4 December (Fri.) Approximately two years of sediment dumping and yet less than 4% completed / Sediment shipping from Awa and Shiokawa for 3 days in a row

Every day, around 1000 loadings of earth and soil are shipped from Motobu Shiokawa and dumped at the land reclamation site. While the amount of 1000 truck loadings is not so small, it is insignificant compared to the 20 million cubic meters required in the plan. The truth is that the land reclamation proceeds only very slowly. Only 4% of the total amount of sediment got processed in two years. It means the land reclamation will take up to 50 years when continued at this speed, which differs significantly from the 13 years per the government plan. Even if they would speed up four times, the 13 years will still not be within reach. The government’s revised plan notes the landfill soil collection from within Okinawa prefecture.

A simple calculation shows that if the operation speeds up quadruple, 4000 dump trucks would daily run around Okinawa’s narrow island, spreading dust – an impossible scenery.

The government designated the municipalities of Itoman and Yaese as the major sediment suppliers, which stirred significant opposition from the local communities. The bones and ashes of people who died during the ground battle of 1945 remain in the area. Okinawans proclaim: Using such soil to landfill for the new military base is a desecration of the dead. Any decent government would not even think of it; it is an insult to Okinawa.

The best and fastest way to stop the new base construction is to overthrow the current administration.

(In front of Camp Schwab Gate)

Despite not so good weather, the deliveries of raw materials continued without delay. More than 100 concrete mixer trucks went through the gate to build the dike. At sea, there was no dumping work carried out due to the bad weather.

In the morning, the funeral ceremony was held in Motobu for Kizou Takagaki, who passed away the day before yesterday. Many protesters in front of the gate attended the funeral. They played a recording of Takagaki’s speech made in front of the gate, and a group of women sang a Takagaki’s parody song; all moved the audience to tears.

Yukari, his wife, addressed the attendants: Ever since we moved to Okinawa nine years ago, Kizou-san has involved himself fully in the protest movement. That is the Kizou-san I am proud of.

About 40 people who returned from the farewell ceremony resumed the sit-in protest in the rain in the afternoon. In three rounds, 230 deliveries of earth and sand were made to the construction site.