Photo/Illutration Land reclamation work continues off Camp Schwab, a U.S. Marine Corps facility, in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

The Defense Ministry has once again prevailed in its relentless push to forge ahead with a hugely unpopular land reclamation project to relocate a U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture.

The development stemmed from an April 8 move by land minister Tetsuo Saito to revoke a November 2021 decision by the Okinawa prefectural government to reject an application by the Defense Ministry for a design change in its contentious land reclamation plan in the Henoko district of Nago. The change followed the discovery of extremely soft seabed at the site that is causing development costs to snowball.

In response, Naha prefectural authorities are expected to resort to past delaying tactics to thwart efforts to provide a new site for the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma now located in the middle of a residential district in the city of Ginowan.

Saito labeled the Okinawa prefectural government’s rejection “illegal and inappropriate.” He also issued a recommendation urging it to approve the design change application by April 20.

The Okinawa prefectural government is widely expected to pay no heed to the recommendation.

Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki called a news conference April 8 after Saito’s decision was announced and said the prefectural government’s next move hinged on it making a thorough assessment of Saito’s edict.

The reclamation project is bitterly opposed by the majority of people in Okinawa, which already plays host to around 70 percent of all U.S. military facilities in Japan.

Even the central government has acknowledged that Okinawa shoulders an “unfair burden” in this regard, but insists there is no other “viable” option than the reclamation project.

In the past, the Okinawa prefectural government has gone to court seeking to revoke decisions taken by land ministers or taken the case to the Central and Local Government Dispute Management Council asking it to examine the legality of such decisions.

In the absence of approval for the design change by the Okinawa prefectural government, the Defense Ministry will have its hands tied regarding any work to shore up the seabed.

In revoking Okinawa’s rejection of the application of a design change, Saito asserted that the proposed work was technically feasible in light of many past instances where foundations for projects required additional engineering input.

If the Okinawa prefectural government turns a blind eye to Saito’s recommendation to approve the Defense Ministry’s application, as expected, the land minister could issue a legally binding instruction to the prefectural government requesting it to reverse course.

In that event, the prefectural government has the option of resorting to one of two steps it has taken in the past.

While legal maneuvering continues, work to relocate the Futenma base will be further pushed back. The central government has estimated it will take 12 years to complete the land reclamation work, assuming it eventually beats Okinawa into submission. Project costs have gone through the roof since the initial blueprint was drawn up.

(This article was written by Takaoki Yamamoto and Shogo Mitsuzumi.)

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