Photo/Illutration The proposed site of a new Ground Self-Defense Force base, center left, next to Saga Airport (Eiji Hori)

SAGA—The Defense Ministry has cleared a major obstacle in the way of deploying Osprey tilt-rotor transport aircraft in Saga Prefecture amid stiff opposition from locals worried about environmental damage.

A local fisheries cooperative agreed on Nov. 1 to revise a key document that had stood in the way of allowing the Ground Self-Defense Force to build a base next to Saga Airport as a new home for the Osprey.

Saga Governor Yoshinori Yamaguchi announced in 2018 that he would accept Osprey deployments at the GSDF base.

But local seaweed farmers have opposed the move over concerns that construction and use of the facility would result in pollutants draining into the Sea of Ariake, known for its seaweed farms.

Officials of the Saga prefectural Ariake sea fisheries cooperative met on Nov. 1 and agreed to revise the document with the prefectural government to limit military use of Saga Airport to the GSDF garrison.

The agreement had previously contained a provision banning the SDF from using Saga Airport.

Defense Ministry officials were starting to feel pressure from the current home of the GSDF Ospreys at Camp Kisarazu in Chiba Prefecture, just east of Tokyo. With that deployment agreement ending in July 2025, the Saga prefectural government and Defense Ministry focused on revising the pollution-prevention agreement before the clock runs out.

However, Defense Ministry officials felt the extent of the opposition when they held explanatory meetings in August and September with the six branches of the fisheries cooperative that were the original signatories with the prefectural government for the pollution-prevention agreement.

Not only were environmental concerns raised, but some also expressed their opposition to the GSDF base.

Despite reaching the agreement, some local seaweed farmers remain staunchly opposed to the GSDF deployment, and the ministry faces more challenges ahead.

The Defense Ministry still has to negotiate with landowners around Saga Airport for the sale of their plots to establish the GSDF base. Some landowners are fishermen and may not readily agree to sell.

But Satoshi Nishikubo, the head of the local fisheries cooperative, said the major reason they reached an agreement on Nov. 1 was a promise made by Yamaguchi at an Oct. 24 meeting that he would stand by the fisheries cooperative in resuscitating the Sea of Ariake.

Yamaguchi met with representatives of the local fisheries cooperative on Nov. 1 and thanked them for approving the revision. He again promised to do everything to help revive the Sea of Ariake.

Nishikubo met with reporters after his meeting with Yamaguchi and admitted it was an extremely difficult decision, since some fishermen remain opposed.

The next step is for officials to figure out which measures to implement to ease concerns about environmental damage from the wastewater that will eventually be released by the GSDF into the Sea of Ariake.

(This article was written by Takao Nogami and Satoshi Juyanagi.)

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