Okinawa Environmental Justice Project

Amidst the Japanese government's relentless push to build a new U.S. military base at Henoko-Oura Bay, international support for Okinawa's fight to protect the precious environment has been growing. Mission Blue, a respected U.S. based NGO, has just designated the Henoko-Oura Bay Coastal Waters as a "Hope Spot."   Mission Blue has confirmed that this area is a special place on par with other natural wonders and Hope Spots around the world. It has also demonstrated that our fight to protect is worthwhile.  The message from Dr. Sylvia Earle , a renown marine biologist spearheading Mission Blue, is a great encouragement to those of us who want to protect the environment of Henoko-Oura Bay.  Dr. Sylvia Earle delivers her congratulation message Source: Mission Blue Meanwhile, the World Beyond War , a global peace movement to end all wars, has joined the celebration of this great news by inviting the Okinawa Environmental Justice Project to write an article...

Heart of Yambaru Forest or Northern Part of Okinawa Island On October 5, 2019, the Okinawa Environmental Justice Project and the Informed Public Project sent the IUCN World Heritage Programme an information document regarding the Japanese Environment Ministry's nomination of the "Northern Part of Okinawa Island" (NPOI) (or commonly known as Yambaru forest in Okinawa) for UNESCO World Natural Heritage status. See our document below. The NPOI is one of the four areas that the Ministry is hoping to have inscribed as World Natural Heritage sites in 2020. See the Ministry's Nomination document  and Nomination Annexes . The present information document is part of our continuing dialogue with the Programme. We have been successful in directing the attention of the Programme to the critical issues of the presence of the U.S. military's Northern Training Area (NTA) neighboring the NPOI.  In turn, the Japanese government has responded well to the Programme's rec...

"Henoko Blue" at Henoko-Oura Bay: Henoko Blue  is one of the 33 groups that sent a statement to U.S. Congress On September 13, thirty-three civil society groups from Okinawa, Japan, and the U.S. sent the members of both U.S. Senate and House Committees on Armed Services an endorsement statement for Section 1255 of the Senate version of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 (S. 1790). See our statement below. Tilted as "Report on Distributed Lay-down of United States Forces in the Indo-Pacific Region," Section 1255 requests the DoD "to conduct a review of the planned distribution of members of the United States Armed Forces in Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii, Australia, and elsewhere (distributed lay-down)." This call for review is critical and timely for the peoples of the Pacific Region, especially for those of us living Okinawa, Japan. We argue in our statement, the Henoko Plan, the linchpin of the "distributed lay-down," ...

2019 Nomination Document  On February 1, 2019,  the Japanese Ministry of the Environment submitted to UNESCO and the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) its nomination of four areas in the Ryukyu archipelago for UNESCO World Natural Heritage status. The areas are Amami-Oshima Island, Tokuno-Shima Island, the Northern Part of Okinawa Island, and Iriomote Island (see the Nomination Document  and  the Nomination Annexes ). The nomination is the Ministry's second attempt in the last two years.   In February 2017, the Ministry submitted its first nomination.  However, in May 2018, IUCN, the advisory body to UNESCO concerning matters related to World Natural Heritage, recommended that the nomination should be "deferred" requesting a substantial revision. In response, the Ministry withdrew the nomination. In the present nomination dossier, we see improvements from the previous nomination, especially regarding the issues of the U...

Abe Government's Reluctant Admission © Asahi Shimbun After a long silence, the Abe government finally admits that the construction of a U.S. military base at Henoko-Oura Bay in Okinawa requires significant changes to the original land reclamation plan  (see Asahi Shimbun ) . Parts of the seafloor of the construction site have proven to be extremely fragile, or mayonnaise-like condition. To solidify the seafloor to support a functional airport, a "sand compaction pile method" needs to be carried out (see this video for sand compaction pile method ).  That is, casing piles will be driven into the seafloor as deep as 60 meters (or 90 meters below the water surface) and  the piles will be filled from the top with sand and other compacting materials. Then, the piles are removed slowly leaving the compacting materials in the form of a pillar thus solidifying the seafloor. With this procedure, 76,000 sand pillars will be placed in the seafloor (see Ryukyu Shimpo ).  ...

Hachi ukushi ceremony at Henoko Happy New Year! On New Year's Day 2019, some 360 people gathered at the Henoko beach to join the Hachi ukushi (first day of working or of rising) ceremony, celebrating the beginning of the year of the boar. Traditionally, people in Okinawa hold the Hachi ukushi to pray for the safety and good health of farmers, fisherman, artisans, and community members and a good harvest, good catch, and good yielding in the year.   We hold this traditional Hachi ukushi on the send or third day of the first month of the year in the lunar calendar.   The Hachi ukushi ceremony at Henoko is a little different from traditional ones, but it serves ultimately the same purposes.   We prayed to the Nirai kanai no kami (gods of the outer world beyond the sea) that the U.S. military base would not be built in Henoko-Oura Bay so that the natural environment that provides us with food and livelihood would remain intact. We prayed that peace would ...