Suga Administration Henoko Base Policy Faces Shifting Realities
OCT 14, 2020 by JON REINSCHin INTERNATIONAL
Shingetsu News Agency

SNA (Seattle) — Throughout its nearly eight years in power, the Abe administration pressed forward with all its might to build a new US airbase at Henoko, Okinawa.

The Henoko plan originated in a 1996 Tokyo-Washington agreement to close Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Okinawa. The United States has over thirty bases there, so Okinawans initially rejoiced at the news—until they learned that first, a “Futenma Replacement Facility” would be built 36 kilometers away at Henoko.

For environmental and other reasons, Okinawans have battled the central government ever since, at the polls, in the courts, and with direct action. Now, Japan has a new prime minister, Yoshihide Suga. While any change in government makes a new approach possible, Suga’s long record on Okinawa policy suggests that, as far as Henoko is concerned, hope for change would best be sought elsewhere.

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Suga’s contempt for Okinawa was on full display when he attended a memorial for the late Governor Onaga in 2018. The assembled mourners were well aware of Suga’s relentless drive to undermine Onaga, and this occasion was no exception. He told them, “We are determined to steadily produce results so as to cut Okinawa’s burden with regards to the US base issue.” Shouts rang out of “Liar!,” “Shameless!,” and “Don’t ever come here again!”

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