Govʼt to expand seawall construction in Okinawa next week

November 4, 2017

OKINAWA PREFECTURE- The Japanese government plans to begin seawall construction work at two more locations next week as part of a US military base relocation project in Okinawa Prefecture, informed sources said Friday.

The seawall will surround a planned landfill site in the Henoko coastal area in Nago, where a new facility is planned to be built to relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan.

The government started the seawall construction in April at one location, and the seawall has been extended to about 100 meters.

The start of construction work at the additional locations is expected to trigger a harsh reaction from Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, who strongly opposes building a new US military base in the southern Japan prefecture.

The expansion of the seawall construction work comes after the Oct. 22 election for the House of Representatives, the lower chamber of parliament.

The government aims to secure progress in the Futenma relocation project before an Okinawa gubernatorial election scheduled for November next year.

A candidate from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party won one of the four electoral districts in the Lower House election, after they were dominated by candidates supportive of Onaga in the previous poll in 2014. Jiji Press