Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga said Friday he has asked local officials to start procedures to retract his predecessor’s approval of landfill work for relocating a U. S. military base within Japan’s subtropical island prefecture. The order by Onaga, whose current term is to expire in November, is seen
Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga said Friday he has asked local officials to start procedures to retract his predecessor’s approval of landfill work for relocating a U. S. military base within Japan’s subtropical island prefecture.
The order by Onaga, whose current term is to expire in November, is seen as a last resort to block the central government’s plan to transfer U. S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the Henoko coastal area of Nago from a crowded residential district in Ginowan.
„I will take whatever measures and make utmost efforts in realizing my election pledge of preventing the construction of a new base,“ the governor told a press conference.
He accused the central government of not presenting measures to protect the environment of the coastal area and failing to fulfill conditions required for the approval.
The landfill work was scheduled to begin Aug.
