Landowners of U.S. base-used land in Okinawa increasingly reside outside the prefecture

Landowners of U.S. base-used land in Okinawa increasingly reside outside the prefecture

Only landowners with contracts are included in the top graph, those obligated by the by the Act on Special Measures for USFJ Land Release are excluded


June 9, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

On June 8 media coverage at the Okinawa Defense Bureau (ODB) found that over the last six years, out of all landowners who own Okinawan land being contractually leased out for U.S. military base use, the number of these landowners residing outside of Okinawa has increased by 1.44 times to more than 4,000 individuals. Now, those residing outside of Okinawa account for nearly 10 percent of all such landowners. This is due in part to landowners aging, and passing down their land down to relatives living outside of Okinawa and abroad. Also, it appears that ownership of U.S. military-used land has become increasingly desirable as a risk-free asset, due to an environment of unprecedentedly low interest rates.
In 2012 when the ODB began differentiating between landowners living in Okinawa and outside Okinawa, there were 44,233 landowners in total. At that time, those living outside of Okinawa numbered 2,786, accounting for only 6.3 percent of all such landowners. The latest statistics from 2018 show that out of a total of 44,523 landowners, the number of those residing outside Okinawa has increased to 4,027, now accounting for 9.0 percent of all such landowners.

Over the six consecutive years during which data on these landowners has been monitored the total number of landowners has appeared to grow or shrink depending on the year, yet the number of landowners residing outside the prefecture has increased each year. Out of 44,034 landowners in 2017, 3,488 individuals or 7.9 percent of all such landowners resided outside of Okinawa. 2018 marked a significant growth in this number.

The number of landowners of land used for Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) bases residing outside of Okinawa has also been increasing for six consecutive years. Out of 7,876 such landowners counted in 2018, 935 individuals or 11.9 percent resided outside of Okinawa.

Landowners who have not agreed to have their land used for U.S. military bases and have not entered into contracts with the State are not included in these numbers. As for the land that has not been consented for military base use, Japan forces compliance based on the Act on Special Measures for USFJ Land Release. There are 2,032 landowners without contracts living in Okinawa, and 2,125 living outside of Okinawa.

According to the ODB, on January 1, 2019 out of all U.S. military exclusive-use facilities and territory, approximately 7,380.8 hectares of private land was being used, accounting for about 40 percent of all U.S. military exclusive-use base land.

(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)

Go to Japanese


　


Previous Article:
Next Article:

[Similar Articles]