office said they had conveyed a stiff protest to the bureau, demanded a detailed report on the incident, and ordered the bureau to refrain from further logging.

JCP Akamine said that the incident is totally unforgivable. Social Democratic Party Dietmember Teruya Kantoku said that the bureau’s act is highly problematic and cannot be overlooked.

Past related article:
> Tokyo resumes US helipad construction work in Okinawa even after Abe Cabinet minister’s defeat [July 12, 2016]