Protest held in Okinawa one year after start of landfill for US base

NAHA, Dec 14, 2019, Kyodo. A protest was staged in waters in Okinawa on Saturday near where a U.S. air base is due to be relocated, one year after full-blown offshore landfill work for the transfer began, Japan Today reported.

“We’ll never give up, let’s keep going,” protesters, paddling about 30 canoes along with some boats near the Henoko coastal district, yelled in chorus with signs declaring “Remove all bases” and “Don’t kill coral.”

Despite strong local opposition, the central government went ahead with the landfill work for moving U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the district of Nago.

Many Okinawa people are against the relocation plan as they want the base moved out of the southern island prefecture.

“The relocation work shouldn’t be carried out,” said Setsuko Yara, 76, who took part in the protest. “If I think such a beautiful sea will be lost, I can’t help but feel disappointment.”

On Dec 14, 2018, the Japanese government started the adding of soil and sand at a 6.3-hectare section of the Henoko coastal area, next to another 33-hectare area where reclamation work began in March.

The landfill work has been completed at about 70 percent of the section, while around 10 percent of the larger area has been reclaimed, according to the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa bureau.

The central government plans to reclaim 160 hectares in total to build a V-shaped runway.

Okinawa Gov Denny Tamaki has asked Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to halt the landfill work, citing the result of a prefectural referendum held in February which showed more than 70 percent of residents oppose the relocation plan.

But the Abe administration maintains the current relocation plan is the “only solution” to remove the dangers posed by the Futenma base, which is currently located in a crowded residential area of Ginowan.