Residents of Takae (Higashi Village) opposed to the building of a US military use helipad within part of the Marine Corps Northern Training Area/Jungle Warfare Training Center (米軍北部訓練場) in their district were unsuccessful in an appeal over an earlier court decision that ruled it unlawful for them to block Okinawa Defense Agency (沖縄防衛局) staff from entering the area to carry out construction work (technically, the case was [Takae resident] Isa Shinji versus Japan [Okinawa Defense Agency]). Anyone who has visited the area will see that the entrance to the area marked for construction is blocked by a barricade of vehicles and other obstructions (see an earlier post and photos on this page). Quite what will happen now is unclear. Noguchi Gera nesting season is over and the Defense Agency will be looking to get back to work. It presumably had to hold back from any kind of forced entry to the site because the case was being appealed but that case is now over. Mr. Isa might seek to continue the legal process by having the case heard further up the ladder (the Supreme Court?) but I have no idea whether this is possible or not. The one thing in the favor of the helipad-opposing residents at present is the fact that Highway 70 is the only decent road up along the Northeastern part of Okinawa Island. Any attempt by the Okinawa Defense Agency to force entry would necessarily close off all traffic along this road. There will be more to this story in the coming days.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Jun 2013 22:58:19 +0000
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