By SUNAO GUSHIKEN/ Staff Writer
January 12, 2023 at 18:04 JST
Buildings for construction workers and port are being built on Jan. 12 in Mageshima island in Nishinoomote, Kagoshima Prefecture, where construction of a Self-Defense Forces base is taking place. (Eiji Hori)
NISHINOOMOTE, Kagoshima Prefecture--The Defense Ministry began construction of a new Self-Defense Forces base on Mageshima island on Jan. 12 as part of a controversial plan to relocate a U.S. military aircraft training site.
It marks a major milestone for the plan, first floated in 2011, and comes just a day after a protest where residents demanded the governor of the prefecture withdraw his support for the project.
The ministry also released a report about its environmental impact assessments on the same day.
A vessel carrying around 30 workers, chain saws and other equipment left the port of Tanegashima island in the morning for Mageshima island, which is located approximately 10 kilometers west of it.
The ministry will first trim trees there and then build runways and facilities. It estimates the work will last about four years.
Mageshima island became a candidate site for the relocation of the U.S. military’s field carrier landing practices, which are currently conducted on Iwoto island, also known as Iwojima, in 2011 at a meeting of foreign affairs and defense chiefs from Japan and the United States.
The central government began acquiring land from a private owner on Mageshima island in 2019.
Shunsuke Yaita, the mayor of Nishinoomote, which will host the base, won re-election in January 2021 pledging to oppose the project.
But the following month, the ministry began its assessment. Yaita has yet to make clear whether he will backtrack and support the project.
The ministry began dredging there last year to deepen the sea bottom around the port. It has also been constructing the roads that run alongside the island’s coast.
In November 2022, Kagoshima Governor Koichi Shiota gave the project the green light and said measures had been taken to reduce its impact on residents, such as reducing noise.
A citizens’ group opposing the project visited the prefectural government office on Jan. 11 and demanded that the governor withdraw his approval.
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