Governor of Okinawa withdraws permission for construction at US base

The governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, has revoked permission for construction work on a new U.S. base at Henoko Bay on the Japanese island.

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For two decades, the U.S. and Japanese military planners have been attempting to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma — now located in the middle of a crowded city — on the island to a less populated area. The plan for the relocation has faced growing opposition and many protests since Onaga an opponent of the base won over the incumbent governor last November.

The conflict has grown since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe pledged to complete the base. The deal for relocation was agreed to back in the 1990s. Abe is promoting increased military spending and military ties with the U.S. in a bid to counter China's growing military power. He has reinterpreted the pacifist Japanese constitution so as to allow Japanese forces to engage in combat missions outside of Japan.

Abe reversed a decades-old policy that allowed Japanese forces only to be use in self-defence. There was a great deal of opposition and many demonstrations against this move. Many in the Japanese public oppose Abe's hawkish vision of Japan's future. In Okinawa this opposition is even stronger. They feel that neither the needs nor wishes of Okinawans are considered in Abe's plans. As the New York Times reports: Daily demonstrations against the base by protesters encamped at its main gate, and the shouts of “Warmonger!” that greeted Mr. Abe on a visit to Okinawa last month, highlight what he is up against: a public that for decades has recoiled from anything resembling the militarism that led Japan into World War II.

Onaga, at a news conference in Naha the capital of Okinawa, claimed that there were "legal flaws" in the permit that had been issued by his predecessor, who supported the relocation, and announced that he was revoking permission. Onaga wants the Futema base moved off the island completely. Okinawa is host to about 25,000 U.S. military personnel, more than half the number throughout the whole of Japan. Polls show that a majority of residents support the position of their governor. Demonstrators outside Camp Schwab, the U.S. base at Henoko Bay, cheered Onaga's announcement. Under the relocation plan the base would be much enlarged with runways extending into the bay. Very little work has been done but even surveys have brought protests.

The Japanese government will seek to have Onaga's decision overruled. The Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has ultimate jurisdiction over the construction permit revoked by the governor. Government spokesperson, Yoshihide Suga, said:“There is no change to our plan to continue with construction in order to prepare for relocation." Experts claimed that the issue could end up in Japanese courts. It remains to be seen if construction will continue or be frozen until the courts decide on the issue. Masakazu Aharen, of Shizuoka University said that trying to overrule Onaga's decision could be politically damaging for Abe who is already facing declining ratings over security bills he pushed through parliament. Ignoring widespread opposition in Okinawa could further damage his reputation.

Japanese protest deployment of Osprey aircraft in Okinawa

Thousands of protesters gathered yesterday (November 4) to protest deployment of U.S. Osprey military aircraft to Okinawa. The Ospreys were deployed to the island last month in spite of local opposition after 2 crashes elsewhere.

The Tokyo protests are happening as anti-American sentiment is running high in Japan after two recent incidents. A U.S. airman was arrested for an alleged assault on a teenage boy in Okinawa. A recent Digital Journal report describes the incident in which a drunk U.S. airman allegedly assaulted a 13 year old boy after breaking into his home. The boy was asleep at the time. This incident happened after a curfew was imposed on the 52,000 U.S. troops deployed on the island. The curfew was imposed because of the arrest of two airmen for the alleged rape of a local woman. The protesters chanted: "Ospreys out! Marine Corps out!"

The Japanese government agreed to the deployment of the Ospreys just at a time when relations with China too are strained over claims to uninhabited islands in the East China Sea. Over half of U.S. troops still stationed in Japan are on the island of Okinawa. After protests, a number of U.S. troops were supposed to be removed to Guam, now part of the United States, but as the appended video notes this still has not happened.

The U.S. maintains Air Force, Marine Corps, Army, and Naval installations on the island. The total area covered by these facilities comprises almost 18% of the total area of the island or 233 square kilometers. There are 26,000 troops manning the facility. There have been countless promises to prevent accidents, remedy noise pollution, and deal with crimes of U.S. troops serving on the island but events still continue.

In 1995 three U.S. troops gang-raped a 12 year old girl. In 2004 a helicopter clipped a building at the local university before crashing into a residential area. Fortunately, everyone escaped with their lives although the plane exploded and spread debris over a wide area.

The situation has been made worse by the growth of urban areas on Okinawa. At first, green fields, surrounded the airbases but now they are surrounded by urban sprawl with land priced at a premium. One base at Futenma is to be closed down and relocated in the north of the island but the process has been slow and there is opposition to the move in the area where the base is to be relocated.

The Osprey has had a number of problems and it has a troubled safety record. In the initial testing phase between 1991 and 2000, the plane had four crashes with 30 fatalities. Since becoming operational, it has also had three crashes, in Afghanistan in 2010, and Morocco in 2012, as well as during a training flight in Florida in June of this year.