Myth, Protest and Struggle in Okinawa

The third wave and beyond 175
to life. That is why I think it’s important to stress the need to protect the local
environment. Most people, even Nago citizens on the west side, have never
seen what the ocean looks like and how beautiful it is. It is necessary to have
everyone visit the east coast of Nago, and ask them, ‘What do you think? Are
you going to let them build the new base here?’ It is important to start here
[eastern Nago]. The Shiraho struggle has been very important because we were
able to persuade the government to admit it would be wrong to build an airport
on the world heritage coral reef. If we can make Nago home to lots of dugongs,
the next struggle will be much easier.
(Interview, February 2002)
Just as Takaesu, Muzik, and Yamazato went to the 1988 session of IUCN in
Costa Rica to publicize the need for Shiraho coral conservation to the international
community, Higashionna, Takaesu Ayano, and other Okinawan delegates went
to the World Conservation Union (IUCN) Conference held in Amman, Jordan,
in October 2001. The delegates demonstrated traditional Okinawan eisah at the
conference, prepared about five thousand leaflets written in English, T-shirts,
and other dugong paraphernalia and lobbied for the support of resolution to
protect Okinawa dugongs (Interview, February 2002). They also submitted a
petition with fifty thousand supporting citizens’ signatures to the IUCN, and, with
the support of other English-speaking environmental NGOs, successfully obtained
an IUCN resolution, which recommended the US and Japanese governments to
introduce steps to protect dugongs. 45 The international publicity of Okinawan
dugongs, following a process of lobbying, 46 and international conferences on
sea mammals and coral reef, 47 has alarmed many US-based environmental
NGOs. The Center for Biological Diversity, with a coalition of US and Japanese
environmentalist NGOs, filed a lawsuit in San Francisco District Court and
asked the US Department of Defense to comply with National Historic Preservation
Act. In March 2005, the judge’s verdict ordered Rumsfeld to comply with the Act
and investigate the possible effect the airbase construction would have on the
Okinawa dugongs. 48 This news was reported with enthusiasm at the protest
encampment site in Henoko. Here, the elderly Henoko Life Protection Society
members in their eighties and nineties and their supporters had been watching and
obstructing the Japanese government’s geological survey that attempted to drill
holes under water, which was a necessary procedure for the off-shore military
airport construction. The sit-in and vigilance continued around the clock unbroken
from April 2004 to September 2005. In violent clashes with the survey boat crew,
several protesters were injured, and it was a miracle that no one was killed.
Consequently, the US and Japanese governments gave in to the pressure of
protesters locally and around the world. They, however, moved the planned
construction site from the reef area in Henoko to Camp Schwab (to which the
protesters cannot gain access). 49 Nothing is built yet, and Futenma Air Base has
not moved after almost a decade since its relocation was announced.