Japan Unable to Use Okinawa Port for Base Relocation Work

November 2, 2018

Tokyo- Japan's Defense Ministry has been unable to gain approval for use of a port in Okinawa Prefecture related to landfill work necessary for relocating a U.S. base within the southernmost prefecture, Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya said Friday.

The ministry's Okinawa Defense Bureau has yet to obtain permission to use the port in the Okinawa town of Motobu for shipping sand for earth-filling work to construct a new U.S. military facility in the Henoko coastal district in Nago, also in Okinawa, Iwaya said.

The delay in gaining permission may affect the Japanese government's plan to start earth-filling work by the end of this year, sources familiar with the situation said.

The bureau on Thursday resumed work related to the transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma base located in a densely populated area in the Okinawa city of Ginowan to the planned facility in Nago.

The work was suspended for about two months because the Okinawa prefectural government, which has been opposing the relocation, withdrew in late August its approval for the landfill work.

This week, the land minister granted a petition filed by the bureau for a pause to invalidate the withdrawal until a decision is made on its request for a review of the prefecture's move.

Iwaya said that the Okinawa prefectural government had asked the Motobu municipal government to stop accepting requests for using ports in the town mainly due to typhoon damage.

The ministry will continue to make further efforts to win the permission from the town at an early date, the minister said. Jiji Press