Photo/Illutration Peace activists let out a loud cheer in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, before the start of the May 14 Okinawa peace march. (Minako Yoshimoto)

NAHA--Hundreds of peace activists from around Japan staged a march here on May 14 to call for scrapping U.S. military bases in Okinawa, a day before the 50th anniversary of the southernmost prefecture’s reversion to Japan.

An estimated 1,000 people took part in the march organized by the Okinawa Heiwa Undo (peace movement) Center and labor unions.

It was the first to be held in three years and marked the 45th of its kind in the postwar period. Marches were not held during the past two years due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The peace march progressed along 9 kilometers from a civic hall in Ginowan, where the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma is located, to Okinawa city.

“We want to develop discussion about what should be done about national security with people from around Japan,” said Kyoko Higa, one of the organizers.

A 45-year-old man who works at an elementary school in Ginowan expressed concern that “students will become accustomed to the helicopters and Osprey aircraft that fly above our school grounds.”

A 57-year-old woman who came from Kanagawa Prefecture, which hosts U.S. military bases in Atsugi and Yokosuka, said: “We also live right next to danger because of the bases in the community. But I believe the people in Okinawa are even more worried because of the greater danger they face.”

Amid the chorus of calls to scrap U.S. bases in Okinawa, a 35-year-old man from Ibaraki Prefecture said he joined the peace march out of concern about the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

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