Okinawa's Christmas Presents

Santa Claus came to town

Saturday, December 20, 2003
Saturday Evening Edition

Several meetings were held in Tokyo Thursday regarding Okinawan development plans by the central government in connection with U.S. military base conversion to commercial use. It is an annual function of budget allocation coinciding with the Christmas season. Both the central government and Ginowan City agreed to complete conversion planning for Futenma Marine Corps Air Station by fiscal year 2005.

The central government put the total budget for the Northern Area Development Plan at 2.1 billion yen for the second portion of this fiscal year's allocation. The government opened the joint assembly of two working groups, one for northern area development and the other for relocation and development of surrounding areas, with the attendance of the Minister of the Okinawa Bureau Toshimitsu Mogi, Governor Keiichi Inamine, and Nago City Mayor Tateo Kishimoto.

Minister Mogi announced the budget and four new projects for the northern part of Okinawa, designated as the new host area for Futenma MCAS. The government will pour billions into the development of the north in compensation for accepting a potentially new troublesome facility. In his speech, Minister Mogi showed enthusiasm to work hard for northern area development in cooperation with the governor and citizens.

On the same day, the government held another meeting with Ginowan City Mayor Yoichi Iha to discuss the conversion planning of Futenma MCAS after its relocation to the north. It was decided to complete a basic plan by fiscal 2005 to convert the military base for civilian use. It was the first meeting for the group to reach a definite time line.

Ginowan City and the OPG will form a study committee inviting Futenma landowners to help make the conversion plan within this fiscal year. Mayor Iha welcomed the progress of the working group and requested an earlier return of the land. He also explained that he was elected by citizens who supported his promise to return the land within five years and went on to complain about the annoying aircraft noise. Minister Mogi replied, "We take your words seriously."

For Chatan Town, where serious soil contamination was found on returned land used as a U.S. military base, the central government promised to take necessary measures for recovery. Chatan Mayor Choichi Hentona appreciated the central government's efforts concerning hazardous materials and recovering cultural treasures found after U.S. base removal.

The four new projects for northern area in the second portion of this year's budget are as follows: a 340 million yen processing facility on Iheya Island for packing and sales of Mozuku seaweed; a 332 million yen IT Business Integration Project which would serve as a data base center for new business in Nago City; a 147 million yen Wide Area Network Project for the northern area which would connect public facilities of the four municipalities of Nago, Ginoza, Kin, and Onna with optic fiber; and a 23 million yen Long Life and Healing Village Project in Ogimi Village, known for its many centenarian residents, which would study the home helper service and associated businesses.

Futenma Relocation Still Undecided

The Futenma issue a hot potato

Saturday,December 6, 2003
Saturday Evening Edition

The deadline for the return of land used by U.S. Futenma Marine Corps Air Station to the local community passed last Thursday. It was on December 2, 1996 that the Japanese Prime Minister and the U.S. Ambassador to Japan had declared the return of Futemna within five to seven years. The condition for land return was to provide a new air station within Okinawa, but plans have not even been put down on blueprint and it seems the process will take ten years or more.

The idea of relocating Futenma to Camp Shwab in Nago City is seemingly halted. Nago wants several limitations on the kinds of planes, flight patterns, and for environmental protection. And the dugong, a natural treasure, resides around the seashore of Camp Shwab. Many issues lie in the way of planning to build a new military airbase there.

Going back seven years, the declaration by both the U.S. and Japanese governments was to return Futenma by making a helipad to land helicopters and other related facilities. Later it was revealed that they needed a runway and certain other facilities, which was far from image of a pad, and proposed locations for the new air station jumped from one place to another like a grasshopper.

Keiichi Inamine became governor in 1998 and decided to accept the building of a new air station in Henoko, Nago City and within the area of Camp Shwab on the conditions of making an additional runway for commercial use and limiting military use for only fifteen years. Many local residents supported his appeal during his gubernatorial election campaign.

But the U.S. government publicly stated it would be impossible to accept a time limitation regarding security matters and they believed the governor's request could not be granted. The Japanese government also took the same stance.

The horrible crime of U.S. servicemen assaulting an elementary schoolgirl in 1995 attracted world-wide attention to Okinawa military base issues. Both governments set up a Special Action Committee, SACO, for the consolidation and reduction of military bases on Okinawa to ease the burden of the local people. It included the return of Futenma.

Although SACO agreed to return eleven military facilities, only two have actually been returned to local communities. It proved difficult to relocate military bases within Okinawa which was already saturated by bases. Even if the SACO agreement would be implemented, Okinawa would still host seventy percent of the total U.S. military facilities in all Japan.

The seven-year anniversary of the SACO agreement was not a celebration, but the reality and difficulty of U.S. military base issues remains.

There is little progress on the Futenma issue between Tokyo and Okinawa. There was the question of who would be in charge of the commercial runway and it was agreed that the central government would be. Before agreeing, Okinawa argued that accepting a new military base was itself a heavy political cost and the Defense Agency said it could not manage anything other than a military facility.