The Japanese government takes steps against Okinawa blocking U.S. base landfill work

The Japanese government takes steps against Okinawa blocking U.S. base landfill work
The Japan Times
Oct 17, 2018

Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya speaks to reporters Wednesday in Tokyo about the government's steps to go ahead with a plan to relocate the U.S. Futenma air base to the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture. | KYODO

The central government has requested that the land ministry review and invalidate the Okinawa Prefectural Government decision that forced a suspension on relocation work for the controversial U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

“We still hope to realize an early (base) relocation to the Henoko area and the return of (land occupied by) Futenma Air Station,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga told a news conference Wednesday.

The landfill work was approved in 2013 by then-Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, but his successor, Takeshi Onaga, who died in office in August, revoked the approval in 2015. In a court battle that followed, the revocation was found to be illegal and Onaga rescinded it in late 2016.

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