Ryukyu Shimpo ：Okinawa Governor conveys his opposition to new US base

January 15, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo

On January 14, after cabinet approved the fiscal 2015 promotional budget for Okinawa, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga visited the Prime Minister’s Office and Cabinet Office. At his meeting with Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiro Sugita, the governor conveyed his opposition to the government’s plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futema in Ginowan to Henoko, Nago, and said he sought to relocate it to outside of Okinawa. However, his plan to meet with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Chief Cabinet Secreatary Yoshihide Suga, who is responsible for reducing Okinawa’s base burden, was not realized this time.

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Japan Times:Thousands protest in Tokyo against Futenma move

Thousands of people gathered Sunday outside the Diet to protest the plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the Henoko district in Okinawa from the city of Ginowan.

Various speakers addressed what they described as the harmful presence of U.S. forces in Okinawa, including excessive force to clamp down on protesters and environmental damage, and the government’s refusal to address these concerns.

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Coast Guard officers take excessive action

Coast Guard officers take excessive action against citizens in Henoko

January 21, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo

The governments of Japan and the United States are moving forward with their plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko, Nago. On January 20, workers employed by Okinawa Defense Bureau set up an oil fence from off the coast of Camp Schwab to Oura Bay and dropped anchors on the seabed. According to the defense bureau, the anchors stop the oil fence from being swept away by wave. A line, indicating a temporary restricted area, expands to near the Sedake community, cutting into the deep-blue sea. Screams were heard among members of ‘Canoe Corps’, who are protesting in order to stop the construction work for a new U.S. base. “This is an arrogant way. Their action is like stabbing a sword into Okinawan people’s will,” a member said.

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Japanese government resumes construction work ・・・

Ryukyu Shimpo-Japanese government resumes construction work of new U.S military base in the sea off Henoko

January 15, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

The governments of Japan and the United States plan to construct a replacement base for U.S Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Henoko, Nago. The Okinawa Defense Bureau resumed setting up a float bridge when they placed an oil fence off the coast of Henoko at 11 a.m. on January 15. Concerned the construction work could influence Lower House election at the end of last year, the bureau had halted the offshore operation and removed the float bridge from the sea. However, they have now resumed the operation. At several spots, the bureau used a crane truck to lower an oil fence on the beach. Construction workers then used ships to stretch the oil fence over the sea off Henoko. The setting up of the bridge was expected to take a full day.

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Japan Focus：The Bus to Henoko

The Bus to Henoko: Riot Police and Okinawan Citizens Face-off over New Marine Base
C. Douglas Lummis

Naha, Okinawa, 17 January. Yesterday I took a bus up to Henoko from Naha, where I live. There is a new organisation called Shimagurumi Kaigi, formed to support the newly elected Governor in his “all Okinawa anti-base” campaign. Since “all-Okinawa” includes progressives, pacifists, business people, and politicians who recently broke away from the pro-base Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), they will, I hear, need to do a whole lot of talking among themselves before they agree on much more than a few simple issues. But they have agreed on at least one project: to set up a daily bus service to carry people to the main gate of the US Marine Corps’ Camp Schwab, at Henoko, where construction of the new Marine Corps Air Facility has resumed after a break of a month or so. At the main gate a 24-hour sit-in is aiming to block the big trucks that are bringing in equipment and building materials. The buses leave at 10:00AM, one from Naha, one from Okinawa City and one from Uruma City.

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