Okinawa Environmental Justice Project

Season’s Greetings, I hope all of you are safe and well.  I want to take this opportunity to update you on the situation of Henoko-Oura Bay and express my appreciation to you all in the international civil society for your support, solidarity, and friendship for our fight for our environment and human rights and a peaceful world.  Quite Oura Bay on Dec. 30, 2020 (No construction work due to year-end and New Year holidays) The year 2020 has been extremely difficult for those of us in Okinawa.  Like any other place on earth, Okinawa has been hit by Covid 19. Our daily life has been disrupted, and we have been forced to cope with this “New Normal."   Appallingly, amidst the pandemic, the Japanese government has continued its base construction work at Henoko-Oura Bay.  In so doing, the government has shown its blatant disregard for its construction workers and security guards' safety. It has also shown its continuing indifference to Okinawa's democratic voice and th...

Public Comments September 28 is the deadline for submitting your comments to the Okinawa Prefectural Government on the Okinawa Defense Bureau's application for change in construction design and work for the Futenma Replacement Facility (AKA Henoko new base) at Henoko-Oura Bay in northern Okinawa. As of September 24, the  Prefectural Government has received 4,000 submissions and it will receive more in the next few days. Most of the comments submitted so far urge Governor Denny Tamaki to disapprove of the Bureau's application and stop the construction project.  Governor Denny Tamaki  Image Source: Okinawa Prefectural Government Why are many people submitting their comments?  What do they express in their comments? Can people in the international community submit comments and support the movement against Henoko base construction?  If so, how?   Problems the Defense Bureau's Application   The Okinawa Defense Bureau seeks new approval from Governor Ta...

On September 8, 2020, the Okinawa Prefectural Government began its three-week public review and comment period   on the Okinawa Defense Bureau's application  for change in construction design and work for the Futenma Replacement Facility (commonly known as Henoko new base) now under construction at Henoko-Oura Bay in northern Okinawa.   Beautiful Oura Bay on September 4, 2020 All construction vessels left the bay in advance of Typhoon Haishen The public review and comment period is part of the prefectural government's review process of the Bureau's application under the Public Water Reclamation Act. The  prefectural government will be collecting public comments until September 28. Incorporating them, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki will then decide to approve or reject the application in the next three to six months; Governor Tamaki is expected to reject the application.  The Defense Bureau submitted its application  in April 2020 as it admitted that th...

On July 10, 2020, led by the Okinawa Environmental Justice Project,  seventy-one Okinawan and Japanese civil society organizations and groups (including one Philippine organization) sent a letter of request and a civil society report to the U.S. Marine Mammal Commission (MMC),  the U.S. federal agency in charge of overseeing the U.S. Marine Mammal Protection Act.   Okinawa Group's Visit to MMC in 2014  The letter asks the MMC to review and comment on the U.S. Department of Defense’s (DoD) efforts for the conservation of the Okinawa dugong, an endangered marine mammal, Japan’s Natural Monument, and Okinawa’s cultural icon, in relation to the construction of a U.S. military base in Henoko-Oura Bay, Okinawa, Japan. In particular, it calls on the MMC to examine the DoD’s contention made six years ago that construction and operation of the base would have “no adverse effects” on the marine mammal. The report details how the DoD contention was influenced by the Japanese...