Okinawa opposes relocating US base

The Okinawa prefectural government on Friday lodged an appeal to a ruling made by the Naha branch of the Fukuoka High Court supporting the central government’s controversial moves to relocate a US base within Japan’s southernmost prefecture. Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga was initially shot down by the high-court ruling made on Sept 16, which found that Onaga’s revocation of a landfill permit last October previously granted by his predecessor was “illegal.”

The governor is a staunch advocate of blocking the central government’s plans to relocate the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the crowded residential area of Ginowan to the less populated coastal area of Nago in Henoko, also on the island.

The court also found that Onaga’s subsequent rejection of the government’s calls to scrap the revocation were also against the law, stating that the authorization for the land reclamation by former Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima in 2013 was “legal”.

The central and prefectural government have been locked in a fierce standoff over the issue, with both sides suing and counter suing each other over the matter, leading to a court mandated settlement in March this year.

With the prefectural and central government at loggerheads over the base relocation issue, Onaga has said he will contest the high-court’s decision in the Supreme Court, meaning a final ruling of the highest order may be made within the current fiscal year.

He said the high-court’s ruling was unjust and excessively took the side of the central government. He added that the ruling had also trampled on Okinawan people’s feelings.