Photo/Illutration Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki speaks to reporters after attending a U.N. Human Rights Council session in Geneva on Sept. 18. (Kosuke So)

GENEVA--Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki sought a sympathetic ear from the international community as he comes under pressure to reverse his rejection of design changes over a contentious U.S. base relocation project within his prefecture. 

“The Japanese government is imposing the construction of a new American base in Okinawa by carrying out land reclamation work on our precious sea areas,” Tamaki told a U.N. Human Rights Council session here on Sept. 18. “It was clearly opposed by Okinawan voters in a democratically held referendum.”

In a 2019 referendum, more than 70 percent of prefectural residents opposed the project to reclaim land off the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, to build a replacement facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, also in the prefecture.

In a lawsuit over the project, the Supreme Court on Sept. 4 ruled against the Okinawa prefectural government and obligated Tamaki to approve the Defense Ministry’s proposed design changes, including solidifying the soft seabed in Oura Bay north of Henoko.

In Tokyo, land minister Tetsuo Saito on Sept. 19 issued a “recommendation” to Tamaki to approve the changes, the first of a series of steps that could lead to administrative subrogation.

At the Human Rights Council session, Tamaki asked delegates from member countries to pay close attention to the plight of Okinawa, where he said the concentration of U.S. bases is threatening peace and hindering equal participation in decision-making.

The southern island prefecture accounts for only 0.6 percent of Japan’s total land area but hosts about 70 percent of U.S. military installations, according to the governor.

Tamaki also said the buildup of military strength is completely contrary to Okinawans' longing for peace because it could heighten tensions in areas surrounding Japan.

A fierce ground battle in Okinawa in the final stages of the Pacific War in 1945 claimed the lives of one in four prefectural residents.

Tamaki attended the session as a participant from a nongovernmental organization that is authorized to speak before the Human Rights Council.

“I would not have had to come here if the Japanese government had accommodated the wishes of Okinawa prefectural residents and had proceeded (with the U.S. bases issue) in consultation with the United States,” Tamaki told reporters after the session. “The reason I came here is the primary problem in present-day Okinawa.”

A representative of the Japanese government mission in Geneva, speaking after Tamaki in the Human Rights Council session, said U.S. forces are stationed in Okinawa Prefecture based on geopolitical reasons and national security needs, not on any discriminatory intentions.

Tamaki will remain in Geneva until Sept. 22 to attend more council sessions.

He is the first Okinawa governor to speak at the Human Rights Council since Takeshi Onaga in 2015, who also voiced his opposition to the base's relocation to the Henoko district. 

(This article was written by Kosuke So in Geneva and Taro Ono.)

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