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December 17, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
On the night of December 16, a ceremony to commence the 13th Itoman City Peaceful Illumination, making a wish for peace, was held at Itoman Farm for Tourists in Mabuni, Itoman. It will be in place until January 3. Mayor of Itoman City, Hirotsune Uehara, the chairperson of the event, said, “Here, where the Battle of Okinawa came to an end, let us make a wish to build a peaceful world without war.” With that, he and the community’s elementary, junior high and high school students turned the illumination on.
This year’s theme is “Meeting and Bonding.” There are also art objects designed by local residents and Okinawa Prefecture University of Arts students.
The entry fee is 200 yen for high school students and adults, but there is no charge for children of junior high school age or under.
The farm opens at 5:30pm and the illumination runs from 6:00pm to 10:00pm, except on December 31 when it goes until 0:30am on January 1. There will also be a live countdown that evening. For further information please contact the Planning Committee. Telephone: 080 (6495) 8535.
(English translation by T&CT, Lima Tokumori and Mark Ealey)
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December 16, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
With regard to the defoliant containing the deadly poison dioxin being a serious threat to the health of residents, Chatan Town Office is carrying out an environmental survey in the Hamby area in an attempt to find evidence of pollution. U.S. military veterans allege that they buried defoliant in Chatan before Okinawa’s reversion to Japan. On December 14, the town assembly unanimously approved budget of one million yen to cover the cost of these surveys. Chatan will be the first municipality to investigate the issue of pollution by defoliant and will decide upon the sites and the method of investigating in consultation with the Okinawa Prefectural Government. The specific locations have not been identified yet, because testimony that the U.S. military buried dozens of drums containing Agent Orange is not sufficient to establish where to survey so further deliberation is needed. The research will be conducted at three points and the work will be commissioned to a research organization.
Chatan has asked the central government to establish the facts regarding testimony that has emerged since August from veterans now living in the United States about the disposal of defoliant during their tour of duty in Okinawa. The government explained that the U.S. government does not have any records indicating that defoliant was brought into Okinawa, and added that it will consider carrying out research on this if new facts come to light.
A Chatan official said, “We still think that the central government should be the ones doing these surveys. But local residents have been concerned about this since the veterans’ made these allegations. We would like to people’s minds at ease,” he added.
(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)
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December 15, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
Okinawa prefecture has decided to preserve the Shiraho Saonetabaru site where human bones 24000 years old were unearthed. The site will be conserved to enable further excavation and visits. This is the first site where plants and animals are preserved in their existing condition on the construction site for New Ishigaki Airport.
It was announced in a prefectural assembly select committee for the promotion of New Ishigaki Airport.
The site is located in the northwest area of the construction site. Human bones were discovered there in an excavation in 2005. Analysis of the bones indicated that the remains are from the Old Stone Age, therefore dating back more than 20000 years, and making them the oldest remaining in Japan. Furthermore, when it was re-examined in 2010 using protein analysis, the human bones were found to date back more than 24000 years.
Okinawa prefecture will preserve an area of 2500 square meters, including the cave mouth located in the middle of what is planned to be a pond. The prefecture will surround the site with a fence and construct a pathway to it by 2012. It will be possible to carry out excavation and to visit the site during the airport construction and after the opening of the airport.
(English translation by T&CT, Shinako Oyakawa and Mark Ealey)
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December 15, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
The issue of the relocation and return of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa has reached a critical juncture.
In the United States, the Senate and the House of Representatives have agreed to cut the 150 million dollars tagged for the planned relocation of the U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam from the annual budget for fiscal 2012.
The relocation of the Marines from Okinawa to Guam, an illogical option in the first place, is supposed to happen in tandem with the moving of Futenma Air Station within the prefecture, a matter that exhibits an increasing likelihood of being politically destabilizing.
Deeply concerned about the nation’s financial problems, Congress has stated that the lack of progress on the relocation of Futenma Air Station from Ginowan to the Henoko district of Nago, something totally unachievable in the face of opposition from every corner of Okinawan society, is the reason for the cut in funding for the relocation of the Okinawa-based Marines to Guam.
In effect the Congress has rejected the relocation of Futenma Air Station to Henoko.
Submission of environmental assessment report could trigger political turmoil
American experts on U.S.-Japan security such as former Assistant Secretary of Defense in the Clinton administration, Professor Joseph Nye, who is known as a key figure in the pro-Japanese group, have proposed several alternative plans, such as moving the Marine Corps to Australia or relocating them to California. This has further strengthened the resolve of the Okinawan people, who oppose Futenma Air Base being relocated within the prefecture.
In addition, Congress has decided not to fund a plan that does not seem to be feasible, and it is unlikely that it will change its mind on this for fiscal 2013.
The situation that the Japanese and the U.S. governments find themselves in regarding the planned relocation of the Marines from Okinawa to Guam is deteriorating. The momentum behind the revision of the Japan-U.S. agreement on the relocation of Futenma is now unstoppable. Both governments should stop clinging to the current relocation plan – the time has come to stop pretending that they can achieve the impossible.
First of all, the Japanese and the U.S. governments should abandon the relocation to Henoko. President Barack Obama, who has advocated a diplomatic policy placing value on the Asia Pacific regions, has asserted that America’s financial problems will not impact upon the region’s security.
President Barack Obama issued a warning to the legislators their actions could endanger U.S. – Japan relations. “The bill would unnecessarily restrict the ability and flexibility of the president to execute our foreign and defense policies with our ally, Japan. Deferring or eliminating these projects could send the unintended message that the United States does not stand by its allies or its agreements.”
The president desperately asked Congress to reconsider funding of the planned relocation, but Congress refused outright.
It should be noted that Congress is also asking the American government to review the deployment of its military forces in the Asia-Pacific region.
It is difficult to imagine that the United States, which is scheduled to bring an end to the large-scale deployment of forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, would deploy ground forces such as the Marines in the future. In practical terms, U.S. military strategy is to deploy naval and air forces rather than continue the stationing of the Marines in Okinawa as a deterrent against the threat of aggression by China, an eventuality that lacks clear substance.
At the same time, the Japanese government maintains its position on submitting an environmental assessment report for the Futenma relocation plan to the Okinawa Prefectural Government by the end of 2011.
The Japanese government’s intention to submit the report this year, something aimed at showing progress on the relocation, was believed to be an attempt to play a trump card to prevent Congress moving to cut funding for the relocation of Okinawa-based Marines to Guam. However, it had no effect. The Japanese government has therefore lost the basis of its stance that the report should be submitted to Okinawa before the end of this year.
The Okinawa Defense Bureau chief’s injudicious remark in which he compared the submission of the environment assessment report in question to warning a woman about being raped was a slight against the dignity of the Okinawan people. In addition, Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa’s remark exposing his lack of knowledge about the problems surrounding U.S. military bases in Okinawa is still fresh in the minds of the Okinawan people.
In the context of growing anger in Okinawan communities, the submission of the environmental assessment report to Okinawa could only serve to trigger further political turmoil.
Both Japanese and the U.S. governments should not leave Futenma Air Station where it is
There is the concern that Futenma Air Station will be permanently retained as a result of the cuts by Congress of funding for the relocation of the Okinawa-based Marines to Guam.
Prolonged use of the air station, described as the most dangerous base in the world, is a reckless deed that would not only pose further danger to local residents, but could also even undermine the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty itself.
Although more than 15 years have passed since the Japanese and U.S. governments reached an agreement on the closure of Futenma Air Station and the return of its land, the facilities have not moved anywhere because of the additional condition that the base should be relocated within Okinawa.
Although an influential U.S. senator has urged the Defense Secretary to reconsider the option of integration of the functions of Futenma into Kadena Air Base, strong opposition from local residents makes this completely unacceptable. “Okinawan communities will no longer accept painful decisions on this.” (A quote from former Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine.)
While both governments continue to seek a way to relocate the base within the prefecture, this is simply not possible.
That in this context, Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Secretary General Nobuteru Ishihara traveled to the United States and talked with key figures in the Congress and the government, reiterating the intention to relocate Futenma Air Station to Henoko, is contrary to the will of the Okinawan people and is irresponsible.
It goes without saying that the LDP in Okinawa, which ahead of next June’s prefectural assembly election has been demanding the relocation of Futenma out of Okinawa, should oppose Ishihara’s actions and, in this respect, we would like the LDP in Okinawa to voice their objection in no uncertain terms.
On the same day that the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives agreed to cut funding for the planned relocation of the Marines from Okinawa to Guam, the Japanese government adopted a resolution that if Okinawan Governor Hirokazu Nakaima rejects the application for the reclamation of the coastal area of Henoko, the central government could, based on the Local Autonomy Act, execute by proxy and approve the application at a Cabinet meeting.
It would appear that while the central government pretends to strive to obtain the consent of the people of Okinawa, it also makes statements to the effect that it will go against their will and in the end will push ahead with the relocation of the base within the prefecture.
While this could be legally possible to implement, such an authoritarian approach could spell the end of democracy, and be tantamount to an act of political suicide for this administration.
(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)
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December 15, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
With regard to the relocation plan of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko in the Nago district, it was revealed on December 14 that the government has decided to defer the inclusion of basic design and construction costs originally scheduled for the budget for fiscal 2012. Some experts speculated that the government did this due to the growing opposition to the relocation of the Futenma Air Station within Okinawa, and the fact that the implementation of the project was still nowhere in sight. If it can secure the agreement with the Okinawan side on the relocation the government will cover costs by temporarily dipping into its reserve fund.
To push ahead with the construction of alternative facilities for the Futenma Air Station at Henoko, Nago, which was reconfirmed by both governments this June at the U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee (2+2), the Japanese government was considering including the cost for the basic design in the budget for fiscal 2012.
However, the government decided against this because the Ministry of Defense feared an aggravation of the situation within Okinawa where people are opposed to the submission of the Environmental Impact Statement, and because the former Okinawa Defense Director’s recent injudicious remark invited a strong backlash.
(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)
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December 13, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
On December 12, Governor Hirokazu Nakaima announced that next April the Okinawa Prefectural Office (OPG) will establish a division to conduct research and gather information about Japan-U.S. security issues.
This is aimed at lending substance to his policy pledge of seeking the relocation of Futenma Air Station out of Okinawa Prefecture.
OPG is now making arrangements for outside organizations to gather information in the United States from next April.
According to the OPG, the new division will be operated under the aegis of the Executive Office of the Governor and will be separate to the Military Base Affairs Division and the Reversion Affairs Division, which currently deal with U.S. military issues in the Prefectural Office. The new division is expected to have somewhere between two to ten staff.
Next April, Governor Nakaima is also scheduled to officially launch a research institute that focuses on the full range of Japan-U.S. security issues, and the new division will be related to this institute.
The Ministry of Defense claims that the U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa serve as a deterrent against regional conflict, but the new division will research the validity of this claim and conduct studies and gather information on the purpose of U.S. military bases in Okinawa.
On September 19 this year, Nakaima attended an international symposium in Washington D.C. in which key figures from the United States and Japan discussed the issue of U.S. military bases in Okinawa and U.S.-Japan security policy. This was the first time that the governor has been to the United States to demand the relocation of Futenma Air Station to somewhere outside the prefecture.
The establishment of this new division is aimed at providing support on a theoretical level for efforts to fulfill the governor’s pledge to have Futenma moved.
(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)
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December 15, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
In the lead up to the season’s peak at the nationwide auction for chrysanthemums for the New Year, from December 15 to 23, Taiyo no Hana, a union of flower producers and Japan Airlines dispatched a special flight at around 2:00am on December 15, to transport Okinawan chrysanthemums to markets outside the prefecture. The flowers were loaded onto a plane at Naha Airport at around 8:00pm on December 14.
The volume on this first flight was 10 tons, including great chrysanthemums and chrysanthemum sprays. During the eight-day period, JAL and Taiyo no Hana intend to operate six special night-flights between Naha and Haneda, transporting a total of 750 tons of flowers.
Katsuyoshi Hokama, the union chief of Taiyo no Hana, said, “Many people will take it easy at home this New Year, so we hope that sales of New Year’s chrysanthemums will better than last year.”
(English translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)
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December 11, 2011 Yuki Nakasone of Ryukyu Shimpo
It has been nine months since the Great East Japan Earthquake. Efforts to help victims of the earthquake still continue today. An Okinawan woman studying in Oulu City in Finland worked with seven other Japanese students to make a charity event a success. Also here in Okinawa, to help keep people informed about the disaster, evacuees living here have held meetings calling for strong measures to deal with radioactivity and have given lecture presentations reporting on the situation in the disaster areas.
The person behind the running of a successful fund-raising event in Finland, Ayano Nakahodo, a 26 year-old prefecture-sponsored exchange student from Nago, has been studying education at graduate school in the University of Oulu in Finland since September 2010.
On October 20, eight Japanese students including Nakahodo held a charity event in the university called “Dream Project.” The deputy mayor of Oulu City, the University of Oulu, and several companies became sponsors and a total of 300 local citizens and students visited the event venue, raising a total of approximately 5000 euros (about 500000 yen). This money will be donated to Sendai, a city with which Oulu City has concluded an agreement on industrial development.
Nakahodo heard about the earthquake when she was on a trip to Norway. She then saw graphic images on the Internet of towns being swept away by the tsunami, and thought “I must do something for Japan.” With other seven Japanese students at the university, in April she set up a planning committee for the “Dream Project” and started preparing for the event. Many people offered to help, and in the end as many as 50 people joined in to work on the project.
The event consisted of four parts, “joy,” “anger,” “sorrow” and “pleasure.” Students sang and danced for the each theme. Nakahodo was responsible for the “pleasure” section. She translated and recited poems written by children in the disaster-stricken areas, and sang. “I have liked singing and dancing since I was a child. My enjoyment of music was something I got from being brought up in Okinawa and I think I was able to use that to good effect in the event,” said Nakahodo.
She will complete her course at graduate school next May and then return home. “When I get back to Okinawa I would like to participate in events to assist disaster victims and also to visit the affected area,” she said, indicating her intention to continue helping where she can.
(English translation by T&CT, Shinako Oyakawa and Mark Ealey)
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December 10, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
On December 9, in the Economy and Labor Commission of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly (chaired by Nobuko Tamaki), the head of the Okinawa Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Toshiaki Higa, projected that because of damage caused by typhoons the annual output of sugarcane in the period from 2011 to 2012 will be 650000 tons, the lowest since the Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese administration.
This year, there was frequent damage caused by typhoons, and in the northern part of the main island of Okinawa there was also crop damage due to disease and insects. Annual output is expected to be around 170000 tons less than that of the previous period. Department Chief Higa said, “Farmers’ net income is expected to be down by about four billion yen, which puts them in a difficult situation.” In response to a question from Kazuyuki Zakimi of the Liberal Democratic Party about grants for sugarcane farmers that are raised through a tariff on imported sugar, he also explained that he has asked the central government to increase it by 400 to 500 yen in fiscal 2012.
The Economy and Labor Commission passed 13 bills, including one for partial amendment to an ordinance of Okinawa’s Sports Promotion Council. They also adopted a petition concerning the price of sugarcane and opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
(English translation by T&CT, Lima Tokumori and Mark Ealey)
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December 9, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
Nine 12th grade students from the team recycle tree house in the landscape architecture course at Okinawa Prefectural Chubu Agricultural High School completed a tree house in their schoolyard. This is the fourth one, finished at the end of November. It took about three months to make the tree house using only scraps of wood. The tree house will be displayed to the public on December 10 at the school product sales exhibition.
“The hardest part was collecting scrap wood,” said the students. They went to sites where schools were being rebuilt and houses being demolished and they’ve even gone as far as Naha to collect wood.
Taku Yonahara, teacher and advisor of the team, said, “Recycling waste materials introduces an element of environmental conservation.”
This time the theme of the tree house is that of pirates, with the group naming themselves, “The Landscape Pirates.” A pine tree and a skeleton are used as a motif and were drawn on the canvas. Eighteen year-old Daiki Shimabukuro, said, “Tree houses can tend lean in one direction, so we put in a lot of effort trying to keep it level.”
(English Translation by T&CT, Shinako Oyakawa and Mark Ealey)
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December 9, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
Statistics released recently by the Okinawa Prefectural Department of Welfare and Health from its Population Survey Report – Definite Values for 2010, have clarified that the overall fertility rate, an estimated number of children each woman in Okinawa has in her lifetime is 1.87 (nationwide average 1.39), and the birth rate per 1000 people is 12.3 (nationwide 8.5), with both of these the highest in Japan. Okinawa has taken first place in Japan for the total fertility rate for 36 consecutive years, and 37 consecutive years for the birth rate.
The natural population growth rate for Okinawa, that is, the number of births minus deaths per 1000 people, was 5.0 percent (6942 person), which also ranked top. While on a national level the number of deaths exceeded the number of births by 125708, and population has been decreasing as the natural population growth rate has slipped to minus 1.0 percent, only seven prefectures including the Tokyo metropolitan area and Okinawa have managed population gains.
The mortality rate per 1000 people in Okinawa ranked 47th in the country at 7.3 (nationwide 9.5). The leading cause of death was cancer, second was heart disease followed by cerebrovascular disease.
The marriage rate (8892 couples) was 6.4 (nationwide 5.5), which ranked second in the country. On average, a couple got married every 59 minutes seven seconds, with the mean age at the first marriage for men being 29.9, and for women 28.4.
The divorce rate (3580 couples) was 2.58 (nationwide 1.99), the highest in Japan. This figure means that in Okinawa, effectively a couple divorces every two hours 26 minutes 49 seconds.
(English translation by T&CT, Lima Tokumori and Mark Ealey)
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