Ignoring Voice of Okinawa

Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Tetsuo Saito, issued on Thursday a proxy approval to Ministry of Defense for improving soft ground off the coast of Henoko, Nago city, Okinawa, to build a new base for United States Force. Governor of Okinawa, Denny Tamaki, on whom the authority to approve the construction is vested, opposed to the decision of central government, arguing it would distort local autonomy. Kishida administration succeeds authoritative style of execution of Shinzo Abe, which lays local government under central power. 

The government of Japan started the landfill in Henoko in 2013, when the governor, Hirokazu Nakaima, approved it. Next governor, Takeshi Onaga, overturned in 2015 the approval of Nakaima, and Tamaki succeeded Onaga’s policy, backed by overwhelming support from the people in Okinawa.

 

Tamaki refused the approval on changing design of landfill in 2021, after the central government found the land off the coast of Henoko had been too soft to build a base. The government of Japan filed a lawsuit against Okinawa, demanding a proxy approval of central government for the landfill. Naha Branch of Fukuoka High Court decided on December 20th, ordering Okinawa to approve the change of design.

 

Tamaki opposed the court decision, arguing that the people in Okinawa had already expressed their opinion against building new base in Henoko through the elections or referendum. Although the court demanded Okinawa to approve the landfill by December 25th, Tamaki announced his intention not to approve it and appealed to the Supreme Court on 27th. “The decision of the high court was biased toward the central government, captured by a notion that Henoko is one and only solution,” told Tamaki in his press conference.

 

Ignoring the argument of Okinawa, the government of Japan made the proxy approval on December 28th. “I recognize that the necessary decision was made by Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to deal with the issue, abiding by the law,” told Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, as if he was thinking it as something about someone’s government.

 

Article 92 of the Constitution of Japan says that “Regulations concerning organization and operations of local public entities shall be fixed by law in accordance with the principle of local autonomy.” Over the concept of “the principle of local autonomy,” there are various discussion on what is means. A package of Decentralization Laws in 2000 determined that the status between the central and local governments must be equal. Tamaki insists on the crisis of the principle of local autonomy

 

The plan of building new base in Henoko began as a relocation plan of Futenma Air Base. It was former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto who paved the way to return Futenma to Okinawa, after Okinawa’s major protest against a rape incident by US Force personnel in 1995. It was PM Keizo Obuchi who decided to hold Group of Seven Summit in Okinawa in 2000. Hashimoto and Obuchi were categorized in the main stream of conservative in Liberal Democratic Party.

 

It was PM Jun-ichiro Koizumi who made a deal with US to build a base in Henoko, leaving anti-war sentiment among the people in Okinawa. Shinzo Abe started construction in Henoko, dismissing firm local oppositions. The style of politics of Koizumi or Abe was different from the main stream of conservatives. It is not natural for Kishida to take the course of coercive promotion of Henoko base, because Kishida has been supposed to be on the side of main stream. Kishida calls it realism.

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