Sep 14 (Mon): The ruling party chose Yoshihide Suga, whose policy is cruel to Okinawa, as a new party leader. “Let’s strike a hard blow to a new regime by collecting opinion statements on the changes to the original construction plan,” said Hiroji Yamashiro.; 70 citizens made a protest at five places.

Chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga will be inaugurated as a prime minister. We do not expect much from him because he has supported the scandal-ridden Abe regime that destroyed democracy and misappropriated politics for personal favors. At a press conference, he declared to succeed all the Abe regime’s policies and vowed to continue the new base’s construction in Henoko. Nothing will change under this prime minister. I am worried if his policy regarding Okinawa will be harsher than that under the Abe regime because he was the facilitator behind the scene. Also, I am afraid that Japan’s politics will remain a target of ridicule if the current issues are not solved soon: such as falsifying public documents, discriminative treatment against South Korea, poor management of the nuclear power plants, and low level of women’s participation in politics and business.    

It’s a matter of time before the regime by the Liberal Democratic Party will fall apart. It’s time for people to raise their voice and strengthen the movement for better politics. Construction of a new military base in Henoko is one of the targets of such action.

（In front of the Camp Schwab Gate）

In relentless late-summer heat, 20 or more citizens continued a sit-in from the morning. Hiroji Yamashiro, leading the protest this day, made a strong appeal. “Suga, chief cabinet secretary, had led the strong-armed construction of a military base. Maintaining a facade that he stands with Okinawa, he is condescending, which makes me seethingly angry.”

“We need to strike a hard blow to a new cabinet, let’s urge people to send an opinion statement to the prefectural office regarding the changes in the original construction plan.  It will help Okinawa Governor, Denny Tamaki, for not approving the application for changes,” he continued.And he asked the protestors to stand on the street-corners to encourage more Okinawans to send opinion statements than ever before.

A total of 201 vehicles delivered the materials, divided into three times.

(On the sea in the Oura Bay)

Two boats and 11 canoes went to the sea for protest. The number of participants coming from the mainland, who had refrained from coming to Okinawa due to coronavirus, increased. Approaching the site where a seawall construction is going on, the protestors continuously shouted anti-construction slogans over the loudspeaker and waved signs.

(In front of the Ryukyu Cement Awa Pier)

Twenty citizens, divided into two groups, went to the pier’s entrance and exit and protested by walking in front of the dump trucks. “Go Go Drive” members also participated with seven cars. It seems that they had anticipated a larger number of protestors and mobilized nearly thirty riot police officers to control the protestors. One protestor who sat on a passenger seat of a protesting car was charged a fine of ten thousand yen for not wearing a seat belt.

Loading of soil and sand to carriers started on Sep 12 after an absence of three weeks. A total of 655 truckloads on Sep 12 and 592 today were loaded to three carrier ships, respectively, and left the pier to Henoko.

(At Motobu Shiokawa Pier)

The shipping of soil and sand from Shiokawa Pier started kicking in again. More than 30 riot police officers were mobilized against about ten protesting citizens to introduce stricter measures. Despite that, citizens continued the protest all day, delaying the shipping operation by walking in front of dump trucks.

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%)

※　Cumulative since Dec. 1, 2019
※① Calculated by assuming that the average truckload per dump truck would be 5 tons
※② Calculated by assuming that a specific weight of soil/sand set to be 2
※③ Percentage against 20.200.000m3, the total volume of earth and sand required for the landfill.

※①　ダンプ1台あたりの積載量を平均5トンとして計算
※②　土砂の比重を２と仮定し計算
※③　計画されている全体の埋め立て土砂量（20,200,000㎥）に対する割合