The recent “2 plu2 2” talks between the U.S. and Japan included discussions about moving aircraft carrier flight training from Iwo Jima to Mageshima. House of Japan reports:
Japan has suggested the Iwo Jima flight training be conducted on Mageshima, an island in Japan’s southwest, where Tokyo plans to build a military base to bolster its southern defenses and its preparedness for natural disasters.
Mageshima was officially named as a candidate in a statement following last month’s “2 plus 2” meeting between the U.S. and Japanese foreign and defense ministers. Japanese government officials earlier this month met with local leaders to discuss the plan.
But this plan is meeting strong resistance from local residents and officials:
http://www.japan-press.co.jp/modules/news/index.php?id=1984
2011 June 22 – 28
Local authorities hostile to FCLP on Mageshima Island
June 22, 2011The Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee (two plus two) talks on June 21 provoked one city and three town authorities to respond in anger in regard to U.S. aircraft training exercises on Mageshima Island in Kagoshima’s Nishinoomote City.
A joint statement issued by the bilateral foreign and defense ministers specifies the island of Mageshima as a candidate site for field carrier landing practice exercises (FCLP) by the U.S. carrier-borne aircraft.
The island is only 12km from Tanegashima Island where the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has its space center and 40km from the World Natural Heritage island of Yakushima. Military exercises will not only increase the danger of accidents, but will also inevitably undermine the islands’ positive image of unspoiled nature and strong presences of the agricultural, forestry, fisheries, and tourist industries.
The municipalities of Nishinoomote City, Nakatane Town, Minamitane Town, and Yakushima Town soon displayed banners reading, “We are adamantly opposed to the military use of Mageshima Island,” on their townhouse buildings.
The local municipal heads and assembly chairpersons on June 1 visited the Defense Ministry to express their disagreement to the carrying out of FCLP on the island and the abrupt notification on the plan to construct a new Self-Defense Forces base on the island that will be used as a permanent FCLP facility.
Nishinoomote City (Jun.6), Nakatane and Yakushima towns (Jun.14), and Minamitane Town (Jun.15) respectively adopted resolutions in their assemblies opposing the FCLP plan. These local authorities sent a joint letter of protest to Defense Minister Kitazawa Toshimi and Foreign Minister Matsumoto Takaaki.
But the expansion of military activities to Mageshima would threaten the existence of the endangered species of deer. Below are two statements from residents of the nearby islands explaining the negative impacts of the proposed aircraft carrier training on Mageshima:
U.S. Carrier-based Aircrafts Will Finish an Endangered Deer Colony in Japan
A high-level talk called “2 Plus 2” between the Defense and Foreign/State Cabinet officials of the U.S. and Japan has just named Magesima Island the official candidate for the U.S. Navy’s FCLP (Field Carrier Landing Practice) base as part of the stagnated realignment of the U.S. forces in Japan. This came as a surprise to the residents of two neighboring islands of Tanegashima and Yakushima for two main reasons.
Before explaining those reasons, a brief background would help. Mageshima is a small, lone and uninhabited island 13km (8 miles) off the coast of Nishino-omote city in Tanegashima, a culturally unique island in southern Japan where in the 16th century Portuguese brought matchlock guns for the first time in the Japanese history and where at present the nation’s major rocket launching site for its space program is located side by side with the stable local economy of agriculture and fishery. Less than 20km (12 miles) west of Tanegashima lies Yakushima, an alpine island with rich ancient forests registered as UN World Natural Heritage. The three islands form a tight triangle.
Misfortune for Mageshima is the fact that it is almost entirely owned by a private company over the last few decades and the owner has tried desperately to make profits by shady efforts such as selling the island as the intermediate storage site of the spent nuclear fuel from nation’s 54 clogged nuclear power plants.
These efforts failed primarily because the island is home to a minimal colony of Mageshika, an endemic subspecies of Japanese deer. Only a few hundreds in the whole world survive on this small island mere 12km (7.5 miles) around with severely limited resources. However, the company owner went on to destroy their habitats by bulldozing the island to build airstrips for no apparent reasons. A range of domestic court cases to protect the Mageshika colony were filed and in one of the related cases the owner has just been convicted guilty of a large scale tax-dodge. Residents of Tanegashima and Yakushima are surprised to know now that the airstrips were conspired for the U.S. Navy’s carrier jets and more so in dismay to fear that the FCLP will put an end to the last surviving deer. No legitimate government in the 21st century would seem to allow such wonton destruction of biodiversity.
Another reason for surprise is based on the reality that all surrounding municipalities, one city and three townships in Tanegashima and Yakushima, have already declared official “No”s to the plan in the strongest tones. The sentiment of natural and cultural conservation is very active in the area. Residents have expected that the two Governments had already learnt from hard lessons in Okinawa: committed local oppositions could halt military plans, especially when they are for foreign armed forces. Would the U.S. citizens accept for example, say a British Navy’s Field Carrier Landing Practice base, 20 miles from Kennedy Space Center?
An expat American woodworker living in Yakushima recently expressed his concerns in the following letter to President Barak Obama.
Jun Hoshikawa
Writer, environmental activist, and a resident of Yakushima+++
MR. BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
DEAR MR. PRESIDENT,
I AM WRITING, RESPECTFULLY, TO PRESENT SOME LOCAL INFORMATION RELATING TO THE PROPOSED AIRFORCE FACILITY, FCLP, TO BE LOCATED ON MAGE-SHIMA IN JAPAN, AND TO MAKE A PLEA FOR RECONSIDERATION.
AS A RESIDENT OF NEABY YAKUSHIMA I HAVE BOTH A PERSONAL INTEREST AND FIRST HAND UNDERSTANDING OF THE LOCAL SITUATION.
18 YEARS AGO I VISITED YAKUSHIMA WITH MY JAPANESE WIFE, ATTRACTED BY ITS RENOWNED BEAUTY (ITS CENTRAL MOUNTAINS ARE A UNESCO WORLD NATURE HERITAGE SITE) AND, AS A WOODWORKER, BY THE EXISTENCE OF JOMON SUGI, THE LARGEST CEDAR TREE YET FOUND MEASURED TO BE FROM 2,600 TO 7,200 YEARS OLD.
I SOON DECIDED THIS WOULD BE AN IDEAL PLACE TO RAISE OUR NEW- BORN SON AND QUICKLY RETURNED TO BUILD A WORKSHOP (I AM A FURNITURE MAKER AND HOUSEBUILDER), A HOME AND LATER A RETIREMENT HOME FOR MY WIFE’S PARENTS. I AM A U.S.CITIZEN, BUT ALSO A PERMANENT RESIDENT OF JAPAN.
I WAS A LITTLE SURPRISED TO LEARN THAT YAKUSHIMA IS THE MOST FAMOUS ISLAND IN JAPAN, LARGELY DUE TO THE EXISTENCE OF JOMON SUGI WHICH IS HELD IN ALMOST RELIGIOUS REVERENCE BY JAPANESE.
YAKUSHIMA, LIKE ALL NEARBY ISLANDS IS COMPRISED LARGELY OF AGRICULTURAL AND FISHING COMMUNITIES. THE POPULATION HAS REMAINED STEADY BECAUSE THE FLIGHT OF YOUNG PEOPLE TO THE CITIES HAS BEEN OFFSET BY COUPLES WHO WANT TO RAISE FAMILIES OR RETIRE IN THIS ENVIRONMENT OF BEAUTY, PEACE, AND NATURE. THE ECONOMY IS HELPED BY A GROWING INDUSTRY OF ECO-TOURISM DRAWN BY THESE SAME FEATURES.
IN THE PAST YEAR THE ISLAND HAS BEEN BUZZED SEVERAL TIME BY FIGHTER JETS, A TRULY FRIGHTENING PHENOMENON ? THE ROAR OF THE JETS BEING MAGNIFIED AS THE SOUND BOUNCES OFF THE MOUNTAINS.
THE NOISE POLLUTION CAUSED BY THE PROPOSED JET FIGHTER AIR STRIP ON MAGE-SHIMA WOULD FORCE ME TO LEAVE YAKUSHIMA AND ALL I HAVE BUILT UP IN THE LAST TWO DECADES. MANY OF MY FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS FEEL THE SAME. THE INFLUENCE OF THIS MILITARY OPERATION WOULD CERTAINLY HAVE A NEGATIVE EFFECT ON NEW SETTLERS AND TOURISM, SO THE END RESULT WOULD BE TO DAMAGE OUR ECONOMY AS WELL AS RUINING THE QUALITY OF LIFE HERE.
THE LOCAL SITUATION
1. THE PROSPECT OF THE PROPOSED MILITARY INSTALLATION ON MAGE-SHIMA IS THE MOST UPSETTING THING TO HAPPEN HERE SINCE THE U.S.BOMBED THE ISLAND 66 YEARS AGO. THE PEOPLE ARE AGAINST IT, THE POLITICIAN ARE AGAINST IT.
THE PRIVATE OWNER OF MAGE-SHIMA HAS LONG HAD A SHADY REPUTATION HERE, MAKING FALSE AND MISLEADING REPRESENTATION OF HIS INTENTIONS. SOME LOCALS WERE INITIALLY FAVORABLE TO THE NOTION OF A MILITARY BASE, LOOKING FORWARD TO SOME ECONOMIC GAIN, BUT THE REALIZATION THAT IT WILL BE BASICALLY ONLY AN AIRSTRIP HAS LEFT THEM DISAPPOINTED AND ANGRY.
THE FACT THAT IT HAD ALREADY BEEN BULLDOZED AND DEVELOPED FAR IN ADVANCE OF ANY FORMAL DECLARATION OF PLANS MAKES PEOPLE MORE ANGRY.2. THIS AREA IS THE RAINIEST, HOTTEST, MOST HUMID PART OF JAPAN (WE GET 8 TO 10 METERS OF RAIN PER YEAR). IT IS ALSO IN THE MIDDLE OF TYPHOON ALLEY ? WE HAVE ALREADY HAD OUR FIRST OF THE YEAR.
I WONDER IF YOUR ADVISERS HAVE MADE YOU AWARE OF THIS? IF ONLY FOR THE WEATHER, THIS SEEMS LIKE A PRETTY STRANGE CHOICE FOR AVIATION ACTIVITIES.
3. YOU ARE CERTAINLY AWARE OF THE STRONG EFFORTS OF THE RESIDENTS OF OKINAWA TO REMOVE THE AIR BASE FROM THEIR LIVES. THEIR ACTIONS HAVE HAD PRETTY GOOD PUBLICITY HERE IN SOUTHERN JAPAN, BUT BECAUSE OF THE LONG-TIME U.S. OCCUPATION AND PRESENCE THERE, AND BECAUSE OKINAWA IS SOMEWHAT DISTANT FROM MAINLAND JAPAN (BOTH IN KILOMETERS AND CULTURE) I THINK THEIR STRUGGLE HAS NOT BEEN SO HEART FELT BY THE REST OF JAPAN.
LOCALLY, WE DON’T HAVE THE NUMBERS TO FIGHT THIS PROPOSED INSTALLATION AS THEY DO IN OKINAWA, BUT FIGHT IT WE WILL. HOWEVER, BECAUSE OF THE FAME OF YAKUSHIMA AND THE REVERENCE IN WHICH IT IS HELD, THIS WILL BE SEEN AS A NOISY AND BELIGIRENT GIANT TRYING TO STEP ON A RARE WILDFLOWER AND PEOPLE ALL OVER JAPAN WILL RISE UP AGAINST BOTH GOVERNMENTS FOR SUCH ACTION. THIS WILL TAKE SOME TIME, BUT I KNOW IT WILL HAPPEN.
I LOVE AMERICA AND I LOVE JAPAN. PLEASE RECONSIDER.
SINCERELY,
WILLIAM BROUWER178 KOSHIMA, YAKUSHIMA-CHO, KUMAGE-GUN, KAGOSHIMA, 891-4405 JAPAN
E-mail koidomari@muj.biglobe.ne.jp
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