Just another IPS Sites site

Tag Archives: Henoko

The Asahi News’ May 4 Wikileaks series reveal Tokyo-D.C. deception & fraud re their proposed U.S. Marine base in Okinawa

May 7, 2011 by CTB Team
The May 4, 2011 Asahi News Wikileaks reports reveal some of the deceit and fraud involved in the backroom dealings that have characterized D.C.-Tokyo political manipulation re Okinawa for military base purposes since the end of the Pacific War:

Ryukyu Shimpo: “Open Letter to Mr. Carl Levin”

April 28, 2011 by CTB Team
In an open letter to Senators Carl Levin and Jim Webb, the Ryukyu Shimpo asks them "to show the true worth of American democracy" and "to respect the will of the people of Okinawa and informs them: "April 28 is the date when the United States and Japan concluded both the San Francisco Peace Treaty and the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty in 1952. With this, Allied Occupation forces withdrew from Japan and Japan attained independence. The San Francisco Peace Treaty determined that Okinawa and Amami Oshima would be separated from the mainland islands of Japan and put under the control of the U.S. military."

1st anniversary of historic Okinawa mass rally for closure of Futenma & against “replacement” base at environmentally sensitive Henoko & Oura Bay

April 25, 2011 by CTB Team
Today is the 1st anniversary of the historic mass rally for the closure of US Marine Air Station Futenma and against "replacement" mega-base construction in environmentally sensitive Henoko and Oura Bay. In conjunction with Earth Day, worldwide supporters held solidarity rallies in San Francisco, Hawaii, and elsewhere in Japan (including Tokyo, Nagoya, Kyoto, Oita, Nagano, Sapporo, Fukuoka, Osaka, Hiroshima, Nagano, and Ueda). Labor Beat's video of the mass rally and PressTV's video report remind us of the unanimous feeling of the people of Okinawa.

Okinawa Governor Nakaima: Proposed “Futenma replacement” base at Henoko impossible

April 23, 2011 by CTB Team
Next week Governor Hirokazu Nakaima will reiterate to U.S. Senator Carl Levin the same request he and a group of Okinawan mayors from base-hosting communities handed to Prime Minister Kan on Feb. 8. of this year: Close U.S. Marine Air Station Futenma and cancel the plan for a "Futenma replacement" base at Henoko and biodiverse Oura Bay. The governor’s request to Sen. Levin will be following a 15-year sit-in protest at Henoko; a 3-year protest at Takae in Yanbaru Forest; numerous statements, plebiscites, resolutions, elections, and annual mass protest rallies across Okinawa— all demanding the closure of Futenma and the cancellation of plans for further U.S. military construction in Okinawa. During today's announcement to the Japanese media, the governor wondered why the U.S. government has not yet been able to understand that new base construction is "impossible." Washington knows the environmentally devastating base plan involves the destruction of the only habitat of the endangered and beloved Okinawa dugong.

Okinawa Network for Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) Statement

April 15, 2011 by CTB Team
The Okinawa Network for Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) object to Tokyo's "Sympathy Budget" subsidies to the U.S. military amid an unprecedented crisis caused by earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. They urge the Japanese and U.S. governments to stop their planned destruction of biodiverse Oura Bay to build a U.S. Marine mega-base and to stop destroying one of the best-preserved areas of Yanbaru Forest to build helipads for jungle training purposes: We urge the US government, as our “Tomodachi" or "Friend”, to decline our sympathy budget, if it truly wishes to help Japan’s recovery and rebuilding. We also urge both Japanese and US governments to stop further militarizing Okinawa: the base construction in Henoko/Oura Bay and the helipad construction in Takae. Please show them your support by posting comments at their website!

Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) in Okinawa

April 13, 2011 by CTB Team
"Friends" don't destroy eco-systems and take taxpayer money during natural disaster and nuclear crises. The Global Day of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) in Okinawa focuses on Okinawan humanitarian and ecological values that prioritize life. Peace talks by Ms. Suzuyo Takazato of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, Mr. Hiroshi Ashitomi of the Committee against Heliport Construction, and the Elders of Save Life Society.

In aftermath of natural disasters & during nuclear crisis, Tokyo moves to build unapproved U.S. Marine deep-water ammunition port at Henoko

March 29, 2011 by CTB Team
Jon Mitchell's latest "Postcard from Henoko" published at Foreign Policy in Focus: The Department of Defense has been busy all week feeding copy to the media on its undeniably heroic work in northern Japan. However that same press machine has been slower to report on another of its military projects currently underway in Maher’s former stomping ground of Okinawa. Since January 2011, the Okinawa Defense Bureau has been building a 50 million yen ($600,000) barrier between Camp Schwab and the public beach at Henoko... Both the Japanese and US governments are remaining silent as to the purpose of its new barrier, but in the nearby sit-in tent, protesters are sure. According to one elderly man, “After they’ve finished building that wall, they’ll be hidden from sight. And then they’ll be free to do whatever they want.”

Forced military construction at Henoko unabated during natural disaster aftermath and nuclear catastrophe

March 22, 2011 by CTB Team
More than a week after the country's worst natural disaster in a hundred years, the Japanese government has not been able to resolve a long-predicted nuclear catastrophe. Millions of people are living without running water or power in temperatures that fall below freezing at night. Half a million homes are without power in northern Japan and 2.5 million have no access to water. Food is critically short and bottled water is running low in many cities. Gasoline is scarce and homes are running out of kerosene to power heaters. Yet, Tokyo is still using monetary and military construction labor resources to forcibly build a U.S. mega-base at Henoko, an environmentally sensitive coastal area in northern Okinawa, despite the prefecture's unanimous democratic opposition. The base's ostensible purpose: to protect Japan from an attack from North Korea. However the long-feared nuclear attack on Japan has already come—accidentally, but predictably from within.

5-year anniversary of March 5, 2006 Okinawan rally against the plan for a U.S. mega-base in Henoko & Oura Bay

March 5, 2011 by CTB Team
35,000 Okinawans gathered in Ginowan City on March 5, 2006 to protest an earlier version of the plan for a U.S. mega-base in Henoko and Oura Bay. A coalition of peace & environmentalist citizen groups fought from 1996 to 2005 against a 1996 proposal for an offshore, pontoon-supported structure over Oura Bay's coral reef. This plan was abandoned because of environmental challenges and unceasing protests. The newest plan (following a 2006 U.S.-Japan agreement) would also destroy the coral reef habitat of the Okinawa dugong.

Network for Okinawa Statement/Press Release on Forced Military Construction in Yanbaru Forest & Henoko, Okinawa

February 18, 2011 by CTB Team
The Network for Okinawa, following calls of protest from international peace, democracy, and environmental organizations, has issued a statement/press release on forced U.S. military construction in biologically rich and fragile Yanbaru Forest, Oura Bay, and Henoko, Okinawa.