EXCLUSIVE: Japan Resumes Ground Work for Futenma Base Relocation

Naha, Okinawa Pref., Dec. 19 (Jiji Press)–Japan’s Defense Ministry resumed ground improvement work in Oura Bay in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Friday for the construction of a replacement facility for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air base also in the southernmost prefecture, it was learned the same day. The ministry notified the Nago city government and other parties concerned of the work resumption off the coast of the city’s Henoko district after a six-month hiatus, people familiar with the matter said. The move would prompt a backlash from protesters including the Okinawa prefectural government against the project to relocate functions of the Marine base in the densely populated area in the city of Ginowan, critics said. The ministry started driving “sand piles” into what experts describe as mayonnaise-like soft ground in the bay in December last year. But it halted the work to harden the soil with some 71,000 piles without detailed explanations in June, when the Okinawa government was calling for an end to the work on the grounds that its infeasibility had become clearer. In land reclamation work off Henoko, filling of earth and sand is largely complete on the southern side but behind schedule on the eastern side. The ministry has stepped up reclamation in areas not affected by the soft ground since last month. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]