Work resumes on US base in Okinawa despite local objections and deepening resentment
- Okinawa accounts for less than 1 per cent of Japan’s total land area but hosts more than half the US military personnel stationed in Japan
- Residents have asked for some of the bases to be moved, with resentment stemming from accidents and crimes committed by US personnel
Japan on Friday resumed work to relocate a controversial US military airbase in Okinawa, prompting protests and “strong anger” from the local governor.
Okinawa residents have for years called for the relocation of a US base in a populated part of the southern island, but they want it moved elsewhere in the country, rather than to the remote site on Okinawa favoured by the government.
“I can’t help but feel strong anger at the start of [land reclamation], which ignores the will of the Okinawan people,” governor Denny Tamaki told reporters.
The recently elected governor is strongly opposed to the base being relocated within Okinawa, and raised the issue earlier this year with both Japanese government officials and on a trip to the US.
I can’t help but feel strong anger at the start of [land reclamation], which ignores the will of the Okinawan people
Aerial television footage showed a mountain of soil piled up on the coast of Henoko in Okinawa’s Nago city being ploughed into the sea as part of land reclamation work to build the new site.