The Ministry of Environment Ishigaki Nature Conservation Office and the Yaeyama Diving Association announced on January 21 that a colony of Pavona clavus coral, which was discovered in Nagura Bay on the western region of Ishigaki Island, is the largest clump of coral ever discovered in Japan. The colony measured 24 meters in length, 17 meters in width, and ten meters in height.
In Okinawa Prefecture, coral colonies of several hundred meters in scale have been discovered near Kume Island and Iriomote Island, however the Yaeyama Diving Association Conservation Committee chairman Nobuo Saeki explained that; “there is no other P. clavus colony of this scale, much less one in a single clump. Among the coral colonies measured domestically, this is the largest.”
The colony is shaped like a mountain with the peak at a depth of two to three meters. Its deepest section is 13 meters below sea level and on a gentle incline, with a circumference of about 70 meters. It was discovered in 2010 by the Yaeyama Diving Association during a crown-of-thorns starfish extermination dive. It was measured from last July to December by professionals commissioned by the Ministry of Environment Yaeyama Conservation Office.
On January 25, the Okinawa Memorial Park recreated the Momoso–mono-mairi, one of the traditional rituals that used to be performed at Shuri Castle six times a year during the Ryukyu Kingdom period.
The ritual involves noro or female oracles making a pilgrimage around the castle and nearby sacred areas. The participants used to pray for the longevity of the kings, prosperity of their descendants, as well as safe sailing and a good harvest. The event was held to commemorate the one year anniversary of the restoration of four buildings next to the main temple of the castle including the Kuganiudun. This is the second time a ritual event has taken place since last year.
Twenty-one people playing the role of male royal government officials made a vow before the main temple of the castle. After that, nine female oracles, singing a ritual song called Kuena, appeared from the Kuganiudun next to the main temple. The participants made an offering to Suimuiutaki, the worship house in the Sichanuna forecourt. Three high rank female oracles read prayers.
Nishihara Town resident Yasushi Naka said, “It’s a good opportunity for me to learn the history of Okinawa.”
The ritual event took place four times over two days from January 24 to 25.
The participants carried lanterns as they walked around the castle, which was lit up for the event at night.
On January 25, in Tokyo, about 7,000 people, including scholars, members of citizen groups, and people from Okinawa, formed a human chain around the Diet building to oppose a new U.S. base in Henoko, Nago. The protesters successfully completed the human chain two times that day. It is the first time protesters have surrounded the Diet building to oppose the government’s plan to move the Futenma base to Henoko. The participants raised their voices, saying things such as “Do not build a new U.S. base,” “Do not kill the sea.” They appealed to the public, calling for unity with people in Okinawa.
Thousands of people gathered in a stream as soon as the rally started in front of the main gate of the Diet building at 2 p.m. Chanting in unison, they showed a willingness to oppose the plan to relocate the Futenma base to Henoko. After the rally, participants held hands to form a human chain around the Diet at 3:15 p.m. and 3:25 p.m.
Satoshi Kamata, a freelance writer and the event organizer, said, “It is discrimination and bullying against Okinawa that the governments are forcing it to accept the new U.S. base in Henoko. We cannot afford to continue to live at the sacrifice of Okinawan people.” He also stressed more need for support for the struggle in Okinawa from the mainland of Japan.
On January 22, Vice President Tom Norton of the Hewlett-Packard Company U.S. Headquarters (HP) made a courtesy call on Governor Takeshi Onaga at the Okinawa Prefectural Government Office. Vice President Norton expressed interest in finding ways to utilize international submarine cable, which connects Asia, Okinawa, and Tokyo. He indicated a willingness to expand business in Asia centering on Okinawa.
HP recognizes Okinawa as one of the major hubs along with Tokyo, Hong Kong, and Singapore. Regarding the Asia-focus economic vision proposed by the Onaga administration, Norton said that Okinawa’s vision matches with the strategies of the company.
In 2014, HP Japan established an IT operation park in Ginoza Village, called “HP Okinawa Verification Center.” Using an existing submarine cable, they conduct verification experiments on security and line speed between Tokyo and Okinawa.
After the courtesy visit, Vice President Norton inspected the HP Okinawa Verification Center to seek opportunities for business expansion in Asia from Okinawa.
On January 24, more than 100 members of Diet, prefecture, city town and village assemblies took part in a sit-in protest in front of Camp Schwab in Henoko, Nago. The governments of Japan and the United States are pushing forward the plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko. Four groups from the ruling party of Okinawa Prefectural Assembly initiated the action. The participants vowed to pursue the government at the Diet, asserting the government is forcibly carrying out construction of a new U.S. base. They criticized the government for allowing the Japan Coast Guard to exercise excessive security measures against citizens. The members are working hard to adopt protest resolutions at their assemblies. They plan to take turns joining the sit-in protest.
On January 17, the defense bureau brought floats from the coast of Henokozaki to the sea and tied them in a line between Henokozaki and Nagashima in Oura Bay. Part of the coast and the sea were enclosed by the float line as well as an oil fence, indicating the temporarily restricted area.
Citizens opposing construction of the new U.S. base rode on 14 canoes, which departed from Sedaka beach at 8:30 a.m. Meanwhile, officers aboard more than a dozen rubber coast guard boats and about ten ships employed by the defense bureau asked the protesters in the canoes to leave the scene.
The coast guard’s patrol fleet, made up of at least ten ships, was sighted offshore. However, there were no clashes between the protesters and the police and coast guard officers on either the sea or land, because there was no construction activity.
The members’ protest gathering was held at the sit-in in front of the gate of Camp Schwab between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. for three days from January 23. January 24, the last day of this action, drew the largest number of participants, including Diet Members Elected from Okinawa constituencies and members of 12 of city, town, and village assemblies.
Meanwhile, at 11 a.m. on January 23, when the assembly members returned to work, there was a tussle between citizens and riot police officers who were leading construction trucks into the base. Sit-in protesters want assembly members to take action more than engage in political performance. Several assembly members suggested continuing to come to the scene on chartered buses and stand watch for construction trucks entering the base during night. Some members said they would ask Governor Takeshi Onaga to join them.
In relation to the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station relocation to Henoko in Nago City, a total of seven ships, including a large crane ship, have arrived at Oura Bay on January 27. The Okinawa Defense Bureau used a large crane ship to start the task of installing floating devices, which require concrete blocks to fix them into place. It is the most major offshore construction to occur so far. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga had asked for the offshore work to be postponed as on January 26, he had set up an independent committee to study the issue including the possibility of cancelling or withdrawing the landfill. The Government has forced through the work without considering the Okinawa Governor’s request.
Governor Onaga says he will increase his opposition and deal with this issue as best he can.
According to the Defense Bureau, efforts will be made in order to start the work one hour after sunrise and finish it one hour before sunset in order to minimize effects to local wildlife like the dugong , as foreshadowed in the Environmental Impact Assessment Report. However, work on January 27 started before sunrise, just a few minutes after 7 a.m.
In addition, Okinawa Prefecture was requesting the Defense Bureau provide details about the concrete blocks as there is a possibility that they might crush and damage the coral reef. Despite the request, the Defense Bureau didn’t reply and started the work, stating that it can’t provide details of each individual stage of construction.
The Defense Bureau has deployed a total of seven ships, two large crane ships, and three barges for material handling, a few minutes after 7 a.m. on January 27 in Oura bay. The work was carried out inside the area marked by the floating device in the Camp Schwab beach. A large crane spiraled up and down as it dropped concrete blocks into Oura Bay.
According to officials, the construction area will be enclosed by a triangular-shape floating device over the next few days and as soon as it is ready, a temporary pier at the wharf will be installed so the reclamation work can be started. There are plans to conduct a sea-bed drilling survey at 12 sites in February, for which a large spud barge will be required.
The work area is surrounded by an oil fence, which was installed in order to indicate the temporary restricted area.
Amid warnings from the patrol boats of the Coast Guard, citizens who are against the relocation were not able to approach the work site.
On January 13, Director Yoshikazu Tamaki of the “Island-Wide Council for Leading to the Future and Realizing the Okinawa Statement” has announced an international strategy at a press conference held at the Okinawa Prefectural Building. Among the plans is an enhanced effort to lobby international organizations such as the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to increase international awareness of Okinawa’s military base issues. The council will act together with Governor Takeshi Onaga, who opposes relocating Futenma Air Station to another location in Okinawa, and begin new activities as a citizen movement supporting the prefectural government.
According to the Island-Wide Council’s office, the UNHRC carries out “Universal Periodic Reviews” (UPR) on the human rights performance of each country, and the United States is scheduled for review in May.
The council will also dispatch representatives to Geneva in April to present a report on Okinawa to the UNHRC’s 47 member states during the pre-session hearing ahead of the UPR.
The report will appeal with clear explanations of the various problems arising from the presence of American military bases, the extreme military base burden on Okinawa, and the forcible manner in which the relocation of Futenma Air Station is being conducted. The council is also considering submitting a situation report to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and inviting the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on human rights to report on Okinawa.
Besides appealing to the United States Congress, United States news media, and prefecture-related people in America, the Island-Wide Council is also gathering sponsors and seeking support for its activities within Japan.
Director Tamaki explained, “We want to make known the overburdened situation of military bases in Okinawa and the movement to stop further construction of new military bases in Okinawa.”
Tamito Matayoshi of the Island-Wide Council office emphasized, “The people of Okinawa have already strongly expressed their stance through the gubernatorial election and Lower House elections, and we are in a situation where we have no other recourse. We would like all citizens of Japan to direct some of their attention to this problem.”
Okinawan researchers have unearthed the fossilized tooth of a megamouth shark on the east coast of the southern island prefecture. There are few fossil specimens of the shark worldwide. Fossilized remains of the shark had only been found in North America and Europe previously. It is the first time a fossilized tooth from a megamouth shark has been found in Asia.
Kiyoko Yokoyam of the Okinawa Churashima Foundation unearthed the fossilized tooth. She and Taketeru Tomita, a researcher at the foundation’s Comprehensive Research Center, will co-write a thesis on the finding. It will appear in Paleontological Research, an English academic journal of the Palaeontological Society of Japan, this spring. Tomita who specializes in shark palaeontology, said, “The finding has revealed that megamouth sharks existed all around the world. I hope our study makes a major contribution to understanding the evolution of the shark.”
A liquid specimen from a rare five-meter-long megamouth shark . At the Churaumi Plaza of the Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium in Motobu, Okinawa.
The fossilized megamouth shark tooth found in Okinawa is about 1 centimeter long and hook-shaped. According to Tomita, the tooth is believed to be between 3 million and 10 million years old because the geological formation of the coast where the fossil was found, belongs to the Neogene.
Nine-year-old Honoka Iwase played a part in Yokoyama’s discovery of the tooth. Iwase introduced Yokoyama to the east coast of Okinawa, where many fossil remains have been found. Yokoyama started to excavate the area and found the fossilized megamouth shark tooth.
Yokoyama said, “When I found the tooth, I did not realize that it was a rare finding. The meeting with Iwase and Tomita led to this finding and an official record of the fossilized megamouth shark tooth in Asia.”
Glossary: Megamouth Shark
Megamouth sharks were first discovered in Hawaii in 1976. They feed on plankton and can grow to about 5 to 6 meters in size. Only about 60 of them have been found or captured worldwide. Much of their nature remains unknown and they are called “the phantom shark.” It is rare to see a living Megamouth shark. Findings of its fossilized remains are rarely reported. Fossilized remains of the shark’s teeth have been found in 10 regions of North America and Europe. There is no case of public institutions in Asia owning the shark’s fossil remains or publishing theses on the shark in the past.
On January 26, Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga set up an independent panel to verify whether there is a legal flaw or not in then-Governor Hirokazu Nakaima’s approval of landfill in Henoko, Nago. The governments of Japan and the United States plan to move U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko. The panel consists of lawyers and scholars. Vice Governor Mitsuo Agena asked the Director of Okinawa Defense Bureau Kazunori Inoue to halt work on the sea off the coast of Henoko while the panel examines its legality. Meanwhile, at a press conference held in the afternoon of the same day, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said, referring to then-governor’s approval of the landfill, “The government will advance steadily [the relocation plan].” The panel is an advisory body to the governor and consists of six members. Onaga has appointed four members, including Kunitoshi Sakurai, an Emeritus Professor (Environmental Studies) at Okinawa University, and three lawyers Hiroshi Oshiro, Yoshiaki Toma and Hiroki Tajima to the panel. The final two members, who are environmental professionals, are still not decided. The panel will hold its first meeting in early February. It will report the results of its investigation to the governor by April at the earliest. Onaga will determine whether to cancel or withdraw then-governor’s approval of landfill after he receives the report from the panel.
Onaga stated, regarding the results of the panel’s investigation, “It will be decided between April and July.” However, he said, “I would like to ask the members to report the results of the inquiry as soon as possible.” He also said, “if the panel concludes there is a legal flaw in then-governor’s approval of landfill, I will take action, accepting the conclusion by the panel with utmost respect.” The governor stressed, even if the panel’s report alleges that no flaw was found, “It is my policy that I will not allow a new base to be built in Henoko. This is unchangeable. I would like to think about how to deal with this matter based on my policy.”
Suga commented, “The government has obtained approval of landfill from then-governor Nakaima in order to relocate the Futenma base to Henoko. We have recognition that the judgments have already been made on the relevant laws and regulations in a law governed state.” He said the government would not suspend the relocation work.
Onaga said, referring to his landslide victory in the gubernatorial election held last November, “I think it was a vote of no confidence against the former governor who approved the landfill application. I will continue to ask for a halt to the work in Henoko while the panel conducts its examination.”
In Oura Bay, Nago, a 51-year-old female filmmaker Asako Kageyama was on a ship protesting against the plan to build an alternative base in Henoko, Nago, for U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma in Ginowan. When Kageyma was filming offshore construction being carried out by workers employed by the Okinawa Defense Bureau, a coast guard officer took excessive action against her by putting his leg on her shoulder and holding her body down with his weight.
In an interview with the Ryukyu Shimpo on January 22, a spokesperson from the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters sad, “There is no evidence that the officer took excessive action against Kageyama. He lowered her head so he could pass through the aisle to get to the rear end of the ship where the tiller is located.”
Ryukyu Shimpo reporters have looked into photographs taken by their news cameraman. The officer came from the rear of the ship, and extended his left hand to take away Kageyama’s camera, and then put his leg on her shoulder. He did not lower her to get through the aisle. The explanation by the spokesperson contradicts what actually happened.
The spokesperson claimed, “Only one person can go through the aisle and Kageyama prevented the officer from doing so.” However, the photographs showed that the officer grabbed Kageyama’s head from behind her back and made a grab for her camera.
When she resisted, the officer put his leg on her shoulder and leaned down on her body. The officer later removed his leg but did not try to go through the aisle.
The officer was already at the rear end of the ship before putting his leg on her shoulder. The explanation by the spokesperson of the 11th Regional Coast Guard Headquarters, saying the officer made her duck her head to pass through the aisle to get to the rear end of the ship, contradicts what actually happened.
Kageyama said, “These coast guard officers are lying because they think nobody is watching. I felt like the officer did not care about breaking my camera. If they think they have to act in accordance with the law, they need to sincerely clarify what actually happened.”
(English translation by T&CT)
In a series of photographs (from top to bottom), a coast guard officer took excessive action against Kageyama by putting his leg on her shoulder. The officer made a grab for her camera with his left hand from behind her back. He then put his leg on her shoulder and leaned down on her body when Kageyama crouched over to protect herself. In Oura Bay in Nago at 2:35 p.m. on January 20(Photographs taken by Takaya Kinra).
Parts of a U.S. Marine AH- attack helicopter belonging to the Futenma base fell during flight in training airspace near Irisuna Island, Tonaki on January 15. The parts weighed more than 200 kilograms, including a hellfire missile launcher. In a meeting held on January 21, the Tonaki Village Council unanimously resolved to protest against the accident and file a written statement on it.
On January 22, Tonaki Villiage Mayor Noboru Uehara and the council members visited the Okinawa Defense Bureau. They handed over the document to the bureau and directly protested about the accident. The resolution letter will be sent to the U.S. Consul- General in Okinawa.
In the resolution, the council members pointed out the accident took place along a route for liners and fish boats that connects to the main island of Okinawa, Tonaki Island, and Kume Island in the southwestern area. They strongly stated that it could have been a potentially disastrous accident.
The council asked the U.S. military to announce the cause of the accident, and plans for safety management and recurrence prevention. It also demanded swift disclosure of related information when accidents occur.
Webcam(Kokusai Street)
