Addressing the crowd Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha said, “Okinawa’s future is for us, the Okinawan people to decide. We cannot let America decide for us.”
This protest holds even more importance as President Barack Obama is scheduled to visit the country from November 12.
The ongoing dispute over the re-location of Futenma air base can bring to halt a realignment of the 47,000 U.S. military personnel in Japan. It also threatens to weaken the defense relations existing between the two countries.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama, whose popularity is already on a decline, could also face domestic hostility on this issue.
Futenma Marine base
According to a 2006 U.S.-Japan agreement, the Futenma Marine base situated in the center of the city of Ginowan needs to be shut down now.
It is to be replaced with a facility that has been constructed in part on a cultivated land at Henoko, an isolated part of the Okinawa island, by 2014.
The negotiations on this issue have been going on for quite a while now and Washington wants to get through this deal soon.
This deal is a small part of a bigger plan that aims at re-organizing U.S. troops and shifting up to 8,000 Marines to Guam.
U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has asked Japan to give consent to the plan ahead of President Obama’s visit.
Environmentalists concerned over the issue
Okinawa was under the control of the U.S. till 1972. It is home to about half the U.S. troops in Japan. People residing close to the base have often complained of noise, crime, pollution and accidents.
In a recently conducted poll, 70 percent of Okinawa residents are in favour of removing the base off the island.
A 60-year-old woman at Sunday’s protest said, “I think getting rid of Futenma would be a good starting point for the removal of all the U.S. bases from Okinawa.”
Environmentalists are concerned about the protection of marine life including coral and rare dugongs that survive in close by waters.
However, some people have different opinions. As Kosuke Gushi, a regional assemblyman with the opposition Liberal Democratic Party said, “Nature is important, but the primary responsibility of a politician is to protect people’s lives and property.”
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