We have been engaged in the campaign advertising of the Okinawa Opinion in Japan for the past 10 years. We have made this issue more visible to the public, and appealed to people and the governments for their support. Kantoku Teruya and Yoichi Iha, members of the Diet from Okinawa, also support the Okinawa Opinion movement.
The founders of the movement are as follows;
Hiroshi Ashitomi, Co-leader, Committee Against Nago Helicopter Base
Seishin Uehara, Council of Okinawa Land Owners Against War
Ken Ogata, Professor Emeritus, Hosei University
Kazuoki Ohno, Secretary General, Committee for De-WTO/FTA, Grass-Roots Campaign CEO, Daily Berita
Kenichi Take, Chief, Branch of the Fresh-Concrete Workers, National Construction Workers Union Chief, Research Institute of Unions of SMEs
Tokushin Yamauchi, Former Member of the House of Councilors
Yoshihiko Motoyama, Professor Emeritus, Kyoto University, Co-founder, Institute of Associe For Change
The Okinawa Opinion movement in Japan has ultimately held up the goals below.
- We call for the immediate, unconditional closure of the U.S. Marine Futenma Airbase*, and the return of the land to Japan. We also oppose the relocation of the alternative U.S. military base inside of Okinawa.
- We call for the cancellation of the new Henoko U.S. base plan (the reclamation of the sea)
- We call for the departure from the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty. Let us all create peace without relying on military power. The first step is to question and re-examine the significance of the U.S. Marine Corps in Japan, and the U.S.-Japan Mutual Security Treaty.
*The construction of the new Henoko base is carried out as relocation of the Futenma base, which is also located in Okinawa, and poses many dangers to local people living near the base.
For the past 10 years, we have raised funds, held gatherings in various locations throughout Japan, supported people in the cause of opposing the reclamation in Okinawa, and published advertisements every year in nation-wide newspapers. We also published advertisements in the New York Times in 2011 and 2017, and in the Washington Post in 2012 and 2015.
Our expedition group from the Okinawa Opinion mainland branch has visited Okinawa and all around islands of Japan to strengthen the solidarity of the movement. In Henoko, Okinawa, our people have joined sit-in protests against the reclamation.
In 2020, the Okinawa Opinion is taking a new move by launching this English website to extend its 10 years activities to the English-speaking world. To stop land reclamation in the Henoko Sea, we need voices from Japan and abroad, including the United States.