Japan resumes landfill work at new US military site on Okinawa despite local opposition

Japanese construction workers resumed landfill work at the new site of the U.S. military base on Okinawa despite protests by the island’s residents that the move tramples on their rights and raises environmental concerns.

Japanese construction workers on Wednesday resumed landfill work at the new site of the U.S. military base on Okinawa despite protests by the island’s residents that the move tramples on their rights and raises environmental concerns.

The planned relocation site for the Futenama base, on Okinawa’s eastern coast, has been at the center of a dispute between the government in Tokyo and the local authorities at a time of the island’s growing strategic importance.

Okinawa is becoming key for the Japan-U.S. military alliance in the face of growing tensions with China while Japan also rapidly seeks to build up its military in the southwestern region. Three weeks ago, the Fukuoka High Court’s Naha branch ordered Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki to approve the central government’s modified landfill plan, and allowed the Land and Transport Ministry to order the work to resume by overriding the governor’s disapproval.

Mr. Tamaki, who has appealed the order to the Supreme Court, said the court ruling was unjust and goes against the will of the residents. Under Japanese law, construction can proceed while the court decision is pending. He called the resumption of the landfill work “extremely regrettable.”

Mr. Tamaki has sought a significant reduction of the U.S. military on Okinawa, which is home to more than half of 50,000 American troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact.

The central authorities later discovered that segments of the designated reclamation site are on soft ground, and submitted a revision to the original plan with additional land improvement at an estimated cost of 930 billion yen ($6.5 billion). But Okinawa’s prefectural government rejected the revision plan and suspended the reclamation work.

Tamaki, the governor, has sought a significant reduction of the U.S. military on Okinawa, which is home to more than half of 50,000 American troops based in Japan under a bilateral security pact.