Flying in the face of protest

Japan
Sep 29, 2005
By David McNeill

TOKYO - After nine years of stalling and prevarication over the replacement of Futenma Air Station in Okinawa, and nearly 18 months of protests against its proposed replacement, a solution of sorts is finally stirring in the dusty halls of power in Kasumigaseki.

On September 24, the Yomiuri newspaper reported that the Japanese government is backing the relocation of Futenma's Marine chopper base to the Marines Camp Schwab in Nago, also in Okinawa. Tokyo had initially supported the construction of a joint civil-military airport off the coast of Henoko village in Nago City township to replace Futenma.

At an estimated cost of 330 billion yen (US$2.9 billion), the Henoko project would have lined the pockets of local and national construction firms - key backers of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party - and settled one of the rawest issues in the US-Japan security alliance: reducing (by 21%, according to Stars and Stripes military newspaper) the American military footprint in Okinawa Prefecture, which reluctantly hosts three quarters of all US military facilities in Japan. There was just one serious problem: many local people strongly opposed the idea.

According to Yomiuri, the latest decision was prompted mainly by a rethink over the "environmental impact" of the base on pristine coral reefs off Henoko, home to the endangered dugong (marine mammal), but there is every reason to believe that the real reason was a remarkably successful grassroots protest campaign.

In 1996, Tokyo and Washington agreed by December 2003 at the latest to close Futenma, which occupies the heart of the densely populated Ginowan City, and replace it with one of three options: move the helicopter functions to Kadena, the biggest and most active US Air Force base in East Asia, build an airstrip in Camp Schwab or construct an entirely new offshore facility. All three options would maintain the base in Okinawa.

The 1996 agreement was forced on the two governments by the largest protests in Okinawa history following the kidnap and rape of a 12-year-old girl by two Marines and a sailor, an incident that capped years of sex crimes by military personnel.

In July 2002, after years of wrangling, Tokyo announced it would build a joint military-civilian airfield with a 2.5-kilometer runway over coral reefs about 2 kilometers off the coast of the Henoko district of Nago, all paid for by the Japanese taxpayer. The main outstanding issue was the Japanese demand for a 15-year limit on US use of the base. The issues gained urgency in summer 2004 when a US helicopter crashed into densely populated Ginowan next to the base, touching offer the largest anti-base demonstrations since 1996.

The transfer of the base to Henoko was backed by Nago Mayor Kishimoto Tateo and the local business community. But amid the buildup to the US "war on terror" and another spike in tensions between locals and the military, the offshore plan predictably sparked outrage among anti-base campaigners and environmentalists and was reportedly scaled down to a 1,500-meter exclusively military facility.

In June 2004, a small group began demonstrating against test drilling for the construction of the new base. The protestors set up camp on a roadside close to the beach at Henoko, blocking government surveyors. When the surveyors tried approaching from the sea, the demonstrators took to canoes or scaled construction scaffolding to obstruct them. By September 2004, an Okinawa Times-Asahi Shinbun survey indicated that 81% of Okinawans opposed the building of the new heliport.

As of September 27, the Henoko protest was 528 days old. It has been joined in spirit and sometimes in body by dozens of international groups campaigning on antiwar and environmental issues. Several civil lawsuits have also been filed, including one against the US Defense Department.

But its core remains a relatively small number of determined elderly locals. The demonstrations have been grueling and occasionally dangerous but remain a model of non-violent protest that has had an enormous impact on policies crafted in Tokyo and Washington with virtually no reference to local sentiments. "There is absolutely no doubt that this protest has forced the reconsideration of the base," local councilor and anti-base activist Chibana Shoichi said.

The morale of the protestors has also been boosted by news that the BBC's World Earth Report team has made a documentary about the area, which will be broadcast, according to the Futenma-Henoko Action Network, to more than 200 countries and territories around the world every day for a week beginning on September 30. "We'll stay here forever if we have to," Reverend Taira Natsume, one of the protest leaders, said.

Few of the anti-base protestors are complacent, however. Despite a 2002 pledge by Prime Minister Koizumi Junichiro to reduce the US military burden on Okinawa, there are signs that Washington is digging in amid a major realignment of US forces around the world and an increasingly outward-looking Japanese military stance.

A congressional report by the Overseas Bases Commission released in August recommended maintaining current US troop levels in the prefecture, saying: "Okinawa is the strategic linchpin to operational capabilities in East Asia. Diminishing our combat capability on the island would pose great risk to our national interests in the region."

Some activists also wonder whether the latest move is such a major compromise. "You have to remember that Camp Schwab is right beside Henoko, even if the base is built inland," Chibana said. "Nago City and the Chamber of Commerce are against moving to Schwab, and the US side still wants to build a shorter runway in shallower waters, so everything is still up in the air." Either plan would keep the Marines and the air base in Okinawa.

Nevertheless, the closing of the accident-prone Futenma base together with cancellation of the Henoko project, if confirmed, would energize those who have long called for a reduction of US bases and forces on Okinawa, and who ultimately want their total removal.

The question now being asked is: whither Futenma? One option floated in a recent Kyodo news article suggested that Kadena might host Futenma's assets, but an anonymous Pentagon source said this was "hardly a desirable solution" considering "the noise problems and operational hazards of helicopters and US Air Force fighters using the same base."

The source, who made clear that Henoko is still the preferred US option, also raised problems with any move to Camp Schwab, including, "helicopters flying over communities and a tremendous amount of moving earth and destroying mountains to build the airport." Over the last six months, as the protest has dragged on, a number of other solutions have been floated in the national media, including a move to Iwakuni Marine Corps Air Station in Yamaguchi Prefecture and even to distant Guam.

However, Japanese government resistance to any transfer of US forces to the main islands, and US insistence that the base be located in Japan, leave the future of the base in limbo. While the maintenance of the base in overcrowded Ginowan constitutes a major source of friction with Okinawan citizens, from a US military perspective base functions continue unimpeded nearly a decade after the pledge to transfer.

Okinawa will have to wait until October and an interim report by Defense Agency Director General Ono Yoshinori on the result of the latest Tokyo-Washington negotiations to hear whether the new Tokyo position is official, but for now at least the campaigners are relishing their role as a slightly graying David versus the flat-footed military Goliath. And promising to fight on.

"Of course we're happy that the government has changed its plan, and that we might have had an impact," Taira said. "But our demonstrations are not about where the base will be or what shape it will take, but against the building of the base in the first place. We will continue until this plan is completely scrapped and the military is gone from here." It seems unlikely that this will be any time soon.

David McNeill is a Tokyo-based journalist who teaches at Sophia University. A regular contributor to the London Independent and a columnist for OhMy News, he is a Japan Focus coordinator.

Japan Visitor Blog - Tokyo Osaka Nagoya Kyoto: Henoko

Wednesday, September 28, 2005

Henoko

辺野古

As I was walking back to Yotsuya station after work a student handed me a pamphlet as I went by Sophia University. I pulled it out of my pocket on the train and had a scan. It is by a group opposing the relocation of the Futenma Marine Corps Air Station, a heliport in Okinawa, the southernmost of Japan's main islands. 75% of the US's many bases in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa.

It is planned to move the base to a so-far unspoiled area of Okinawa called Henoko, an area designated by Okinawa prefecture as a conservation area, noted for its coral reefs, tidelands and seaweed grounds. It is also the northern limit of the habitat of the dugong, an endangered saltwater manatee that is internationally protected.

The reef is said to be home to nine other endangered marine species. (Local authorities claim that no living dugongs have ever been sighted inside the reef.)

The base will be centered round a massive 1,280m (4,200 foot) long runway with 100m (328 foot) overruns at either end, built, like the whole base, on land reclaimed out as far as the reef. The total area to be reclaimed is about 2.4km (1½ miles) long and 800m (½ mile) wide less than a kilometer (about 1000 yards) off the coast. Drilling into the seabed began almost two weeks ago, on September 16.

Local opposition to the project is understandably strong, running at 82% according to a survey carried out last month. Some of the most ardent of the campaigners against the project are second-generation Okinawan Americans, known as uchinanchu, many of them living in the United States. They have organized themselves into an organization called the Okinawa PeaceFighters. They have even brought legal action against the US government in the form of the 'Rumsfeld vs Dugong' case before the San Francisco Federal Court, arguing that the danger posed to the dugong by the construction of the base makes it illegal under the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act.

What difference such activities make to the progress of the base remains to be seen. But the fact that at least a few of Japan's notoriously apolitical students are moved to do something beyond the usual confines of their sheltered worlds can only be encouraging.

U.S. rejects Futemma relocation to Camp Schwab

Kyodo News via Yahoo! Asia News
September 28, 2005

(Kyodo) _ The United States has rejected a proposed alternative option of building an airport within the U.S. Marines Corps' Camp Schwab to relocate the helicopter functions of the Marines' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa, sources close to ongoing bilateral talks said Wednesday.

In the senior working-level talks in Washington, the United States instead has urged Japan to consider another option of constructing an airport on reclaimed land in shallow water within the reef alongside Camp Schwab in the Henoko district of Nago, the sources said.

The talks, involving senior defense and foreign affairs officials tasked with discussions on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, began the two-day talks Monday, but the two sides decided to continue the talks Wednesday.

At stake is bridging gaps over the two conflicting options to decide on an alternative option for the stalled initial plan of building a 2,500-meter offshore civilian-military airport along the reef off Camp Schwab to relocate the helicopter functions of the Futemma base in Ginowan.

The two nations have narrowed down the alternative plans to two, but differences over the two options are complicating the negotiations. The U.S. Defense Department is pressing for the plan to build an airport in the shallower water area and the Japanese Defense Agency wants to construct it within the camp.

During the ongoing talks, the United States clarified its position of rejecting the inland option, stressing that it would lead helicopters to fly over local communities -- one of the major issues for relocating the Futemma base -- and the Japanese government has not obtained support from the local authorities and residents, the sources said.

The two nations are otherwise basically in agreement over building a shorter 1,500-meter military-only airport so as to shorten the completion period to about five years from the more than 10 years required in the initial plan.

The Futemma issue is likely to affect the overall bilateral talks for crafting a comprehensive package on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan. The two nations plan to compile an interim report on the realignment by the end of October.

Kyodo News via Yahoo! Asia News

Futenma heliport thorn in government's side

Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan), Sep 19, 2005

Sep. 19--With the U.S. Marine Corp' Camp Schwab becoming increasingly likely to be named the site for a heliport to be relocated from Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, the actions of the Japanese and U.S. governments are attracting keen interest.

Government officials of the two nations aim to complete the plan as soon as possible to meet a deadline for an interim report on realignment talks next month.

Defense Agency Director General Yoshinori Ono told reporters Friday he intended to review the government's original plan to build an offshore heliport off the Henoko area in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, to replace Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, as soon as possible.

"Under the Henoko plan, residents will have to put up with the Futenma base for another decade. But I'd like to make a decision as soon as I can on how to reduce this burden," Ono said.

The two governments had considered relocating Futenma's helicopter units outside the prefecture. But according to a U.S. government official, the plan was set aside as the prefecture's strategic importance had increased in consideration of North Korea's nuclear ambitions and the intrusion of a Chinese nuclear submarine into Japanese waters.

The governments then discussed three alternatives--integrating it into the U.S. Air Force's Kadena Air Base, which straddles Kadenacho, another town and a city; relocating to Camp Schwab, which straddles Nago and Ginozason; and the original plan of building a heliport off Henoko.

Building a heliport at Camp Schwab and relocating is viewed as the most promising option because the burden on local residents likely will be much lighter than that under the Kadena plan.

By cutting the size of the heliport from 2,500 meters long to 1,500 meters long, the construction period is expected to drop from at least 12 years under the original plan to several years.

But current negotiations resemble a tug of war as Japan wants to build the heliport on land within the camp, while the United States wants it positioned on the reef in the shallows close to the camp.

According to a Japanese government official, constructing the heliport on land would not provoke residents to protest as construction would be within the U.S. military base. Protests over the Henoko plan have been held near the sea off Henoko.

If flight routes were devised far apart from residential areas, noise, concern over accidents and other problems to residents could be minimized, the official added.

Nago and other municipal governments in the northern part of the prefecture had accepted the Henoko plan. Projects to promote development of the region costing 100 billion already have begun.

But there are a couple of issues concerning building a heliport on land. If a heliport was built in hilly areas for military exercises in the western part of the camp, helicopters may have to fly over residential areas. Constructing the heliport within the camp would prevent U.S. marines from conducting live fire drills there, forcing them to carry out such activities elsewhere.

If a heliport was built in the eastern part of the camp, marines' housing would have to be moved from the area. Reclamation work also would be needed for part of the coast. The U.S. side has raised these issues with the Japanese government.

Building the heliport offshore originally was proposed by a group of local business leaders. A Pentagon official responded positively to the plan, saying it had been pushed forward by some local people. Some Foreign Ministry officials also have indicated their approval of the plan.

But a Japanese government official who specializes in Okinawa affairs was not so ready to agree. "Reclamation work [off Henoko] has progressed little, as even boring tests to examine the effects on the environment have yet to be completed. These were hindered by obstruction by residents' and citizens' groups. Even if the alternative facility was scaled down and built a little closer to the shore than originally planned, it's unlikely protests would stop," the official said.

In the early stages of talks on the realignment of U.S. military forces in Japan, some Japanese and U.S. officials had hoped to see a merger of the Futenma Air Station and the Kadena Air Base.

Such a merger would have allowed U.S. Marine Corps helicopters to be moved from Futenma to Kadena without the need to build an alternative facility because Kadena has two long runways. The Kadena Ammunition Storage Area, which is on a vast plot of land, also was considered as an alternative.

However, residents near the Kadena base were strongly opposed to the proposal because they already had problems with noise pollution from jet fighter training.

The U.S. government later changed its position on the relocation because such a move could severely limit the number of takeoffs and landings of fighter jets and transport planes in a time of need. U.S. opposition prompted Tokyo to scrap the Kadena plan, too.

Nonetheless, some officials from the central and Okinawa prefectural governments are still working on a proposal to temporarily relocate marine helicopters to Kadena until they can be transferred to Camp Schwab, hoping to free up the Futenma base for return to Japan as soon as possible.

Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine sought the views of Kadena Mayor Tokujitsu Miyagi about the temporary relocation plan in late August. But Miyagi said he was opposed to it, saying, "There's no room to accept such a plan."

The Okinawa government has taken a wait-and-see position toward a proposal to move the Futenma base to Camp Schwab. Yoritaka Hanashiro, director of the governor's office, said the prefecture could not make any comment on the issue because the central government had not yet officially sought the prefecture's views.

It is believed, however, that Inamine will find it difficult to agree to the proposal because he had been demanding civilian access to any alternative facility as a condition of the relocation.

But some central government officials expect Inamine will drop his demand if the government approves an offshore expansion of the Naha Airport that the prefecture has been asking for.

Takeo Kishimoto, mayor of Nago, a city being eyed for an alternative facility, said he would listen to residents. However, some Nago residents have criticized the proposal to construct an alternative facility inland, saying it would mean restarting talks from scratch on the relocation.

Matsuyu Oshiro, chairman of a residents' association supportive of the current relocation plan, said he would support the construction of an alternative facility on the reef because it would save both time and money.

However, a civic group opposing the construction of a facility in sea off Henoko said it would continue protesting construction of a military facility even if its size was reduced.

Heliport eyed for Camp Schwab

Yomiuri Shimbun (Japan), Sep 14, 2005

Sep. 14--TOKYO--The Japanese and U.S. governments are considering construction of a heliport at the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Schwab in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, as a possible alternative for the replacement of the corps' Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, government sources said Tuesday.

Finding a replacement for the Futenma station is at the center of the final stage of negotiations about realignment of U.S. forces in in Japan. A plan has been mooted to replace the Futenma station with an offshore facility, the megafloat, off the Henoko district in Nago. The megafloat, however, would take at least 12 years to build, while the proposed heliport at Camp Schwab could be constructed more quickly. The proposal also would see the earlier return of the Futenma station to Japan.

With the heliport in the pipeline, the megafloat has now been shelved, the sources said. The government plans to seek the views of the prefecture and the city of Nago and to include the heliport in a midterm report on the realignment that is scheduled to be completed in October.

According to the sources, the heliport will be 1.5 kilometers long with a 1.3-kilometer runway. It would be smaller than the megafloat, which was designed to be 2.5 kilometers long with a two-kilometer runway. The smaller size likely will mean commercial and private aircraft will not be able to use the runway, although local governments have asked for the facility to be available to nonmilitary aircraft.

The megafloat plan would require time-consuming landfilling. The construction of the heliport is expected to be a much quicker option because the U.S. barracks area in the camp could be used. The construction work might involve some landfilling near the shore, but it would have less environmental impact than construction of a megafloat.

The area surrounding the camp is sparsely populated, so there likely will be comparatively few concerns about the impact of construction-related inconveniences on residents. The U.S. reportedly agreed to the plan when the government proposed it during councillor-level talks between the Japan-U.S. defense authorities on Sept. 7 and 8 in Washington.

In the final report of the Special Action Committee on Okinawa in 1996, the two governments agreed to the construction of an offshore replacement facility and the handover of the Futenma station within five to seven years. But residents opposed the plan, claiming landfilling would damage the environment.

Protesters rally at Defense Agency against U.S. bases in Okinawa

Kyodo News via Yahoo! Asia News
September 4, 2005

(Kyodo) _ Some 700 protesters joined hands Sunday in front of the Defense Agency in Tokyo to call for the removal of U.S. military bases in Okinawa. The "human chain" demonstration was organized mainly by a civic group against the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Ginowan, central Okinawa island, to the Henoko area of Nago on northern Okinawa island.

"Give up construction of the military base in Henoko district. Close the Futemma base immediately," the protesters shouted at the front gate of the agency headquarters in the capital's Shinjuku Ward. The rally was held on the 10th anniversary of the rape of a 12-year-old girl in Okinawa by three U.S. servicemen, which ignited local anti-U.S. military movements.

Kyodo News via Yahoo! Asia News