http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/20100414TDY03T01.htm
Tokunoshima averse to Futenma / Local mayors lead opposition to relocating U.S. air station to Kagoshima island
Yoshifumi Sugita / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer
Seen from a company jet about two hours out of Haneda Airport, Tokunoshima island in Kagoshima Prefecture looked bigger than I expected.
In the northern part of the island lies Nesugatayama (recumbent mountain)–so nicknamed for its shape, which looks like a woman lying down. Sugarcane fields create a patchwork of green and reddish brown.
The 2,000-meter runway at Tokunoshima Airport extends along a coast in the northwest of the island, looking as if it might keep going and shoot right off the island. North of the airport is a tideland where sea lettuce, a local specialty, is grown.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has seen this island as a trump card to resolve the dispute over the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, and honor his own pledge to transfer the facility to a different prefecture.
However, the traditionally conservative island residents are averse to U.S. military bases and have a growing distrust of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan.
An islandwide opposition campaign led by three local mayors has grown more and more intense. Hatoyama has said he aims to settle the relocation issue by the end of May, but during my visit I sensed little chance that the government could obtain the necessary consent of the local people.
Tokunoshima island caught the attention of Seishu Makino, a DPJ member close to Hatoyama. Makino, a House of Representatives member for Shizuoka Constituency No. 1, was introduced by a person from the island to 62-year-old Hidetada Maeda, a former speaker of the Amagicho Municipal Assembly.
Guided by Maeda, Makino has made several visits to the island since November and met with the mayors of Amagicho, Isencho and Tokunoshimacho to take their pulse regarding the relocation.
On a Jan. 25 visit, Makino was accompanied by DPJ staffer Kiyoshi Sugawa, a special researcher of the Cabinet Secretariat. Makino asked the three mayors to meet with Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirofumi Hirano.
The following day, however, the mayors turned down the offer out of concern such a meeting could result in their agreeing to the relocation plan.
Maeda said he pushed for Tokunoshima island as an alternative location to host the Futenma base in a bid to shore up the island’s economy.
“This island is dying. There’re only a few places to work,” Maeda said. “If we accept Futenma, we’ll get government aid. The island won’t be able to survive unless we do something to revitalize it, such as creating a special economic zone to produce sugarcane.”
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Protest rally draws thousands
However, many residents rose up in protest against the idea of relocating the Futenma base to their island when it came to light that the three town mayors had spoken with Makino. About 4,200 people joined in a protest rally held by the mayors March 28, organizers said.
“This is a matter of grave concern to our island,” said rally participant Shigeru Haruyama, 69.
“As a fellow resident of an island, I was furious about incidents that American soldiers caused in Okinawa Prefecture. I made a banner and a headband to join the rally to object [to the relocation plan],” Haruyama said.
The mayors are planning to organize another rally for about 10,000 people Sunday. Michiko Yoshitama, a 55-year-old coffee shop manager in Isencho, said she would close her shop and take part.
“For the first time, I can share the agony felt by people in Okinawa Prefecture, as the base relocation issue has become a matter of concern to me. We should advertise the ‘slow life’ as one of our island’s assets,” Yoshitama said.
Going about the island, I received the impression that opponents of relocation were in the absolute majority. The spread of this opposition seems related to the political culture of the island, which was once called an “island of political war.”
The so-called Yasutoku war–a battle over a Diet seat in a former Amami islands constituency–has been fought since 1983. It was begun by Okiharu Yasuoka, a former justice minister belonging to the Liberal Democratic Party, and Torao Tokuda, the head of the Liberal League.
Tokuda’s second son, Takeshi, followed in his now-retired father’s footsteps and became a member of the House of Representatives. He joined the LDP in 2006. The three town mayors now support Takeshi.
Hirano called Takeshi Tokuda on Thursday seeking a solution, but Tokuda reportedly made it clear Tokunoshima could not be a candidate for relocation.
The islanders are sensitive to the idea that accepting the base would benefit the Hatoyama administration.
“You’ll be ostracized if you say you support the DPJ’s policies,” said a self-employed man in his 50s who is one of the few island residents in favor of accepting the base. However, if an identical idea is proposed by the LDP, he said, the islanders will accept it.
With the combination of anxiety toward U.S. military forces and local anti-DPJ sentiment, opposition to accepting Futenma has grown significantly.
“I know Tokunoshima enjoys peace because of the bases in Okinawa Prefecture. But it does not make sense for [the Hatoyama administration to say,] ‘We have to decide by May, so please accept the base, Tokunoshima residents,'” Tokunoshimacho Mayor Hideki Takaoka said.
“[The administration] should have started looking for a new location after holding exhaustive discussions on the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty and defense issues. The Hatoyama administration’s approach is too clumsy,” he said.
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