ID :
115395
Wed, 04/07/2010 - 08:55
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/115395
The shortlink copeid
Okinawa people urge Tokyo not to construct island for Futemma+
TOKYO, April 6 Kyodo - People from Uruma, a city in eastern Okinawa Prefecture that has been floated as a possible site for the transfer of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station, demanded Tuesday that Tokyo drop the area from its reported plan for
the relocation.
If an artificial island is constructed off the city's coast as reported by the
media, seaweed growers and fishermen in the area will ''lose a place to live,''
Yoshiyasu Iha, head of a group of Uruma residents opposed to the construction,
said in a meeting held in a Diet members' building in Tokyo.
''People in Okinawa have long enjoyed the blessings of the sea. For them, the
sea is a treasure and life itself,'' Iha said at the meeting organized by a
civic group dubbed the Japan-U.S. Citizens for Okinawa network, arguing it
would be a tragedy if the area is destroyed.
In a related move, anti-military base protesters launched a four-day sit-down
through Friday near the parliamentary building in Tokyo's Nagatacho political
district with around 150 people participating, according to the organizers.
Shoichi Chibana, one of those who organized the protest, said at the meeting,
''I simply want to stop the government from coming up with any plan (to
relocate Futemma within the prefecture)'' ahead of a large-scale citizens'
rally set to take place in the village of Yomitan, also in the southernmost
prefecture, on April 25.
Chibana, an assemblyman of the village, said he hopes that more people outside
of the prefecture will join the antibase campaign, as the U.S. base issue is
not something Okinawa can resolve alone.
The protests took place amid speculation that the government of Prime Minister
Yukio Hatoyama plans to eventually move the Futemma facility to an artificial
island to be reclaimed off the Katsuren Peninsula in Uruma after first
transferring its functions to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Some of the sit-down protesters from Okinawa and other prefectures shouted
''Prime Minister Hatoyama! You should keep your pledge!'' and ''Shut down
Futemma immediately!'' in front of the premier's office Tuesday afternoon.
Since campaigning for last year's general election, Hatoyama has promised that
his government will aim to move the Futemma airfield outside of Okinawa or even
outside of Japan.
The April 25 event is expected to bring together about 100,000 local people,
including assembly members, activists and people from business circles, to call
on the government to relocate the Futemma air station outside of Okinawa.
Diet members such as Mizuho Fukushima, head of the pacifist Social Democratic
Party in the ruling bloc, also attended Tuesday's meeting in the
parliamentarians' building.
''This issue concerns not only Okinawa but the whole of Japan so that the
country can figure out ways to establish peace,'' said Fukushima, who is also
minister in charge of declining birthrate issues and consumer affairs.
The envisaged artificial island is ''as bad as or even worse than'' the
existing deal agreed in 2006 by Japan's previous Liberal Democratic Party-led
government and the United States to relocate the Futemma facility to the
coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, another Okinawa city, also
involving reclamation.
It is ''out of the question,'' Fukushima said, claiming that the plan is not
even in line with the tripartite coalition's pledge to alleviate the burden on
people in Okinawa, which has long hosted the bulk of U.S. forces stationed in
Japan.
The media have reported that Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano briefed
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima last week on the government's plan, but Hirano,
the top government spokesman, denied Tuesday he had mentioned any specific
government relocation idea to the governor during their meeting in a Tokyo
hotel Thursday.
The six-month-old government, which took power after last year's historic
election victory, is looking to conclude the stalled U.S. base issue by the end
of May and apparently proceeding with negotiations with Washington and Okinawa.
==Kyodo
the relocation.
If an artificial island is constructed off the city's coast as reported by the
media, seaweed growers and fishermen in the area will ''lose a place to live,''
Yoshiyasu Iha, head of a group of Uruma residents opposed to the construction,
said in a meeting held in a Diet members' building in Tokyo.
''People in Okinawa have long enjoyed the blessings of the sea. For them, the
sea is a treasure and life itself,'' Iha said at the meeting organized by a
civic group dubbed the Japan-U.S. Citizens for Okinawa network, arguing it
would be a tragedy if the area is destroyed.
In a related move, anti-military base protesters launched a four-day sit-down
through Friday near the parliamentary building in Tokyo's Nagatacho political
district with around 150 people participating, according to the organizers.
Shoichi Chibana, one of those who organized the protest, said at the meeting,
''I simply want to stop the government from coming up with any plan (to
relocate Futemma within the prefecture)'' ahead of a large-scale citizens'
rally set to take place in the village of Yomitan, also in the southernmost
prefecture, on April 25.
Chibana, an assemblyman of the village, said he hopes that more people outside
of the prefecture will join the antibase campaign, as the U.S. base issue is
not something Okinawa can resolve alone.
The protests took place amid speculation that the government of Prime Minister
Yukio Hatoyama plans to eventually move the Futemma facility to an artificial
island to be reclaimed off the Katsuren Peninsula in Uruma after first
transferring its functions to Tokunoshima Island in Kagoshima Prefecture.
Some of the sit-down protesters from Okinawa and other prefectures shouted
''Prime Minister Hatoyama! You should keep your pledge!'' and ''Shut down
Futemma immediately!'' in front of the premier's office Tuesday afternoon.
Since campaigning for last year's general election, Hatoyama has promised that
his government will aim to move the Futemma airfield outside of Okinawa or even
outside of Japan.
The April 25 event is expected to bring together about 100,000 local people,
including assembly members, activists and people from business circles, to call
on the government to relocate the Futemma air station outside of Okinawa.
Diet members such as Mizuho Fukushima, head of the pacifist Social Democratic
Party in the ruling bloc, also attended Tuesday's meeting in the
parliamentarians' building.
''This issue concerns not only Okinawa but the whole of Japan so that the
country can figure out ways to establish peace,'' said Fukushima, who is also
minister in charge of declining birthrate issues and consumer affairs.
The envisaged artificial island is ''as bad as or even worse than'' the
existing deal agreed in 2006 by Japan's previous Liberal Democratic Party-led
government and the United States to relocate the Futemma facility to the
coastal area of the Marines' Camp Schwab in Nago, another Okinawa city, also
involving reclamation.
It is ''out of the question,'' Fukushima said, claiming that the plan is not
even in line with the tripartite coalition's pledge to alleviate the burden on
people in Okinawa, which has long hosted the bulk of U.S. forces stationed in
Japan.
The media have reported that Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano briefed
Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima last week on the government's plan, but Hirano,
the top government spokesman, denied Tuesday he had mentioned any specific
government relocation idea to the governor during their meeting in a Tokyo
hotel Thursday.
The six-month-old government, which took power after last year's historic
election victory, is looking to conclude the stalled U.S. base issue by the end
of May and apparently proceeding with negotiations with Washington and Okinawa.
==Kyodo
