Okinawa to Block Base Transfer by Rejecting Plan Changes: Governor

November 10, 2018

Tokyo--Denny Tamaki, governor of Okinawa Prefecture, suggested Friday that he will not approve any central government applications for modifications to the construction plan related to the relocation of a key U.S. base within the southernmost Japan prefecture.

"Permission by the governor must be sought (under law) every time modification to the plan is to be made," Tamaki told a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. "The construction work will stop on every such occasion," he also said.

The Japanese government is proceeding with the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan, Okinawa, to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, another city in Okinawa.

Modification to the work to build a new base taking over the Futenma base's functions is expected to become necessary as weak ground has been found in the Henoko district.

Tamaki said, "I don't know how long it will take" to complete the construction work if he uses his authority as governor. "The work should be stopped now," he said, calling on the central government to give up the relocation plan.

In August, the Okinawa prefectural government canceled its permission for landfill at Henoko, granted to the state in December 2013.

But Japanese land minister Keiichi Ishii suspended the validity of the cancellation in late October this year, leading the central government to resume the land reclamation, needed for the construction of the Futenma replacement facility, on Nov. 1.

The restart of the landfill work "trampled on Okinawa people's will (of opposing the Futenma relocation within the prefecture) shown in the (Sept. 30) Okinawa gubernatorial election," Tamaki said, adding that such an action should never happen in a law-abiding country.

Tamaki won his first term as Okinawa governor in the election, held after his predecessor, Takeshi Onaga, died of cancer in August while in office.

Tamaki is set to visit the United States for six days from Sunday.

He indicated his hope of inviting U.S. lawmakers to Okinawa, stressing that viewing the real situation of U.S. bases in the prefecture firsthand will be the first step toward resolving the problem.

Also on Friday, the central and Okinawa governments held the first session of their dialogue on the Futenma relocation issue.

Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Kazuhiro Sugita and Kiichiro Jahana, deputy governor of Okinawa, attended the Tokyo meeting and set out their positions on the issue. The two sides confirmed that they will continue the dialogue until the end of this month.

The launch of the dialogue was agreed between Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga and Tamaki when they met on Tuesday. The central government plans to proceed with the relocation work at Henoko while the dialogue is going on. Jiji Press