The Governor of Okinawa, Onaga Takeshi, who took office in December 2014 after a landslide victory in the November gubernatorial election, has taken a cautious approach in response to Japanese government action to crush Okinawan opposition to a new Marine base in Henoko Bay. Instead of immediately revoking or cancelling his predecessor's landfill permit to the Japanese government that allowed construction of the much-debated new base to replace the Futenma Air Station in congested Ginowan City, he set up an experts’ panel called the “Third-Party Committee,” which consists of three lawyers and environmentalists carefully chosen for “impartiality and neutrality.” The purpose of the Committee, according to its chair and lawyer Oshiro Hiroshi, is to examine possible legal flaws of former Governor Nakaima's landfill permit, which was approved at the end of 2013 to the dismay of the majority of Okinawans who opposed the new base. Oshiro has announced that the Committee will make recommendation at the end of June, which Govenor Onaga will take into consideration in deciding whether or not to revoke or cancel the landfill permit. To lawyer Kumano Katsuyuki, however, legal flaws of the landfill permit are obvious on the basis both of Japan's constitution and international law. He concludes that the existing landfill permit violates anti-discrimination clauses of both the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Constitution of Japan -Article 2 and Article 14, respectively, and Clause 2, Article 98 of the Constitution of Japan, which stipulates that the “treaties concluded by Japan and established laws of nations shall be faithfully observed.” Many observers fear, moreover, that by June, when the Committee's report is expected, irreparable damage to the environment of Henoko Bay will have been rendered. SN