To our friends around the world
A new military base at Nago in Okinawa would cause great environmental damage!
The construction of a new military base planned for Nago in Okinawa would cause severe environmental damage at the site of the G8 Summit. Many endangered species will be driven to extinction. The site for the planned base is in a place designated as a nature conservation area by Okinawa Prefecture. It has been assigned the highest conservation priority because of its ecosystem diversity, including coral reefs, tideland, and seaweed beds. This area is the northernmost habitat of the dugong,an internationally protected animal. If U.S. military facilities are built in the area and U.S. military aircraft fly over it, this will have a grave impact on the many endangered species living there.
Because a Nago City referendum unequivocally demonstrated the citizens' opposition to military base construction, the U.S. and Japanese governments would be defying this strong opposition if they go ahead with construction.
An area for a planned U.S. base off Henoko(near U.S. Camp Shwab)-dugong's habitat
The presently deployed CH-46 has a cruise
speed of 204 km/hr and a tactical range
of 437 km. Compared with the CH-46, the MV-22,
to be deployed in the future, has twice the
speed, five times the range. From Okinawa
the craft can deploy itself to the Korean
peninsula and Taiwan.It is a very noisy aircraft
and has had many accidents.
U.S.Military Bases in Okinawa
Look among U.S. military bases to find Okinawa
Give us back quiet nights!
In the process of occupying Okinawa, U.S.
forces sent the surviving Okinawans to concentration
camps which they had set up around the prefecture,
and which continued to exist even after the
war ended in 1945. Okinawans were released
from the camps between the end of 1945 to
1947, but upon returning to their homes they
were astonished to find extensive U.S. military
bases before their eyes. Since those days
Okinawa has always been a strategic stronghold
of U.S. forces going into action abroad,
and the presence of those forces has been
an affliction to Okinawans.
Furthermore, about 470,000 people, representing
37 percent of Okinawa's population, are disturbed
by noise from military activities at and
near U.S. bases(according to a survey by
Okinawa Prefecture). In areas near U.S. airfields,
each day begins with the roar of jet engines.
In particular, research conducted in areas
near Kadena Air Base and Futenma Air Station
showed that area residents cannot sleep well
at night. People living around Yokota Air
Base near Tokyo also suffer from similar
noise pollution.
U.S. forces are not protecting the people
of Okinawa or the rest of Japan!
"The Marines in Okinawa are not assigned
to the defense of Japan"
(Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger,in
1982)
Octover 21,1995 Okinawa Citizens' Rally
About 85,000 participants swamped the site
of this gathering to censure the rape of
an Okinawan girl by American servicemen,
and to demand a review of the Status of Forces
Agreement.
Crimes do not happen accidentally, and U.S.
soldiers in Japan have caused many accidents
and crimes. In fact, since the 1972 reversion
of Okinawa they have committed nearly 5,000
crimes! In September 1995 an elementary school
girl was abducted and raped by three U.S.
servicemen. This month a U.S. Marine broke
into a Japanese home in Okinawa City and
sexually assaulted a junior high school student.
What is more, U.S. forces are a major source
of air and land pollution by PCBs, depleted
uranium shells, and in other ways. Are U.S.
forces really protecting Okinawan and Japanese
people?
"Please give us back a quiet Okinawa
- an Okinawa without military forces of tragedies."
(a high school student,October 21,1995)
Dear friends,
This message has been brought to you jointly
by people in Okinawa and throughout Japan.Thank
you for taking the time to read these descriptions
of the problems caused by U.S. military bases.
We hope that you will address the U.S. and
Japanese governments in expressing your opposition
to the construction of new military bases
in Japan.
Thank you!
Sponsors-Okinawa PrefectureSAKUGAWA Seiichi［"Okinawa Prefecture Citizens Council Opposing the Intra-Prefectural Relocation of Futenma Air Station and Naha U.S.Naval Port"(Prefecture Citizens Council) joint Representative; Okinawa University professor］NAKAMURA Fumiko［Prefecture Citizens Council joint Representative ; One Foot Campaign ］TAIRA Osamu［Prefecture Citizens Council Deputy Representative ; Pastor］ASHITOMI Hiroshi［Reprezentative of Council for Oppsing Offshoe Base Construction(Nago City)］KINJOU Yuji［Council of Association to Stop Heliport Construction at Henoko ; Representative, Society to Protect Life］HIGASHIONNA Takuma［Acting Reprezentative, No to Heliport ! Association of 10 Districts north of Futami ］TAKAESU Ayano［Network of Thousands Opposed Military Bases］AHAGON Syoukoh［Director,Wabiai Village ; Anti-War Landowner ; Life is Precious House "Peace Museum"］Sponsors-To,Do,Fu and other Prefectures UEHARA Seishin［Kanto Chapter of Okinawa One-Tsubo Anti-War Landowners Association ; sponsor of 3.17 Gathering］OHTSU Ken'ichi［Japan Conference of Christian Churches ; sponsor of 3.17 Gathering］UCHIDA Masatoshi［Attorney ; sponsor of 3.17 Gathering］TAKEDA Takao［Nihonzan-Myouhouji(a Japanese buddist temple) sponsor of 3.17 Gathering］KOITABASHI Toshiichiroh［Representative Manager,New Yokota Base noise Pollution Lawsuit Group］KUNIHIRO Masao［Specially Appointed Visiting Professor, University of Edinburgh］HONDA Katuiti［Journalist］ASAI Motofumi［Professor,Meiji Gakuin University］.and 145 other persons.