High Court Rejects Okinawa’s Appeal over U.S. Base Relocation

December 5, 2018

Naha, Okinawa Pref.--A Japanese high court on Wednesday backed a lower court's rejection of a petition from the Okinawa prefectural government to block the central government's work to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps base within the southern Japan prefecture.

The prefectural government claimed that it is illegal for the central government to proceed with the relocation work in the Henoko coastal area in Nago, without obtaining the prefecture's permission for reef destruction there.

At the Naha branch of Fukuoka High Court on the day, Presiding Judge Masamichi Okubo ruled that the prefecture's petition is inappropriate for a lawsuit, in line with the position taken by Naha District Court in March.

The high court branch dismissed the prefecture's claim that a court ruling can settle the dispute between the prefecture and the state over the reef destruction issue.

It stopped short of judging whether the prefecture's permission is necessary for reef destruction in the relocation work, as insisted by the prefecture side.

In August, following the district court ruling, the Okinawa government revoked its earlier approval for land reclamation in Henoko, where a new facility is planned to take over the functions of the Futenma air base, located in a congested area in Ginowan.

Since the central government stopped the enforcement of the revocation, however, the Okinawa side has taken the case to a third-party dispute settlement committee of the internal affairs ministry.

Meanwhile, the central government resumed the relocation work in early November, aiming to start landfilling in Henoko on Dec. 14.

The Okinawa government opposes the relocation plan and demands that the Futenma base be moved out of the prefecture. Jiji Press