Relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma



There have been various plans for the relocation of Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, a United States Marine Corps base located within the urban area of Ginowan City (pop. 93,661) in Okinawa, Japan. Early plans proposed to move the base off the island of Okinawa and later proposals specified within the island; however, the future of any relocation is uncertain with the election of base-opponent Onaga as Okinawa Govenor.

Henoko Bay plan
In December 1996, as part of the Defense Policy Review Initiative (DPRI), the Japanese and U.S. governments decided that the Futenma base should be relocated to an off-shore location in Henoko Bay in Nago, relatively unpopulated northern Okinawa, in order to reduce military impact to the populated communities of southern Okinawa. This was and remains a controversial decision, since the projected site involved construction on a coral reef and seagrass beds which some people believe to be inhabited by the dugong, an endangered marine mammal protected under Japanese and U.S. law. 

In a non-binding referendum conducted in December 1997, the majority of Nago residents voted against the Henoko relocation plan. However, a few days later on December 24, Nago Mayor Higa accepted the relocation plan, resigned, and moved to Tokyo. The next year Kishimoto was elected governor on a platform that included "following the prefectural government" on any plans regarding the relocation.

Camp Schwab plan
On 26 October 2005, the governments of the United States and Japan agreed to move the relocation site for Futenma from the reef area off Henoko to the interior and coastal portions of the existing Marine base at Camp Schwab, just a few hundred meters away from the previously-planned offshore facility. One of the cited reasons for the change was to reduce the engineering challenge associated with building a runway on reefs in deep water: experts estimate that rather than the 15-plus years required to construct a new airbase at the previous reef location, the Camp Schwab plan will enable Futenma to be relocated sooner. These plans were also accelerated when a CH-53D Sea Stallion transport helicopter experienced mechanical issues and crashed on the campus of Okinawa International University: all three crew members were injured but there were not civilian injuries.

The mayor of Nago, which hosts Camp Schwab, formally agreed to accept the relocation when he signed an agreement with Defense Minister Nukaga on 8 April 2006. Mayor Shimabukuro was later joined by all five of the major mayors of northern Okinawa. Although some all-Okinawa public opinion polls indicated that majority of Okinawans wish the based moved out of the prefecture entirely, all 12 elected mayors of northern Okinawa publicly accepted the new relocation plan, exposing a range of conflicting opinions among Okinawans: those who maintain that military facilities and associated public works infrastructure benefit the island's economy, environmentalists, and those who either object or are critical to the U.S. military presence on ideological grounds or on rooted sentiments.

The relocation plans again gained national attention in 2009 when the Democratic Party of Japan included a promise to move Futenma off the island in its manifesto. After winning the election, Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama found the promise hard to honor and resigned after only eight months in office when it was confirmed that the base would not move off Okinawa. At one point in 2009, Osaka Prefecture governor Toru Hashimoto even publicly proposed moving the base's functions to Osaka's Kansai International Airport (which is on an artificial island), remarking that "the burden [of bases on Okinawa] should be spread more evenly throughout Japan."

Susumu Inamine, the mayor of Nago city elected on 24 January 2010, and reelected again on 19 January 2013, is against the Henoko relocation plan and argued for the relocation of Futenma outside of Okinawa. The local assembly of Nago voted against the relocation plan, and the prefectural assembly of Okinawa also formally asked the prime minister to move the base out of the prefecture. On 17 May 2010, the anniversary of the reversion of Okinawa to Japan, an estimated 17,000 Okinawans encircled the base in protest. This was the fifth time such an action took place.

Guam and Okinawa plan
In 2011, the chairman and ranking member of the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services called for an alternative plan where Futenma aircraft would move to Kadena Air Base while the current aircraft at Kadena would move to Andersen Air Force Base. The plan did not gain traction, and the US and Japan governments consistently remained with the relocation plan as previously agreed.

However, the fate of Futenma remained unresolved through early 2012, with the U.S. insisting that the Marine Corps' aviation elements be kept on the island while the Okinawa Prefectural government and Nago City government would like the base moved off the island. The US wants the aviation elements to be in close proximity to the ground and logistics elements of the Marine Air Ground Task Force, and the Japanese government maintaining the plan to keep the replacement airbase with the other elements in Okinawa in order to provide security and stability in the region and to provide for the defense of Japan under the Japan/U.S. defense alliance.

The US and Japan delinked the relocation of Futenma from plans to decrease the number of Marines stationed on Okinawa under a troop redeployment agreement in April 2012. Under the terms of the new U.S.-Japan agreement, 5,000 U.S. Marines were to be relocated to Guam and 4,000 U.S. Marines to other Pacific locations such as Hawaii or Australia, while some 10,000 Marines would remain on Okinawa. No timetable for the Marines redeployment has been announced, but the Washington Post reported that U.S. Marines would leave Futenma as soon as suitable facilities on Guam and elsewhere are ready. The relocation move was expected to cost 8.6 billion US Dollars and included a $3.1 billion cash commitment from Japan for the move to Guam as well as for developing joint training ranges on Guam and on Tinian and Pagan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.

During this period, the US began to deploy Bell Boeing V-22 Osprey tilt rotor aircraft to Futenma in 2012, allowing the Marines (and the MV-22B Osprey aircraft) from Okinawa to train all along the length of Japan and around the entire Asia-Pacific region, with the Osprey's greatly increased speed, lift capabilities and range.

Okinawa Consolidation Plan
In April 2013, the United States and Japan released an "Okinawa Consolidation Plan," which detailed more general positions of the 1996 DPRI and 2006 SACO plans, specifying 2,500 acres of land to be returned Japan. This included returning the entirety of MCAS Futenma by "Japanese Fiscal Year 2022 or later" once the "replacement facilities in Okinawa are provided." As part of the original DPRI plan, Futenma's KC-130J 'Super Hercules' refueling transport squadron moved to MCAS Iwakuni on mainland Japan in July 2014. The plan also included, as in previous plans, moving Marine Corps airfield facilities to Camp Schwab at Henoko. The proposed location within Camp Schwab is insulated from potential protesters, unlike the previous proposed location in Henoko Bay where local civilians were able to enter the survey area.

In December 2013, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima approved a landfill proposal by the Japanese government to permit construction of new military facilities in Henoko, a move praised by the US. The decision came two days after Tokyo earmarked 348 billion yen for Okinawa's economic development and despite earlier campaign promises by Nakaima to move the base outside of the prefecture all together. Over 2,000 citizens responded immediately with a protest in front of the prefectural administration building, with around 1,000 forcing their way into the building to stage a sit-in. The head of the Nago municipal assembly responded that "what the governor has done is unforgivable. Residents who are opposed will surely resort to the use of force, such as blocking roads to stop this from happening." The Okinawa prefectural assembly adopted a resolution by a 24-21 vote calling for Nakaima's resignation, stating that he broke an election promise by agreeing to the move.

Mayor Susumu Inamine of Nago, where the new facility is to be built, opposed the plan, while Mayor Atsushi Sakima, of Ginowan where the current facility is located, supported the plan. Nago held a mayoral election in January 2014, in which Inamine's main rival, former Vice Mayor Bunshin Suematsu, supported the plan as "a significant step toward reducing the dangers posed by Futenma." Inamine won the election and subsequently vowed to block any landfill plans in the city, but the national government said it would continue with the plan and that the authority to approve the plan rested with the governor of Okinawa.

The future of any relocation plan is uncertain after the base-opponent candidate Onaga won the November 2014 gubernatorial elections in Okinawa. Onaga has promised to veto the landfill work needed for the new base to be built. Onaga won against the incumbent Nakaima, who had earlier approved the landfill work.