Henoko/Oura Bay is already being destroyed with concrete blocks weighing 20 - 45 tons! 大浦湾に２０－４５トンのコンクリートブロックが投げ込まれてすでに環境が破壊されている！

日本語では、目取真俊氏のブログを参照。

Yoshio Shimoji, a writer based in Naha, Okinawa, on January 31 alerted the international media on what is going on in Henoko, Okinawa, citing author Shun MEDORUMA's blog. Henoko is where Japanese and US government are forcing the construction of a new US military airbase and port that requires massive reclamation of the pristine ocean, despite the legal, environmental concerns over the plan and 80% of Okinawan population opposing to it.

Shimoji says:

"Below are some photographs of the venues of Henoko construction site run on Shun Medoruma’s blog.  Concrete blocks being dumped onto the Henoko seabed are not one-ton blocks as I assumed.  Their weights seem to range from 20 tons to 45 tons as Medoruma writes.

The destruction of mother nature at Henoko has thus begun despite Okinawa’s and the world’s vociferous opposition!"

"The following diagram from the Feb. 1 Ryukyu Shinpo shows how the construction work will proceed. Huge caissons cast at a plant in Mie Prefecture will be carried by barges as far as Henoko where they are sunk onto the seabed, filled with sands/rocks and then sealed with concrete. After that, dirt for landfill is dumped into an area surrounded by the caissons."

 

 

Shun Medoruma, who frequently participats in the Henoko protest, says on his January 31 blog:

 

"Since two large barges with cranes appeared on Oura Bay on January 27, concrete blocks have been thrown into the ocean. I cannot imagine how many corals and seagrass beds have already been destroyed. The Japanese government/Ministry of Defense/Okinawa Defense Bureau have been hiding their destruction of the Oura Bay's environment by making a large area off-limit (2 kilometers off the coast of Camp Schwab) and placing oil fences around it. "

 

"Reclamation work has not been started yet, but installation of these huge concrete blocks on the seabed are already damaging the rich biodiversity of Oura Bay. The Environmental Impact Assessment done by the Okinawa Defense Bureau (Okinawa Branch of Japanese Ministry of Defense) is nothing but one that deceives Okinawan residents. What would the seabed look like, with concrete blocks as heavy as 45 tons being thrown onto it? The reason why ODB excludes media reporters from the restricted water area is because they do not want the public to know the reality of the environmental destruction in the area."

 

Also see:

 

A Letter to Okinawa's Governor Takeshi Onaga from Fifteen International Scholars and Researchers

http://peacephilosophy.blogspot.ca/2015/01/a-letter-to-governor-onaga-of-okinawa.html

 

Gavan McCormack, Storm Ahead: Okinawa’s Outlook for 2015

http://www.japanfocus.org/-Gavan-McCormack/4250

 

Douglas Lummis, The Bus to Henoko: Riot Police and Okinawan Citizens Face-off over New Marine Base http://www.japanfocus.org/events/view/240

 

Hideki Yoshikawa, An Appeal from Okinawa to the US Congress.Futenma Marine Base Relocation and its Environmental Impact: U.S. Responsibility

http://www.japanfocus.org/-Hideki-YOSHIKAWA/4194