Sixty-nine percent of Okinawans say the heavy concentration of U.S. military facilities in their prefecture is “unfair,” while only 33 percent of people in Japan as a whole echo that view, according to surveys conducted by the Mainichi and the Ryukyu Shimpo newspapers.

While the nationwide survey conducted by the Mainichi on May 5 and 6 shows only 33 percent of people think it is “unfair” that more than 70 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa Prefecture, 69 percent of people in Okinawa polled by the Ryukyu Shimpo believe it is unfair for their prefecture to shoulder the burden. The surveys were conducted ahead of the 40^th anniversary on May 15 of the return of Okinawa from the United States to Japan.

The Mainichi survey has found 79 percent of people in Japan as a whole think Okinawa’s reversion to Japan was “good,” while 80 percent of Okinawans polled by the Ryukyu Shimpo think the same way.

In previous surveys conducted in 2002 to mark the 30^th anniversary of the return of Okinawa to Japan, 66 percent of people in Japan as a whole said it was good to have Okinawa returned to Japan, while 79 percent of Okinawans said the same. In the latest surveys, however, 3 percent of people in Japan as a whole and 2 percent of Okinawans said Okinawa’s return to Japan was “bad.” They compare to 1 percent and 3 percent, respectively in the surveys conducted 10 years ago.

On the fact that more than 70 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan are concentrated in Okinawa Prefecture, 37 percent of people who responded to the nationwide survey said it was “unavoidable,” followed by 26 percent who said they were “not sure.” While 69 percent of Okinawans believe it is unfair for Okinawa to shoulder the heavy concentration of U.S. military facilities, 22 percent of the pollees in Okinawa said it was “unavoidable,” followed by 9 percent who said they were “not sure.” Among those Okinawans who said Okinawa’s return to Japan was “good,” 69 percent of them said the concentration of U.S. bases in Okinawa was “unfair.”

Asked about whether or not to agree to the relocation of U.S. military facilities in Okinawa to their home regions, only 24 percent of the people in the nationwide survey said they would accept such plans, while 67 percent were opposed to them. Of the people who said the concentration of U.S. military facilities in Okinawa was “unfair” in the nationwide poll conducted by the Mainichi, 69 percent of them were opposed to the relocation of U.S. military facilities in Okinawa to their home regions. The survey results underscore the fact that people in Japan show some understanding of the excessive burden of U.S. military bases being placed on Okinawa, but they are cautious about accepting U.S. military bases in their home regions.

On the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Air Station Futenma from a crowded residential area of Ginowan to the less densely populated Henoko district in Nago in Okinawa Prefecture, 28 percent of the people in the nationwide survey and 11 percent of Okinawans said it should “proceed as scheduled.” The surveys show 37 percent of people in Japan as a whole and 39 percent of Okinawans said Air Station Futenma should be relocated overseas. Twenty-nine percent of Okinawans also said the facilities should be relocated outside Okinawa Prefecture.

On public support for political parties, the survey conducted by the Ryukyu Shimpo shows 11 percent of people in Okinawa supporting the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), 7 percent for the ruling Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ), and 5 percent for the small opposition Social Democratic Party (SDP). The nationwide survey shows 15 percent of people backing the DPJ and 17 percent for the LDP. On the backdrop of fruitless twists and turns of the DPJ’s policy on the relocation of the Futenma facilities, it has become even clearer that the popularity of the ruling party hovers at low levels in Okinawa.

Okinawa Prefecture was subject to the nationwide survey conducted by the Mainichi. But some parts of Fukushima Prefecture such as those areas that were designated as no-go zones in the wake of the outbreak of the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear power plant were not included in the areas for the nationwide poll.

Mainichi Shimbun, May 09, 2012
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120509p2a00m0na011000c.html

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Okinawa: 9,000 to quit Okinawa but 10,000 to remain; Japan’s tab $2.8 billion but includes Marianas costs — U.S., Japan tweak marine exit plan

Tokyo and Washington agreed Friday to move about 9,000 U.S. Marines out of Okinawa as part of the ongoing realignment of the U.S. forces in Japan, leaving about 10,000 marines in the prefecture.

Of the departing contingent, 4,000 will be stationed on Guam and the rest mainly in Hawaii and other areas, a Defense Ministry official said, elaborating on the joint statement.

As for the contentious plan to shift the Futenma air base in Ginowan farther north on Okinawa Island, the allies altered their description of the plan from “the only viable solution,” as stated in earlier papers, to “the only viable solution that has been identified to date.”

This has raised speculation that the two countries might explore other options or other destinations than the less-congested Henoko district. Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka flatly denied that Friday. He said the ministry does not have “any places in mind” other than Henoko.

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba said the statement “has not ruled out considering other locations,” but stressed that the two have already “discussed every possible solution” in regards to Henoko.

Earlier, Tokyo and Washington agreed that the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, the transfer of the thousands of marines, and the return of bases and facilities to Okinawa should all be grouped in one package.

But with the Futenma base’s relocation plan frozen by stiff local opposition, the two countries formally agreed in Friday’s statement to proceed with the other two items first.

“The security situation is changing and will not stop doing so,” Genba told reporters Friday.

“I think that we’ve reached a point where Japan and the U.S. need to properly share their responsibilities and realize them with speed. Otherwise we would not be able to adapt to the security changes,” he said.

The two countries also agreed that Tokyo will pay up to $2.8 billion to shoulder the cost extracting the 9,000 marines and will consider using that budget to cover maintenance costs for facilities outside Japan where the two plan to conduct joint military exercises, including on Tinian and Pagan islands in the Northern Mariana Islands.

Meanwhile, the U.S. estimates that the cost of extracting the marines will exceed $8.6 billion, but Japan is not obliged to shoulder any more than $2.8 billion.

According to the statement, five U.S. bases and facilities in southern Okinawa will be returned in three stages. The first to be returned will include the West Futenma Housing area of Camp Foster (known in Japanese as Zukeran) and parts of Camp Kinser (Makiminato).

The joint statement is an interim report on how the review of the 2006 bilateral accord on realigning U.S. forces in Japan is progressing. The statement is aimed at strengthening bilateral defense cooperation while reducing the size of the forces in Okinawa, where antimilitary sentiment has remained strong.

The joint statement was supposed to be released Wednesday, but the U.S. asked to postpone it “because they needed more time to coordinate domestically,” a Foreign Ministry official said.

News conferences by Genba and Tanaka were hastily canceled after U.S. Sens. Carl Levin, John McCain and Jim Webb expressed concern about the joint statement Tuesday in a letter to Defense Secretary Leon Panetta.

Earlier, the three senators called the two countries to drop the Henoko relocation plan and instead consider integrating the Futenma base with Kadena Air Base.

MASAMI ITO, Japan Times Staff writer, April 28, 2012
http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/nn20120428a2.html

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Okinawa: 9,000 U.S. Marines to be shifted out of Okinawa under force realignment

Some 9,000 U.S. Marines will be moved out of Okinawa Prefecture under a revamped roadmap for the realignment of United States military forces in Japan, the governments of both countries announced on April 27.

The midterm report on the ongoing roadmap negotiations, submitted to Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda that morning, stated that a large mixed-arms combat unit called a Marine Air-Ground Task Force would be divided up among posts in Okinawa, Hawaii and Guam, while some elements would be rotated periodically to Australia.

In total, the roadmap would see the number of U.S. Marines in Okinawa reduced to about 10,000. The plan furthermore foresees a three-step process to return land now occupied by five U.S military installations to Okinawa as the Marines are shifted overseas. A full land return policy is expected to be drawn up within the year.

While the dispersion of the 9,000 Marines to other Pacific posts will significantly reduce the military burden on Okinawa, the plan appears aimed at redistributing forces to strengthen the U.S.’s ability to deter China and other regional rivals.

Mainichi Shimbun, April 27, 2012
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120427p2a00m0na016000c.html

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Okinawa: 3,100 Okinawans seek court order to halt noises from Marine air base

NAHA (Kyodo) — Some 3,100 people living near the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, sued the central government Friday, seeking an end to flights at the base and damages for noise-induced illness.

In the lawsuit, filed with the Naha District Court, the plaintiffs are asking the court to order the government to pay 5.1 billion yen for the injuries they have suffered due to noises emanating from military aircraft and helicopter flights at the base located in a crowded residential area.

The number of plaintiffs is roughly eight times the corresponding number in a similar suit filed by local residents in 2002 demanding noise cuts and halts to early morning and evening flights.

In the latest suit, the plaintiffs claim they have undergone emotional pain due to the noises and that their rights to a peaceful life have been impinged upon despite a constitutional clause guaranteeing such rights.

The plaintiffs are demanding that the court order the government to ensure that the base does not emit noise exceeding 40 decibels early in the morning and at night and 65 decibels in other time zones.

Tsutomu Arakaki, head of the defense team, told a meeting of plaintiffs last Saturday, “The taking-back of a quiet environment would open the path for the Futenma Air Station to be eliminated.”

A 2010 Fukuoka High Court ruling in response to the 2002 lawsuit ordered the central government to pay a combined 369 million yen in damages to the plaintiffs, while turning down their plea for the suspension of early morning and evening flights.

Japan and the United States aim to relocate the base to the less populated Henoko area in Nago, also in Okinawa, but many local residents remain opposed to the plan to build a new military facility in the prefecture.

Kyodo Press, March 30, 2012
http://mainichi.jp/english/english/newsselect/news/20120330p2g00m0dm124000c.html

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Okinawa: Okinawa Citizens Eye Fresh Suit over Futenma Noise Pollution

Naha, Okinawa Pref., March 19 (Jiji Press)—A total of 3,129 residents in Okinawa Prefecture will file a fresh lawsuit against the Japanese government on March 30 over noise pollution from the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in the southernmost Japan prefecture, their attorneys said Monday.

In the suit to be filed with a branch of Naha District Court, the plaintiffs will demand a halt to late-night and early-morning flights using the base and compensation payments over the noise pollution, they told a news conference held at the Okinawa prefectural government office in Naha, the capital of the prefecture.

The plaintiffs in the suit, the second of its kind, are residents in areas where the levels of noise from the U.S. base exceed the Japanese government-set threshold for noise reduction work to be conducted and residents in surrounding areas, according to the lawyers.

The plaintiffs will also complain about the danger to be posed by the MV-22 Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft, which will be deployed at the Futenma base from autumn this year.

Lawyer Yutaka Kato, chief of the secretariat for the group of plaintiffs, said, “We will demand flight suspensions and compensation by emphasizing the increased danger from the Osprey deployment.”

Jiji Press, March 19, 2012
http://jen.jiji.com/jc/eng?g=eco&k=2012031900862

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Okinawa: Okinawa gov. blasts base relocation environment report again

NAHA (Kyodo) — Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima said again Tuesday that it would be ’’impossible’’ to protect the environment around the relocation site for a U.S. Marine Corps airfield in Nago under the current plan, in an opinion submitted to the Defense Ministry

Nakaima expressed the opinion on the planned land reclamation for the project as a response to the government’s environmental impact assessment report regarding the relocation plan. He also took the position last month in an opinion on the planned construction of an airfield for the project.

In reaction to Nakaima’s opinion, Defense Minister Naoki Tanaka said Tuesday in Tokyo that the government intends to set up a third-party panel to consider revising the report regarding the relocation of the Futenma Air Station to the coastal area of Henoko in Nago.

Nakaima said, ’’It is impossible to conserve the living and natural environment’’ near Henoko under the measures stipulated in the government’s report.

He added it is virtually impossible to implement the relocation plan without local consent, urging the government to move the base from densely populated city of Ginowan outside the southern Japan prefecture.

He also said the assessment report has problems in 404 points, complaining, for example, that suppliers of about 80 percent of soil to fill the land have yet to be named and studies are insufficient on the habitats of the dugong, an endangered marine mammal, and the impact on coral reefs off Henoko.

Nakaima also urged the government to show measures against possible tsunami hitting the relocation site, following the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that devastated a wide area in northeastern Japan.

In his previous opinion Feb. 20, Nakaima also said it is ’’impossible’’ to protect the environment around the planned relocation site, pointing out 175 problems.

Kyodo Press, March 25, 2012
http://mdn.mainichi.jp/mdnnews/national/archive/news/2012/03/28/20120328p2g00m0dm009000c.html

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