Recently, Kenzaburo Oe, winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, sent to the Ryukyu Shimpo a letter about his engagement with Okinawa over many years and about the new military base being built to replace MCAS Futenma. Regarding the situation in Henoko, Nago City, where the construction of a new base is being pushed forward forcefully, Oe appealed to the people of Japan, writing, “I want to send my heartfelt encouragement to the powerful, determined fight being carried out in Okinawa against the Abe administration. We need to echo this spirit throughout all of Japan.”
The document is titled, “I was not able to communicate with the youth of Okinawa.” It spans 17 pages, and includes an apology for having to cancel a talk planned for June 21 in Ginowan City due to health problems. It also describes his engagement with Okinawa over more than half a century, and the way he felt when he visited Henoko.
He took a boat tour of Oura Bay on June 20, the day before his talk was scheduled. Describing the situation in Oura Bay and around Camp Schwab, he expressed great shock at the way in which construction of the base, which will be a semi-permanent facility equipped with the latest high-tech machinery, is continuing despite resistance from Okinawans.
In reference to his long relationship with Okinawa, he wrote, “Nuclear weapons and military bases have always been a central issue since the very beginning of my engagement with Okinawa.” He explains that he began to deepen his thinking about the US bases in Okinawa and the dangers of nuclear war after reading the 1959 thesis of international political scholar Yoshikazu Sakamoto.
On August 10, the governments of Japan and the United States held a joint committee and decided to allow the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG) to carry out a survey in the temporary restricted area in the shallow waters off Camp Schwab. The OPG had been requesting both governments allow it to carry out a survey to find out if initial construction work towards building a replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan violates the former governor’s approval of rock reef destruction. The OPG has been given ten days to conduct its survey. The OPG, the Okinawa Defense Bureau, and the U.S. military are discussing the details of the schedule. The OPG will provide a survey plan to the military.
According to the Ministry of Defense, the OPG is allowed to enter 1) the outer perimeter of the restricted area where buoys and floats are installed 2) the area where the Okinawa Defense Bureau carried out boring surveys, and 3) the location between the planned reclamation area and the outer perimeter of the restricted area. For five months, the OPG lobbied the Japanese government and the U.S. military to allow it to survey these areas before finally getting the approval. After hearing the decision made by the joint committee, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga spoke to the press on August 10. Onaga said, “It is an extreme shame that both governments did not allow the OPG to enter the areas to carry out surveys for five months after the OPG made the request.”
On July 30, residents of Teima, Nago and the Association of Residents of the Districts North of Futami demanded the Ministries of Environment, Foreign Affairs and Defense stop construction of a new U.S. base in Henoko, Nago. They sent a letter highlighting that the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) has stressed that the ecosystem in Oura Bay should be protected.
After meeting with officials of the three ministries, the association president Fujiko Matsuda and other members held a press conference in the Diet building. Matsuda pointed out that the Ministry of Environment did not include Oura bay in its dugong habitat investigation, and that the Ministry of Defense reported noise predictions lower than the value observed by the Nago municipal government.
She said, “The Ministry of Environment has no sense of responsibility, despite its critical mission to protect the environment.” A ministry official said they have not yet received a letter from UNEP, which has also written to the government to stress the importance of protecting Oura Bay.
The residents of Teima and the Association of Residents of the Districts North of Futami urged UNEP to put pressure on the Japanese government to block the construction of the new U.S. base in order to protect the environment in March. The UNEP Regional Office for Asia Pacific replied in a letter: “We understand the importance of habitat protection for endangered species such as the dugong. We share your concerns and would like to convey that to the Ministry of Environment in Japan.”
The Government has announced it will halt construction work of a new U.S. base in Henoko, Nago, which is part of the replacement of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, and begin an intensive consultation with the Okinawa Prefectural Government. The work will be halted for one month.
Referring to the government’s announcement, Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine told reporters on August 4 at the municipal office, “I feel relieved because there is no construction work being forced through. Everyone who has protested in front of the gate of Camp Schwab and on Oura Bay has won a temporary halt of the construction.”
However, regarding the intensive consultation between the central government and the prefectural government, Inamine said, “I do not know whether or not the desired effect will come out in any form.”
He said his office had not been notified in advance that the government would temporarily halt the construction.
The mayor stated, “I cannot grasp the situation. I think both sides have an idea of what they have to do, because there is nothing to be gained from a stalemate and conflict state.”
He added, “I do not know whether there is something that can be agreed on between the government and the prefectural government. Something might move the government to decide to halt ongoing work.”
At a press conference on August 4, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga announced the government will suspend all work relating to the planned relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko for one month, from August 10 to September 9. During this period, the national government and the Okinawa prefectural government will engage in intensive deliberation regarding the base relocation. He further announced that the Okinawa prefectural government will be permitted to enter the temporary restricted area off the coast of Camp Schwab in order to conduct a survey of environmental damage. At the press conference, Suga stated, “We want to thoroughly explain once more the government’s view on the elimination of the danger of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and the Henoko relocation, as well as our efforts to reduce Okinawa’s burden in a tangible way.”
An Okinawa Churashima Foundation research group, including Kei Miyamoto, confirmed that a species of fish found near Sesoko Island in Motobu Town is a new type of wrasse. Other reports of this type of wrasse have been made in Indonesia, the Philippines, and Taiwan. This is the furthest north it has been located. It is the first time a female of this type of wrasse has been confirmed anywhere in the world. The Okinawa Churashima Foundation made the announcement on July 30.
Miyamoto remarked, “This record confirms the richness of biodiversity around Okinawa. I look forward to future findings of many more types of creatures. The report of the discovery will be published in scholarly journal Zootaxa.
Referring to a song about the sunset in Motobu Town, “Yumodoro no hana,” “Yumodoro bera” was proposed as a Japanese name. Yasuichi Yoshikawa, who had also written Bashofu, described the sunset in Motobu “Yumodoro” as being just like “Akemodoro”, meaning sunrise. The name was inspired by the sight of the reddish body of wrasse, which conjured an image of the sun setting into the ocean.
In August 2014, an angler at Motobu Town brought “a never-seen-before-fish he caught” into the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. The foundation kept it as a research sample and examined it after its death.
DNA and gonadal analysis confirmed its sex as female.
The research outcome was based on information provided by residents. The foundation said, “This is a good case that could become a model for citizen participation in biodiversity research.”
The OTS Partners Network, which consists of about 200 businesses including tourism facilities and restaurants in Okinawa under contracts with the Okinawa Tourist Service (OTS), will invite 20 people studying Japanese language to Okinawa late August. The OTS, which is chaired by Yoshikazu Higashi, aims to attract speakers of Japanese to Okinawa to sit an exam to become local licensed guides. This is part of efforts to promote human resource exchange with Fuzhou, China. The 20 people will take an examination to become local guides to foreign visitors. According to Okinawa Prefecture, there have never been this many applications to sit the examination from foreigners. The OTS expressed interest in extending the project, saying, “if things go well, we would like to continue the project next year as well.”
The campaign to attract foreign applicants is expected to increase opportunities for people from abroad to work in Okinawa and to strengthen the tourism industry, which faces rapidly increasing foreign visitors.
OTS started the project with Eisho Higashihama WUB China CEO in 2014. One hundred applicants were reached through Fujian Normal University, Fuzhou University, and Xiamen Institute of Technology. Higashihama voluntarily provided 100 textbooks to the students to help them prepare for the examination. Based on the results of a mock exam conducted in February this year, 20 students were chosen to participate in an exam in Okinawa.
“Fujian and Okinawa have a historically deep relationship. We expect to build bridges of friendship through the students’ promotion of Okinawa to China,” says CEO Higashi.
The students will visit Okinawa from August 26 to 31 to take the local licensed guide examination. They will also visit the tourism sites including Shuri-jo, Fukushu-en Garden, and Okinawa Ocean Expo Park.
With the aim of increasing multi-lingual human resources in the prefecture, Okinawa Prefecture and Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau plan to host a careers event with tourism related companies on August 27.
On July 27, Regis Tremblay, 70, a documentary filmmaker from Maine, United States, visited Henoko, Nago for the first time. There, he went out on a boat with citizens protesting against the construction of a new base and observed the construction work being carried out, as well as the protests against it. Tremblay took footage of the protesters raising their voices in opposition to the new base as they were closely monitored by Okinawa Defense Bureau and Japan Coast Guard vessels. Tremblay said, “I want to convey the way in which, while the United States realizes freedom and democracy for itself, people in other countries suffer from U.S. military bases.”
In September 2012, Tremblay completed “Ghosts of Jeju”, a documentary film about the planned construction of a U.S. Navy base in Jeju Island, South Korea. He first heard about the Henoko issue while filming Ghosts of Jeju. After following developments in the Henoko issue last year, when construction work began towards a part-offshore runway, he decided that he had to see Henoko for himself, and came to Okinawa on July 26.
After filming the protests in Oura Bay, Tremblay said, “In the United States, there is almost no information about US bases in other countries. So people in the United States have no idea of the harm caused by the bases. I want to make people pay more attention to what is going on.”
Tremblay will stay in Okinawa until August 28, and will interview former Governor Masahide Ota and Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine. He plans to make a documentary about the Henoko issue based on the filming and interviews he conducts here.
The 21st Ten thousand Eisa Dance Parade was held on August 2 on Kokusai Street in Naha.
At ten locations along the street, from in front of Palette Kumoji to Saion Square, about four thousands members from 29 organizations, including local youth associations and eisa groups, performed eisa dances. About 65,000 spectators were enthralled by heroic performances.
The spectators watched the eisa dance in cooler weather than usual, with the performance being interrupted by rain.
Hanae Oshiro, who moved to Okinawa from Tokyo in April this year due to marriage, said, “The performers dancing with drums were very cool.”
A rally against new security bills that would change Japan’s pacifist constitution was held in the evening of July 31 at the public square in front of the Okinawa Prefectural Government Office in Naha. About 1,500 people, including citizens, Diet lawmakers, lawyers and political scholars, took part in the rally, which was the third of its kind. Similar rallies were held on July 15 and 17.
The participants raised their voices, saying, “We are absolutely opposed to a war bill.” They protested against the controversial bills, which were passed forcibly by the Lower House of the Diet, and they demanded the bills be scrapped in the House of Councillors.
They adopted a resolution statement that reads: “U.S. military bases are concentrated in Okinawa. If war happened, the islands will become the first target of attack. Based on the experience of the Battle of Okinawa, we should not allow the country to advance along the road to war.”
On behalf of the organizers, Tetsumi Takara, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus, spoke out for the participants: “We should convey a strong message about Japan’s pacifist constitution and lesson from the Battle of Okinawa. We must scrap the security bills. Let’s raise our voices from Okinawa, which experienced the war, and tell everyone that we should never repeat war.”
After the rally, the participants marched down Kokusai Street for about 1.5 km from the square in front of the prefectural government office to Makishi park, raising their voices, “We are absolutely against the War bill.” There was applause from the roadside in response to the protesters, but there were also angry voices coming from an organization that favors the bills.
The Society for Spreading the Constitution (Kenpo Fukyu Kyogikai), the prefectural assembly’s ruling party group and the Okinawa Peace Movement Center organized the rally. It was initially scheduled to be held on July 25, but it was postponed to July 31 because of a typhoon close to the island.
At 7:25 p.m. on July 25, Satoru Nakasone, who led the movement for Okinawa’s reversion to Japan, passed away at his home in Okinawa City at the age of 88 due to visceral malfunction.
Nakasone was from former Misato village (now Okinawa City). A memorial service was held on July 28 at the Okinawa Funeral Hall in Okinawa City. The principal was his wife Sayoko.
Nakasone played an active role in the movement as the secretary-general of the Okinawan Prefecture Reversion Council or Fukkikyo between 1966 and 1975.
He campaigned across the country for Okinawa’s reversion to Japan, launching the ‘’4.28 maritime rally’’, which became a symbol of the movement, off the coast of Cape Hedo, Kunigami Village.
He was a vice chairman of the Okinawa Prefectural Youth Council and a board member of the Okinawa Youth Federation (Okiseiren).
After Okinawa’s reversion to Japan in 1972, he served as general secretary of the Okinawa prefectural headquarters of the Japan Socialist Party.
In Cape Hedo, Kunigami, a monument to the Okinawan people’s struggle to return to their motherland is inscribed with calligraphy by Nakasone.
The Okiseiren, led by Nakasone, carried out an opinion survey on the future of Okinawa in 1951.
The results of the poll showed that 84 percent of respondents wanted Okinawa to be returned to Japan. This later led to Okinawa’s reversion movement to Japan.
After its establishment in 1960, the Fukkikyo organized a rally in Tokyo in 1964 to highlight the Okinawa problem. Members of the organization filed a lawsuit at Tokyo District Court in 1965, seeking to apply the Constitution of Japan to Okinawa.
Webcam(Kokusai Street)
