Enjoying a canoe ride, he goes on the emerald green sea. He is inspired much by the beauty of Oura Bay every time he goes out on the water. He cannot tell whehter he goes to the sea for protest or pleasure.
Commonly known as Sammy-san, a member of the canoe team since 2014, said, “A new member of the canoe team spends a long time now on learning how to maneuver a canoe before participating in the protest rally on the sea. At the start of the rally on the sea cmpaign, we trained new members in one ay and placed them in an actual rally on the following day.”
He once stopped a boring survey by holding tight to the drill which extended to the sea bed. In those days, coast guard officers handled protestors mercilessly; overturning canoes and pressing down the overthrown protestors under the water, which caused many injuries. Excessive act of security was a big point of discussion in the Diet. He continued, “The Japan Coast Guard has been more careful and subdued in handling the protestors since the unlawful arrest of Shun Medoruma (an Akutagawa Prize-winning novelist). They must have realized how troublesome it is to defend their action when they are summoned to a court.”
Sammy-san became 71 years old this year. He goes home to Tokyo once in every two months and comes back to Okinawa after staying there for two weeks, which has continued for almost four years. “Seeing the landfill site from the sea motivates me more than the view from the land does,” he said. “I still feel ‘enjoying myself on the sea’ and feel somewhat sorry for ‘those on the land’ who protest on foot in front of the gate all day.”
The weather was unsatble, and the protest on the sea was canceled. Sammy-san was helping “those on the land” to check the dump trucks making deliveries at Awa.
(In front of the Camp Schwab Gate）
In the heat above 30o centigrade, about 40 citizens staged a sit-in protest. A total of 220 vehicles, divided into 3 separate times, delivered the construction materials.
Mr. Junji Nakabayashi who comes from Nago City everyday with his wife said, “We moved from the mainland to participate in the protest movement, so we cannot stop coming here. Being in front of the gate is the center of our life, and other things eventually fall into places”. He continues with a smile, “We meet our friends and acquitances sometimes after a half year absence, which is a blessing, and we enjoy exchanging our news. We get encouraged only by meeting and confirming our commitment to the movement to each other.”
The sit-in protest has continued for over 2,100 days, performed in front of the gate by various types of people: those who have come here since the start of the protest rally, those who come sometimes from the mainland, and those who come for the first time, etc..
(Ryukyu Cement Awa Pier）
Nearly 10 citizens continued the protest against the dump truck drivers at the entrance and the exit of the pier. There are more riot police officers and civilian security guards than the protestors. The work continued up to 8:00 p.m. also on this day. The pace of work has not been changed since restarting of the construction. It seems that they are struggling to make up for the delay of the landfill work.
Loading to a coal ship, a core business of Ryukyu Cement Co. was conducted this day, which precluded loading of soil/sand to carriers. Soil/sand of 770 dump trucks was additionally accumulated to a temporary storage place on the pier grounds.
(Motobu Shiokawa Pier)
About 20 citizens, joined by Uruma City members, continued the protest. Divided into two groups, they made a protest also against the dump truck drivers who came to Awa from the quarry to delay the run. Soil/sand of 333 dump trucks was loaded to three carriers.
According to leaked information, the shipping operation of soil/sand from Awa Pier will be ended soon and moved to Shiokawa to take full advantage of using a belt conveyor. It is uncertain whether this is true or not, but it is plausible for the Okinawa Defense Bureau to make such a plan because they want to speed up the shipping of soil/sand. If soi l/sand is shipped solely from Shiokawa, protest rallies can be more easily made. From tomorrow, intensive action will start at Shiokawa once a week.
Number of dump trucks to date and percentage against the total
The estimation calculated on the basis of the number of ruckloads serves only as a reference.
Number of dump trucks which made delivery from December 2018 to the end of December 2019 114,601(1.39%)
| 27（Sat） | 29（Mon） | 30（Tue） | Jul.1（Wed） | 2（Thr） | 3（Fri） | |
| Awa | 847 | 0 | ||||
| Shiokawa | 0 | 333 |
| Number of dump trucks ※ |
Weightt of earth/sand
※① |
Converted to volume
※② |
Volume per Total
※③ |
| 191,137 | 955,685ｔ | 477,843㎥ | 2.366% |
