Opponents of relocation say it risks harming environment and ignores local wishes to have base off the island entirely.
Japan has begun main reclamation work at a controversial United States military airbase on the southern island of Okinawa, prompting protests and “strong” opposition from the local governor.
Construction workers on Friday started dumping a truckload of sediment into the sea at Henoko on Okinawa’s east coast to build a runway for the Marine Corps base that will be moved from densely populated Futenma in the island’s south.
The central government in Tokyo has reversed Okinawa’s earlier ban on landfill work at the site.
Opponents of the move say it would not only harm the environment – construction risks corals and endangered dugongs, according to activists – but also ignore local wishes to have the base removed from the island entirely.
“I can’t help but feel strong anger at the start of (land reclamation), which ignores the will of the Okinawan people,” Denny Tamaki, the recently elected governor who opposes to the base being relocated within the island, told reporters.
