It's been two years since people in Okinawa Prefecture clearly showed a collective will to reject the government’s plan to build a new U.S. military base in the Henoko district of Nago, a city in the prefecture, in a referendum.

During those two years, however, the government has been forging ahead with land reclamation work to build a new air facility that would take over the functions of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, also in the prefecture.

That alone amounts to riding roughshod over the feelings of the people in Okinawa. But the government is now poised to start taking a step that would further trample on their collective will. 

In a request the Defense Ministry submitted last year to the prefectural government for a change to the Futenma relocation plan, it was proposed that dirt and soil could be gathered from the southern part of the main Okinawa island for the reclamation work off Henoko.

The 1945 Battle of Okinawa, marked by three months of furious ground fighting between the Japanese and U.S. forces, was seen by Japan’s military government at that time as a “sacrifice” to defend the nation’s main islands.  Some 120,000 local residents, or one in every four people living in the prefecture, were killed.

The remains of some 2,800 victims still remain buried underground and unaccounted for, according to an estimate by the prefectural administration. Since southern parts of the Okinawa island were the main battlegrounds, it is feared that human remains from the battle might be mixed with soil landfill for the ongoing reclamation work.

A new law that came into force in 2016 requires the government to collect the remains of Japanese victims of World War II as its “duty.”

In Okinawa, volunteers are working for a project to uncover human remains and identify the deceased. The planned use of dirt and soil in southern parts of the island for the reclamation work could hamper their efforts.

Asked about this concern during a Diet session, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said that he would require contractors to “give consideration” to the issue.

Seiken Akamine, a Lower House member elected from Okinawa, however, pointed out that buried human remains and soil have basically the same color. It is impossible to distinguish between them unless their weights are compared by hand, Akamine stressed.

Referring to the fact that former Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi participated in the project to collect remains of the war dead in Okinawa, the lawmaker said past governments of the Liberal Democratic Party had at least a basic understanding about the history of Okinawa.

Akamine said they knew that there were certain things the government must not do in the prefecture.

He criticized the administrations of Suga and his predecessor, former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, for showing “absolutely no signs” of understanding and recognizing what Okinawa endured during the war.

Both Abe and Suga promised to “show sympathy and solidarity” with people in the prefecture, but the policy actions taken by their administrations indicate the exact opposite. This fact was highlighted by the exchanges between Suga and Akamine during the session.

Originally, the government planned to bring in 70 percent of the dirt and soil needed for the reclamation work from outside the prefecture. But a prefectural ordinance restricts the use of dirt and soil brought in from outside the prefecture for reclamation.

To do so, it is necessary to conduct a special survey to ascertain that the dirt and soil do not contain “designated invasive alien species” and submit plans to prevent such species from entering the prefecture to the prefectural government.

It is suspected that the central government has changed the plan to secure dirt and soil to sidestep these requirements.

The move has only deepened the local people’s distrust of the Abe and Suga administrations, which have taken a series of actions that border on the illegal in order to push through the base construction work.

With Okinawa preparing to mark the 50th anniversary of its reversion to Japan next year, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki recently told the prefectural assembly that he will seek to lower Okinawa’s share of U.S. military facilities located in Japan from about 70 percent to 50 percent or less.

He has set the numerical target to put pressure on the national government to do more to reduce the U.S. military footprint in the prefecture.

U.S. Marines stationed in Okinawa have recently been arrested on suspicion of such offenses as a sex crime and drunken driving even though their activities outside the bases are restricted due to the new coronavirus pandemic.

The prefectural assembly recently lodged a nonpartisan protest against frequent low-altitude flying drills involving U.S. military aircraft. But the Suga administration has turned a deaf ear to it.

The government’s inaction and negligence with regard to the plight of Okinawa has been supported by the mainlanders’ excessive dependence on people in Okinawa and indifference to their suffering.

--The Asahi Shimbun, Feb. 25