Asia Centre

This agreement comes about in the context of a spirited national debate in Japan. Local elections in Nago, where the Futenma base is located, were held last January. The three candidates in the run-off had come out in opposition to the 2005 Japan-American plan. The conservative candidate elected was, however, prepared to compromise. In fact, he reached an agreement on April 7^th with the Director of the Defense Agency on a “V” shaped runway, one branch serving for takeoff, the other for landing.

In another development, the Mayor of the city of Iwakuni, Ihara Katsusuke, organised a referendum on the 12th March, in which 87% of the population rejected the redeployment of 1600 Marines and an aircraft carrier from the base at Atsugi (prefecture of Kanagawa) to Iwakuni (Yamaguchi prefecture). In return, the interim agreement of March 2005 provided for the transfer of seventeen planes and 700 members of the FAD based at Iwakuni to Atsugi. In June 2005, the local council had already adopted a resolution rejecting these arrangements. The results of the referendum, although not binding on the government, have nonetheless caused it disquiet. Conversely, the neighbouring townships to Atsugi of Yamate, Ayase and Sagamihara are satisfied with the anticipated departure of the aircraft carrier and now support the realignment plan.

Finally, the Governor of Okinawa, Inamine Keiichi, opposed the government’s plan to relocate Futenma from the Bay of Gino to Cap Henoko (township of Nago), although he was the one behind the idea in the first place. In November 1998, during his election campaign, he proposed the setting up of an airport in the north of the island to be open for Japanese commercial use, with a sunset clause for the termination of such use after 15 years.  In 1999, a private panel he set up proposed the site of Henoko to replace Futenma, and the central government endorsed the idea. Mr. Inamine still intends to push through his maximum duration clause, and it was on this that he campaigned in 2002 (the economic situation being the major issue in the election). Since 2005, Mr. Inamine has been asking, however, for the base to be moved out of the prefecture. In April 2006, he finally announced that he was adopting the same position as that of Nago’s new Mayor.

The agreement also provides for the relocation of the American command at Fort Lewis and that of the ground forces to Zama FAD (prefecture of Kanagawa), something opposed by the Mayor of Zama, Hoshino Katsuji.

It also foreshadows the relocation of American F-15s from the air force base of Kadena (Okinawa) to several Japanese bases. The reactions of the host cities vary, as indicated, for example, by the opposition voiced by the Governor of the prefecture of Miyazaki, Andô Tadahiro, to the arrival of these planes at the Nyûtabaru base (township of Shintomi).

Finally, the agreement concerns the Japanese contribution to the cost of relocating 8,000 Marines to Guam. The American government had initially called for 75% of the expense to be borne by Japan, while the Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Asô, was hoping for a 50% contribution. A meeting between the Secretary of State for Defense and the Director of the Defense Agency, Messrs Rumsfeld and Nukaga, in Washington on 25th April, led to an agreement whereby Japan would contribute 59% of the costs, based on an estimate provided by the United States, which means that the Japanese share should amount to some 6 billion dollars.