U.S. base transfer work in Okinawa begins after state OKs by proxy

The government on Wednesday started construction work for the transfer of a key U.S. military base within Okinawa Prefecture after overriding the local government’s objection and approving a modified landfill plan by proxy — an unprecedented move.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a regular news conference that the commencement marks the start of work, likely to take more than nine years, to reinforce soft ground at the relocation site for U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

In late December, the central government gave the green light to the plan on behalf of the Okinawa government based on a court order. Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of U.S. military facilities in Japan, has long opposed the base transfer within the southern Japan island prefecture, seeking instead to move the base out of the prefecture altogether.

The decision marks the first time the central government has acted on behalf of a local government after the latter’s failure to fulfill tasks entrusted by the state under the Local Autonomy Act.

The central government plans to transfer the functions of the Futenma airfield from a crowded residential district in Ginowan to the less populated Henoko coastal area of Nago, calling it “the only solution” to removing the dangers posed by the base without undermining the perceived deterrence provided by the Japan-U.S. alliance.

But an objection by the Okinawa governor suspended the project, leading to a legal battle that ended in the court order.