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Boat protestors oppose the resumption of work of the Japanese central government on a controversial relocation site of a US military base on the south island of Okinawa, in Henoko, in the Nago City, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, on Thursday, November 1, 2018. The branch reported that a start of landfill in Henoko on the east coast of Okinawa debuted Thursday morning (Koji Harada / Kyodo News via AP) (Associated Press)
TOKYO – On Thursday, Japan's central government resumed work on a controversial relocation site of a US military base in Okinawa, although residents see it as a non-democratic imposition on the small southern island.
The Department of Defense 's branch on the island has announced that a first phase of landfill work in Henoko, on the east coast of Okinawa, had started on Thursday morning.
Construction workers were preparing floats to mark the designated landfill area, making it inaccessible to the public, including protesters, said Satoshi Shirakata, a spokesman for the Okinawa Defense Office in charge of supervise the Henoko project.
At the center of the controversy is a decades-old plan to move a Marine Corps station from Futenma, a densely populated city in the south of the island, to an overcrowded state of Henoko on the coast. is.
Many Okinawans say that the presence of so many American soldiers on the island is already heavy and they want the air station to be completely removed from the island.
Ministry of Defense officials said the resumption of work in Henoko was a follow-up to the central government's decision earlier this week to reverse Okinawa's previous ban on landfilling. landfill sites on the site.
Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, who took office a month ago, urged Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other central government officials to end the Henoko plan and reduce Okinawa's burden.
In an interview with The Associated Press on Wednesday, Tamaki said the central government was not paying enough attention to other options.
"They say that Henoko is the only one, Henoko is the only solution. But we think this is definitely not the case and they refuse to think critically, "said the governor. "The US side has made several proposals as part of reorganization plans and the Japanese government should take them into account."
Washington's position is that the dispute should be resolved between Tokyo and Okinawa.
The relocation of the Futenma airbase was scheduled after the rape of a schoolgirl in 1995, during which three US servicemen were sentenced. The case ignited Okinawa's opposition to US bases.
About half of the 50,000 US troops based in Japan as part of a bilateral security pact and most of their key facilities are in Okinawa. Residents have long complained about noise, pollution and crime related to bases.
Tamaki said he supports the Japan-US security alliance, but Okinawa should not be the only one to be sacrificed.
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