SNA (Tokyo) — This video in our Explained! series is a basic review of why the US Marine airbase at Futenma in Okinawa has become such a source of enduring controversy.

Transcript

Futenma base was built in 1945 at the conclusion of the Battle of Okinawa. The land was seized from local residents and bulldozed to create an airstrip. Originally a US Air Force base, after 1957 it began to transition into a Marine airbase. Former residents collected on the outskirts and rebuilt what became the city of Ginowan. Okinawa returned to Japanese control in 1972 but US military bases still dominated the land. The pleas of the local community for closure of the US Marine airbase went unheeded. Tensions boiled over in 1995 when US military men kidnapped and raped a 12-year-old girl. The following year, the US government agreed to hand over Futenma base by 2002. But little progress was made, and a US Marine helicopter crashed on a university campus in 2004. Without legal authority, the US military seized control of the crash site and kept locals out. Prioritizing relations with the US, the Tokyo government repeatedly dismisses Okinawan views. Okinawan protests and repeated election results are now routinely dismissed by both governments. No new date has yet been given for when Futenma will return to the people from whom it was seized.

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