SNA (Birmingham) — Japan is beginning construction today, January 12, of a new base intended to be used primarily by the US military on the uninhabited island of Mageshima in Kagoshima Prefecture, despite years of resistance to the controversial plan and a questionable process by which the island was acquired by the government.

The basic military issue which the new Mageshima base is meant to address is the lack of a permanent field carrier landing practice (FCLP) zone for US troops in Japan. For many years, such exercises have been conducted on a temporary basis at distant Ioto (Iwo Jima), something which has long been a source of complaint within the Pentagon.

After a US-Japan “2 + 2 Meeting” (bilateral meeting between foreign and defense ministers) in 2011, the Ministry of Defense agreed to provide an alternative FCLP zone in a more conveniently located part of Japan, with Mageshima identified as the best location.

The two countries later explained that “a permanent FCLP facility will greatly contribute to the safe operation and training of US forces,” which has become a higher priority in the region due to concerns–justified or otherwise–about mainland China’s growing military capabilities.

However, the process by which the Japanese government acquired Mageshima for use by the US military is suggestive of underhanded dealings.

The island has had multiple owners. Picking up from 1974, it was bought by the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC). The megabank had plans to build leisure and resort facilities on island–administratively part of Nishioomote city–which today has a population in excess of 16,000 people.

But SMBC’s resort plans fell through, and in 1983 it offered to sell the island to the Ministry of Defense for ¥2 billion (US$15.1 million) for potential use as a radar base. In those more peaceful times, the Ministry of Defense had no interest.

After a number of other phases, in 1995 the island was sold for an undisclosed amount to Tokyo-based Taston Airport Company, which conceived of the island as home to an airport, and in fact it constructed a 4,000-meter-long runway by 2007.

But it was in 2011–after the US-Japan 2+2 Meeting–that the issue was truly transformed by the fresh notion that Mageshima was important for the US-Japan Alliance and thus for national security. It is notable that this transformation came just about a year after the administration of Yukio Hatoyama had been taken down largely over the issue of plans to build a new US Marine airbase at nearby Henoko beach in Okinawa.

The Ministry of Defense’s plan to take over Mageshima, however, did not proceed smoothly.

The Taston Airport Company had its own plans for the island which it did not want to give up. This was particularly true of company President Isamu Tateishi.

It was at this time the story becomes murky.

Tateishi, who was now standing in the way of central government security plans and a basic agreement with the Pentagon, was suddenly hit by a series of misfortunes.

While his asking price for the island was ¥20 billion (US$151 million), the Ministry of Defense offered him only ¥11 billion (US$83 million), which only confirmed him in his resistance.

At the same time, there was talk that the Kagoshima prefectural government might revoke Taston Airport’s construction permits over alleged environmental infractions.

Moreover, Tateishi soon found himself charged with tax evasion, an offense for which he was ultimately sentenced to two-and-a-half years in prison.

Perhaps not surprisingly, the new company president proved much more receptive to the government’s “requests.” In 2019, Taston Airport Company agreed to sell the island to the government for ¥16 billion (US$121 million).

Having thus acquired ownership, the Ministry of Defense still needed to overcome political resistance from local fisherman, environmentalists, and authorities in Nishioomote city, under whose jurisdiction the island lay.

In particular, Nishioomote Mayor Shunsuke Yaita led the opposition, citing the fact that noise levels coming from the new military base and its aircraft training exercises were likely to disrupt the peace of mind of local residents and possibly have a substantial negative impact on the economically-important fishing industry.

There was also concern from environmentalists and others about the fate of the mageshika, an endangered subspecies of deer which lives on the island, which many fear might go extinct after it becomes a military airbase. On online Japanese-language petition calling for the protection of the mageshika gathered over 17,000 signatures.

After a series of meetings with Defense Ministry officials, Yaita declared in October 2020, “we do not approve of the plan. We’ll lose more than we’ll gain.” He added, “we are concerned that the central government will proceed with the project slowly in stages to create a fait accompli… Once you approve the US bases, domestic law cannot put an end to their presence.”

Unlike the businessman Tateishi, the politician Yaita eventually bent rather than broke. Understanding that the national government was moving forward to build the new base with or without his consent, Yaita acknowledged last November that “this issue has moved into a new stage.” He further explained: “although my view hasn’t changed, as the representative of local residents, I felt I could not encourage division among them.”

With this retreat by the opposition forces, the construction of the base now begins.

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