Jul 17 (Fri): Delay in the landfill on the Henoko side is confirmed. ; In front of the gate, the small cameras worn by the civilian security guards are the protest target.

Every day, an average of 1,000 truckloads of sand and soil are delivered from Awa and Shiokawa to be thrown into the sea by Henoko, i.e., 5,000 tons, or 2,500m3. Judging from these numbers, some people may believe that the landfill has progressed so much that it is too late to stop now. However, the total volume required to complete the landfill is 20.2 million square meters (the equivalent of 5 Tokyo domes), of which only 2.5% has been delivered. The landfill work has been greatly delayed. The finished portion on the Henoko side (plot #2 and #2-1) is wide but shallow, and only a bitty part of the whole.

The area yet to be landfilled on the Henoko side is left with a lot of work before completion. According to the Administration’s answer in Diet session on 8th, the volume of sand and soil used for the landfill was only 1/2 of the contracted volume. The scheduled time of completion was 6 months from December 2018, but after one year and a half, only 50% of the 6-months’ work is completed. Furthermore, additional work is still required to elevate the ground by 9 meters to construct a landing strip. A member of Diet, Mr. Akamine of the Japanese Communist Party pointed out, “Judging from the way the construction is moving now, it will take 7 more years.”

On the side of the Oura Bay, lies a “soft ground”. That is a big obstacle to construction. It requires an unprecedented scale of ground improvement work and the permission by the Governor of Okinawa to make changes to the original construction plan. There is no way for Governor Denny Tamaki who publicly promised “no new military base” to grant permission. Over 70% of Okinawans still opposes the construction. There is no way that the new base in Henoko could be built.

(In front of the Camp Schwab Gate)

In the pouring rain, nearly 40 people dressed in the rain gears resumed the sit-in protest. We were worried if the number of participants would decrease, but it did not. Over 30 people always stayed in front of the gate.

One of the protestors found a small camera hidden in the chest of a civilian security guard, which stirred a big commotion. “It is an invasion of privacy! It is not right for you to treat us as criminals and take our pictures without our consent!” The security guards stood in silence. The protestors demanded the police to instruct the guard to take the camera down, but the police insisted that it was not for them to make a judgment. Over an hour, it was chaotic. It turned out that 8 out of 20 security guards had a camera.

Mr. Hiroji Yamashiro asked the person in charge of the operation site for the reason, and the answer was: to leave any evidence of the crime/accident site in a case when a security guard is summoned to a court. A case of a security guard injuring a citizen during a protest rally in Shiokawa was already in the court, and they like to be prepared for a similar case in the future.

Mr. Yamashiro told him that such cameras would put us in an antagonistic relationship, which we should avoid. However, the person in charge wanted to consult with his superior in the main office who happened to be absent, and would respond to us in the following week,

A total of 57 deliveries were made in 3 separate runs.

(Ryukyu Cement Awa Pier)

The heavy rain lasted the whole day. No protestors on sight. 838 dump trucks delivered sand and soil on the grounds of the pier. Although loading to cargo ships was temporarily halted, the operation continued till 8:00 p.m., and a total of 847 truckloads were loaded to 3 cargo ships.

(Motobu Shiokawa Pier)

No works conducted in the morning probably because no empty vessels were available. In the afternoon, 110 truckloads of sand and soil were loaded to a cargo ship.

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%)