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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2025
Much has been written on this site on recent developments in the long-running saga over the U.S. and Japanese governments' plan to construct a U.S. military air base, the Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF), in Henoko, Okinawa, Japan (Henoko plan). On July 1, 2014, 17 years after the plan was first conceived, the Okinawa Defense Bureau (the government of Japan) started the “construction phase” amid protest from local citizens and municipal governments. Just over a month later, on August 14, the U.S. Congressional Research Service released a report, The U.S. Military Presence in Okinawa and the Futenma Base Controversy (the CRS Report). The CRS Report provides a useful and up-to-date (though, as noted below, in one major respect incomplete) file of information, paying for the most part due attention to local, national, and international factors.
1 See, for example, Gavan McCormack (introduced and commented), “Okinawa Facing a Long, Hot Summer,” (June 9, 2014) and “Okinawa's ‘Darkest Year’,” (July 28, 2014) and my own (Yoshikawa) “Urgent Situation at Okinawa's Henoko and Oura Bay: Base Construction Started on Camp Schwab,” July 8, 2014.
2 Emma Chanlett-Avery and Ian E. Rinehart The U.S. Military Presence in Okinawa and the Futenma Base Controversy, Congressional Research Service, August 14, 2014. (updating previous report dated August 3, 2012, with the same title).
3 “Abe administration signals future reign of terror in Henoko,” editorial, Ryukyu shimpo (in English), August 18, 2014.
4 See the SACO Final Report December 2, 1996.
5 See the official letters exchanged in 1999 between Governor Inamine Keiichi, Nago Mayor Kishimoto Tateo and the Japanese government.
6 U.S. and Japan Roadmap for Realignment Implementation, May 2006.
7 “Tokyo Steamrolling U.S. base plan ahead of Okinawa governor race,” Asahi shimbun, August 15, 2014.
8 Jon Mitchell, “Thousands march on Henoko base site” Japan Times, 23 August 2014.
9 “Kaiho henoko kougi no gonin kousokushi kao satsuei [Japanese coast guard captured and photographed five protesters in Henoko]” Okinawa Times, September 13, 2014.
10 “Japanese coast guard officers should not use brute force against Henoko protesters,” Ryukyu shimpo (in English), September 12, 2014.
11 “Yoron chosa henoko chushi hachiju pasento isetsu kyoko hanpatsu hirogaru [Public Opinion Polls: With the government's heavy handed approaches, 80 percent oppose the Henoko plan], Ryukyu shimpo, August 26, 2014.
12 See the Nature Conservation Society Japan's Comments on the final EIS for the FRF here.
13 See “Futenma hikojo daitaishisetsu no asesu setsumeikai ni sankashite [Notes on Participation in Public Hearing on Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the FRF]” by Yasuo Shimazu.
14 “Governor's Comments” to the Defense Bureau's Environmental Impact Statement, February 2012.
15 See Futenma Replacement Facility Construction Project Final Environmental Impact Statement Abstract prepared by the Okinawa Defense Bureau and the Ministry of Defense.
16 From May to mid-July 2014, the Nature Conservation Society of Japan (NACS-J) and Team Zan of the Association to Protect the Northernmost Dugong conducted surveys and found more than 110 dugong feeding trails in the planned base construction site. See the press release (n.d., August 2014?)
17 Schwab (H23) suiki seibutsu to chousa houkokusho [Report on Schwab Water Area Creatures] by the Okinawa Defense Bureau and IDEA Consultants, INC. 2013.
18 “Extra Edition: Okinawa Governor approves Henoko landfill for relocation of U.S. Futenma base” Ryukyu shimpo, 28 December 2013.
19 See this report by Citizens' Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa, June 9, 2014.
20 See Okinawa Prefectural Government's “Shizen kannkyou no hozen ni kansuru shishin [Guidelines on the Conservation of the Natural Environment]”.
21 See this letter of request sent by Citizens' Network for Biodiversity in Okinawa and other NGOs to the Invasive Species Specialist Group, International Union for Conservation of Nature.
22 For the Court's decision see here.
23 See Center for Biological Diversity, et al., Plaintiff(s), vs. Leon Panetta, Secretary of Defense, et el., Defendant(s). Case3:03-cv-04350-MHP Document147. The chronology of the case is summarized in the First Supplemental Complaint submitted by the Plaintiffs. See the First Supplemental Complaint.
24 See Exhibit 1 U.S. Marine Corps Recommended Findings April 2014.
25 In July 2009, at the direction of the San Francisco court, the US Marine Corps appointed a group of experts – an ethnographer, an archaeologist, archival researchers, and a marine biologist – to investigate the cultural significance of the dugong. The Corps then relied on that report, sometimes known as “Welch 2010,” in reaching its conclusion that the base project “will have no adverse effect on the dugong.” However, the Corps' reluctance to make the findings public is enough to rouse suspicions that that may not be so. (Exhibit 1, ibid.)
26 “Urgent Situation at Okinawa's Henoko and Oura Bay: Base Construction Started on Camp Schwab,” July 8, 2014.
27 See the Supplemental Complaint.
28 See for example “Kyosei chakko ni tachihadakaru henoko no jyugon soshou [”Dugong lawsuit“ confronts the start of base construction at Henoko],” Tokyo shimbun, August 28 2014.
29 See the Marine Mammal Commission Annual Report to Congress 2009.
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