Relocate Futenma Promptly, in Compliance with Okinawa’s Decision

A solution has been found for a problem after as many as 17 years of gridlock. The prefectural governor approved the landfill needed to move the Futenma U.S. Marine base to Henoko in Nago City, Okinawa. The government must make additional efforts so that the relocation may proceed promptly.

“There is a budding movement to share the burden of military bases nationwide.” At a press conference for the announcement of the approval, Okinawa’s Governor Hirokazu Nakaima commended the policies laid out by the Abe cabinet, such as moving half of U.S. military training to the mainland.

As the only place in the country to have experienced ground-level fighting involving the general population in World War II, as well as having been placed under American administration long after the war, there is a victimized feeling among Okinawan residents of being “abandoned in Japan.”

The anti-base movement’s goals are not merely to eliminate accidents and noise; there have also been outcries about whether all the people of Japan are suffering the same. Not only the government, but the entire nation has noticed the sentiment that if they don’t accept U.S. training in every area as a matter of course, relocation work will once again reach a deadlock.

At the beginning of the year, there will be a mayoral election in Nago City, the site of relocation. Officials are starting from scratch on how to eliminate the risk of accidents at the Futenma air base in the overcrowded city of Ginowan, and effort from residents of Okinawa and Nago City to understand the necessity of prompt relocation is indispensable

There are several concerns about this decision. The government has promised an investigation in Okinawa within five years of Futenma’s suspension of operation. Although it is an “investigation,” Okinawans take it as a “suspension.” The relationship of trust between the mainland and Okinawa — built painstakingly with the sense that “the U.S. military wouldn’t understand, so it’s useless” — is wavering.

It is believed that complete relocation would take nearly 10 years from the start of landfill work. If the U.S. Marine Corps were no longer stationed at Futenma, not even on a temporary basis, the deterrent against outside aggression would be greatly reduced.

“International affairs are tense, regardless of the will of prefectural citizens,” stated Governor Nakaima. Due to China’s marine expansion, Okinawa’s strategic importance has never been greater. The government must be able to reduce relocation work as much as possible.

With the U.S. government not breaking its negative posture, difficulties are expected for the revision of the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, which Okinawa citizens regard as an “unequal treaty.” The right requested by Okinawa to conduct an investigation into the base’s soil pollution is indispensable to smoothly hastening the return of bases in the southern part of the prefecture, which will likely increase in the future.

Now that a consultation with the U.S. has been announced, the government must not immediately surrender. I would like them to negotiate doggedly in accordance with the will of 1.4 million residents.