THE ASAHI SHIMBUN
April 22, 2024 at 07:00 JST
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, third from left, and other Japanese and U.S. officials during a ribbon-cutting ceremony held March 30 to mark the opening of the Lower Plaza Green Square in Kita-Nakagusuku, Okinawa Prefecture (Shohei Sasagawa)
KITA-NAKAGUSUKU, Okinawa Prefecture--A park created from a residential area at a U.S. military base here has opened to the public ahead of its handover to Japan.
The Lower Plaza Housing Area at Camp Foster, also known as Camp Zukeran, covers 23 hectares and straddles Kita-Nakagusuku and the city of Okinawa.
The site is scheduled to be returned to Japan as early as within this fiscal year. It was developed into an event space with a softball field and other amenities after 102 homes were demolished.
It is the first time for a park area at a U.S. military facility in Okinawa Prefecture to be shared by both Japan and U.S. forces before being handed back.
The move is aimed at helping local authorities make good use of the former military site, given strong anti-U.S. base sentiment among islanders over the massive U.S. military presence in the southernmost prefecture.
Okinawa, the site of a fierce battle in the waning months of World War II that claimed the lives of one-quarter of the island’s civilian population, shoulders around 70 percent of all U.S. military installations in Japan.
Past instances of land being handed back to Japan fell into difficulties because of a time lag from when agreement is first reached to ironing out final details, making it difficult for local officials to enter the sites and make plans for their use.
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, who doubles as minister in charge of mitigating the impact of U.S. forces in Okinawa, attended a commemoration ceremony held March 30.
“In addition to making daily life more comfortable for local residents, we will provide a space and time frame to ensure good use is made of the former U.S. military site,” he said. “I think this represents a tangible achievement in efforts to reduce the burden resulting from military bases in Okinawa.”
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