It has become a serious political battle in the country whether the Government will succeed in building a new military base at Henoko, Okinawa Prefecture, over strong opposition. A new battle field has been opened at the Fukuoka High Court where the Government and Okinawa Prefecture are indicting each other on the issue. Yesterday, on 29 January 2016, the Court has admitted, over the opposition of the Government, Mr. Onaga Takeshi, Governor of Okinawa, and Mr. Inamine Susumu, Mayor of Nago city where Henoko is located, to appear as witnesses in the Court next month. Here let me summarize what Mr. Onaga stated at the Court when it met the first time on 2 December 2015.
In the beginning Onaga gave a short history of the Prefecture. According to him, it was annexed by Japan by force in 1879. In the Second World War it became a cruel battleground where about 100,000 civilians lost their lives. After the War most of the residents were housed in the camps when their land and property were confiscated by the occupation army. Even after that land was forcibly appropriated with 'sword and bulldozer'.
The Peace Treaty of 1951 cut off the Prefecture from Japan and continued to place it under the American rule. The Okinawans were neither Japanese nor American. The new Japanese Constitution was not applied there. It was almost under the extraterritoriality. During the Vietnam War it became the American base for bombing Vietnam with its heavy bombers. But Okinawa never surrendered its land on her own.
And now, the US and the Japanese Governments are going to build a new base which will be durable into 22nd Century. It is under the pretext that the existing Hutemma air base is a most dangerous one and should be transferred and Henoko is a suitable cite. But it is not correct, as the planned base will also be used as a naval port, being on the coast unlike Hutemma. A new magazine will be added. It will take at least ten years to build, during which time the Hutemma base will be left in as dangerous a condition as at present. The present Japan-US security regime is very unfair in that it forces heavy burden only on Okinawa.
Onaga spent quite some time to stress that the use of land for military purposes does not pay economically at all, and concluded that Okinawa would like to be a bridge between Japan and Asia, and a zone of peace in the Asia-Pacific.
In the beginning Onaga gave a short history of the Prefecture. According to him, it was annexed by Japan by force in 1879. In the Second World War it became a cruel battleground where about 100,000 civilians lost their lives. After the War most of the residents were housed in the camps when their land and property were confiscated by the occupation army. Even after that land was forcibly appropriated with 'sword and bulldozer'.
The Peace Treaty of 1951 cut off the Prefecture from Japan and continued to place it under the American rule. The Okinawans were neither Japanese nor American. The new Japanese Constitution was not applied there. It was almost under the extraterritoriality. During the Vietnam War it became the American base for bombing Vietnam with its heavy bombers. But Okinawa never surrendered its land on her own.
And now, the US and the Japanese Governments are going to build a new base which will be durable into 22nd Century. It is under the pretext that the existing Hutemma air base is a most dangerous one and should be transferred and Henoko is a suitable cite. But it is not correct, as the planned base will also be used as a naval port, being on the coast unlike Hutemma. A new magazine will be added. It will take at least ten years to build, during which time the Hutemma base will be left in as dangerous a condition as at present. The present Japan-US security regime is very unfair in that it forces heavy burden only on Okinawa.
Onaga spent quite some time to stress that the use of land for military purposes does not pay economically at all, and concluded that Okinawa would like to be a bridge between Japan and Asia, and a zone of peace in the Asia-Pacific.
