Okinawa!s final Straw!

Opinion:Wasington post


Does Okinawa Need Another US Military Base?


Our islands and many of our people were incinerated by both U.S. and Japanese military forces during the final land battle of World War II. Since then, we have been subjected to 70 years of military occupation and have now decided through the ballot box to refuse point blank to allow our land to be used to host yet another American military base.

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Bite marks of dugong found close to Henoko relocation area

Newly found dugong bite marks in Oura Bay on April 15 (Photograph provided by the Diving Team Rainbow).

April 16, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo

Dugong bite marks were found on April 15 at a depth of 19.7 meters under water in a part of Oura Bay adjacent to the planned Henoko base. Dugong bite marks have never been found at such a depth in Japan before. There is a possibility that the seabed-boring survey off Henoko has driven the animals into deeper waters.

The Dugong Network Okinawa, Northern Limit Dugong Research Team Zan, and Diving Team Rainbow of the Helicopter Base Objection Association found the marks outside the temporary restricted area. The divers confirmed 35 bite marks in an area of the sea-bed, 50 meters in diameter. They say the latest marks were made about a week ago. The length of the marks are relatively short, at between 1.9 and 10.5 meters. The marks seem to have been made by the youngest of the three dugongs that the Okinawa Defense Bureau claim inhabit the waters around the main island of Okinawa.

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Okinawa activists establish fund to fight Futenma base move

The Japan Times
Apr 10, 2015


Okinawa activists establish fund to fight Futenma base move

Money matters in politics. This is something Okinawans locking horns with the central government over the plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma seem to have cottoned on to, setting up a private-sector fund to promote their anti-base cause.

Local business executives and former political leaders on Thursday announced the creation of a “Henoko Fund” to solicit donations from the public. They plan to use it to fund opinion ads in newspapers in Japan and the U.S. to present their case against moving the air base from a residential neighborhood in Ginowan to the coastal district of Henoko in Nago, northern Okinawa.

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Editorial: Suspend work on Futenma relocation, listen to Okinawa residents

April 07, 2015(Mainichi Japan)
Editorial: Suspend work on Futenma relocation, listen to Okinawa residents

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga have held their first talks on the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the Henoko district of Nago, also in the prefecture. It is regrettable that the meeting had not taken place until four months after Onaga assumed the post. The national and prefectural governments should take this opportunity to patiently hold dialogue to deepen their mutual understanding.

It appears as if Okinawa's deep-rooted distrust in the national government that had accumulated over the past 70 years since the end of World War II came gushing out during the meeting.

Onaga said that he felt the national government was looking down on Okinawa whenever Suga remarked the central government would carry out the relocation "in a businesslike way." The governor then told Suga that the chief Cabinet secretary comes across like Paul Caraway, who as high commissioner of the U.S. Civil Administration of the Ryukyu (Okinawa) Islands ruled the region with an iron fist during U.S. occupation.

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84 people including Diet members gather at Camp Schwab gate

April 6, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo
84 people including Diet members gather at Camp Schwab gate to protest against the construction of a new base



A protest by 84 people, including members of Japan’s national parliament, took place in front of the gate at U.S. Marine Camp Schwab on April 4. The protesters called for a halt to the construction of a new base. The demonstration was organized by the Committee to Stop New U.S. military Base Construction in Henoko, which consists of assembly members and citizens groups opposing the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the Henoko district of Nago.

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