Japan Govt Plans to Begin Henoko Landfilling in Mid-Dec.

November 30, 2018

Naha, Okinawa Pref. -- The Japanese government is planning to begin landfilling at a planned U.S. military base site in the Henoko coastal area in Okinawa Prefecture as early as mid-December, informed sources said Thursday.

The move comes after the Defense Ministry's local bureau in the southern prefecture restarted work on Nov. 1 to build a replacement facility in Henoko for the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air base in Ginowan, also in Okinawa.

The building work restarted following a temporary suspension caused by Okinawa's revocation of its approval for landfilling at Henoko in late August. The revocation was suspended by land minister Keiichi Ishii in late October.

The landfilling can be started once the placement of pollution prevention fences and the repair of typhoon-damaged dikes are finished.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki told reporters that the central government's decision to go ahead with the landfilling is "very regrettable."

Tamaki said the prefectural government has filed a complaint about the land minister's decision with a third-party dispute settlement committee affiliated to the internal affairs ministry.

The dispute settlement panel, which turned down a similar complaint by the prefecture side in 2015, is slated to issue its conclusion on the latest case within 90 days. Jiji Press