The May 16 issue of the Akahata Sunday edition of carried a story about residents near Henoko in Nago City in Okinawa Prefecture who are carrying out sit-ins daily to defend the beautiful sea, rich in life, against a new U.S. military base. They are opposing the drilling involved in a geological survey of the seabed for constructing a new U.S. on-sea base off the city by the government and the Defense Facilities Administration Agency.

The U.S. call for a new base was consequential to the April 1999 announcement by the Japanese and U.S. governments that the U.S. Futenma Air Station in Ginowan City in Okinawa Prefecture shall be completely returned to Japan. The return, however, was under the condition that Japan offers the U.S. forces a substitute facility. The Japanese government in a cabinet meeting in December 1999 decided on constructing a substitute facility in the sea off Henoko in the Okinawa main island.

Quite out of tune with the tropical sea glittering in emerald green, tension is mounting.

Men in overalls with helmets on get off cars and proceed to the tents where residents in sit-ins are staying. They are a group composed of 9 staff members of the Naha DFAA. The section chief declared, "Constructing a new base is in the national interest. We must start a survey now." The residents retorted, "We won't allow the sea, the kind cradle for fish roes and coral reefs, to be destroyed.

The sea off Henoko has a lot of coral reefs and is known as the feeding grounds of the endangered sea mammal dugons with sea weeds.

In order to construct a new U.S. base by filling up this sea area, the government is planning to bore 63 holes in the reefs within the construction site.

The boring survey was to start on April 19, the day local residents began to sit in. DFAA staff members many times came to the place to start their work, but were unable to do so due to the protests of the residents.

Save the kindly fruits of nature for future generations

Shimabukuro Taeko, 75 years old, was born and grew up in Henoko. In the post-war period when it was difficult to obtain food, she lived off the seafood from the ocean. This makes her feel obligated to save the ocean's bounty for future generations.

The Defense Facilities Administration Bureau (DFAB) has built its office in Camp Schwab, which commands the whole of Henoko beach. Monitoring residents' protests at the office, they often come to make contact with the protesters. "Here they are again coming from the U.S. base. Which country are they working for?," said one of the sit-in participants.

It has been 8 years since the plan was announced to construct a state-of-the-art air base in the sea off the Henoko district as a replacement for the U.S. Marines Futenma Air Station. However, because of residents' continuous protests, the plan has not been proceeding as the Japanese and U.S. government had expected.

DFAB officials have explained that a drilling survey they are trying to conduct is just a "preliminary." But Henoko residents, supported by an increasing number of people in and outside of Okinawa, have criticized the survey as a first step in a process toward the base construction.

The "sit-in" tent is filled with excitement. One of the participants brought a bonito to share with others. He bought it cheap from local fishermen who are cooperating with the sit-in in order to save their fishing grounds.

The sit-in participants are holding various activities, including study meetings, yoga workshops, boat tours, and short plays.

It's a national issue

On May 8, 90-year-old Nakamura Fumiko from Naha City participated in the sit-in. She is known as the leader of the "1-Foot Film Movement" to buy back and preserve U.S. films on the Okinawa ground war.

She said, "I was born in a town adjacent to Nago City and grew up in the kindly fruits of nature there. When I was a child, my mom scolded me for taking small clams. Now her teaching 'Don't kill out living things' is more important than ever. The government officials are going to destroy the nature and build a military base to train murderers. We must refuse to allow such a base to be built."

For about ten minutes, she was standing up pleading for the cancellation of the base-construction plan. She spoke with so much vigor and emotion that some participants wept.

With a radio transceiver in hand, 50-year-old Tomiyama Masahiro from Naha City routinely observes the Defense Facilities Administration Bureau. He said, "During the Korean war, Vietnam war, and Iraq war, U.S. forces made sorties from bases in Okinawa. From Asian people's viewpoint, we Okinawans are perpetrators of war. I don't think it's natural for us to be associated with the perpetrators. I want all military bases in Okinawa to be removed. A new base? Not a chance!"

Japanese Communist Party member of the House of Representatives Akamine Seiken said, "The construction of a new base in the Henoko district will further enhance the capabilities of the U.S. military bases in Okinawa as a major stepping-stone for U.S. military intervention in or invasion of other countries. Having experienced the tragic Okinawa battle, Okinawans wish for peace. We'll never allow the construction of the new base. It's a fight that flows together with the world current moving toward peace." (end)