Tokyo, 04 September, /AJMEDIA/
Japan’s top court on Monday turned down an appeal by Okinawa Prefecture against the state’s order to advance landfill work for the relocation of a key U.S. base within the southern island prefecture.
The Supreme Court has upheld the Fukuoka High Court’s Naha branch ruling, confirming the state’s authority to instruct the local government to approve modifications to the central government’s construction plans that would reinforce soft ground at a designated construction site.
The ruling will pave the way for resuming the suspended work, while Okinawa and the central government remain at odds over relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in a residential district of Ginowan to the less densely populated Henoko coastal area in Nago.
In 1996, Tokyo and Washington agreed on a relocation plan that involved returning the land occupied by the airfield, and in 1999, Tokyo selected Henoko as the relocation site. However, residents in Okinawa, which hosts the majority of U.S. military facilities in Japan, continue to strongly oppose the relocation.
