This is the first Diet session since a new phase of land reclamation work began almost three months ago in Oura Bay in the Henoko district of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

The central government has much to explain about its unprecedented decision to proceed with this work by proxy, as well as about the project's projected cost.

But with government officials remaining evasive in answering questions in the Diet, Tokyo appears hardly interested in seeking the understanding of the public.

Regarding the projected cost of the project, Defense Minister Minoru Kihara, who took the floor during an Upper House Budget Committee meeting last month, merely repeated a stock answer: The initially projected cost of over 350 billion yen ($2.3 billion) has been revised upward to about 930 billion yen, of which about 431.2 billion yen had already been spent by fiscal 2022.

This means that almost half the budget has been used up already, even though any real work to shore up the soft ground in the bay hasn't even begun yet.

An opposition legislator pointed out that the project may have fallen through already, but Kihara's inane response went to the effect, "We will discuss this on the basis of how the work progresses in the days ahead."

The government intends to increase the defense budget for five years until fiscal 2027 to 43 trillion yen, which is 1.5 times the previous level. But since the cost of the relocation project will not be included in the defense budget, the public cannot even determine the project's appropriateness unless its total cost is revealed through close scrutiny.

This is certainly not the first time that concerns have been voiced about the project's bloating cost. The ground improvement work is bound to be of unprecedented complexity, as the maximum depth of soft ground could reach 90 meters.

The Okinawa prefectural government has repeatedly expressed concerns about "insufficient examination of the stability of the ground."

The plain reality is that the project's viability is dubious not only from a budgetary standpoint, but technologically as well.

Another aspect that cannot be overlooked is the likelihood that soil from some of the bloodiest sites of the Battle of Okinawa, containing the remains of victims, may be used for the land reclamation work.

In February, the victims' bereaved families objected to Tokyo's choice of the soil collection site on the southern part of the Okinawan mainland and demanded that the Defense Ministry rethink the choice.

The prefectural assembly in 2021 unanimously approved a statement objecting to the collection of the soil. And according to the Defense Ministry, 215 local assemblies around the nation have also adopted a similar statement.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told an Upper House Budget Committee meeting that the sacrifices made by Okinawans during the Battle of Okinawa were a matter of grave importance.

However, Kishida avoided taking a firm stance by noting, "Multiple sites are under consideration as soil supply sources and no final decision has been made."

In Okinawa where one in four citizens was said to have perished in the final months of World War II, the remains of an estimated 2,700 or so victims are said to be still buried at sites unknown.

The very idea of using soil from such sites is grossly disrespectful of the war dead.

The law to promote the recovery of remains of the war dead, which took effect in 2016, states in no uncertain terms that the recovery is the government's "duty." Wouldn't collecting soil from Okinawa's former battlegrounds constitute a violation of the spirit of that law?

In Okinawa, the chance of dialogue between Tokyo and the locals is rapidly diminishing because of the central government's thoughtless decisions, including the deployment of a surface-to-ship missile unit in Okinawa and allowing the U.S. military to resume the operation of Osprey aircraft.

We demand again that Tokyo let go of its premise that the relocation to Henoko is "the sole solution." The government needs to call off the project and try to resume dialogue with the locals.

--The Asahi Shimbun, April 3