Okinawa, February 21: Japanese activists have gathered in front of the US embassy in Tokyo to protest against a planned heliport near the village of Takae, northern Okinawa.
The demonstrators shouted slogans against the American military base on Okinawa, demanding the removal of the base from the island, The Japan Times reported on Sunday.
They tried to submit a letter to Washington’s Ambassador in Japan John Victor Roos, but they were prevented from reaching the embassy by a wall of Japanese police.
Futenma airbase, hosting about half the US troops in Japan, is extremely unpopular with locals who associate it with crime and pollution.
Futenma has provoked a wave of anger in the country, urging Tokyo to remove US military installations from the country.
Tens of thousands of people have held several rallies against the American military engagement in the country over the past months.
The relocation of the air station is not the only unbearable issue for Okinawans, as Tokyo has agreed to construct six helipads (each 75 meters in diameter) for the US Marine Corps’ Bell-Boeing V-22 Ospreys around the village.
Noise pollution from Ospreys is said to be beyond human tolerance. The citizens of Brewton, Alabama, also staged a protest against Osprey maneuvers in the region last month.
Earlier this week, Japanese people staged another street protest against the trans-Pacific free trade pact, which broadens relationships with the United States.
People from political left and right gave speeches and rallied in the streets on Wednesday, saying that the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is aimed at strengthening the US-Japan military alliance and has political purposes.
——–Agencies