Japanese protest against US military base

This video says about itself:

26 April 2010 — A US Military base is being protested by over 100,000 people on the island of Okinawa, located to the south of Japan. Under a 2006 agreement with the US, the US Marines’ Futenma base was to be moved from the centre to the coast. But demonstrators want Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to stick to an election pledge to remove it completely.

From the Mainichi Daily News in Japan:

Kagoshima island residents protest proposed relocation of Futenma base

TOKUNOSHIMA, Kagoshima — Some 4,200 local residents held a protest rally here on Sunday against the proposed relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the area.

The rally was held in the Kagoshima Prefecture island of Tokunoshima with about one sixth of some 25,000 islanders taking part. Led by the mayors of the three local towns of Tokunoshima, Amagi and Isen, the protesters opposed the central government’s plan to relocate Futenma base in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, to the island.

“The government has never consulted with any of the three mayors about the issue, even though it advocates the decentralization of authority,” said Tokunoshima Mayor Hideki Takaoka, as he criticized the Hatoyama administration’s disrespect for municipal governments.

“We cannot expose our children to noise and crime. We don’t need a base here on this island of children, longevity and mutual cooperation,” said a 39-year-old housewife, while other participants held up signs that read: “Let’s protect our island.” The protest was organized by the municipalities and an organizing committee consisting of over 60 groups from Kagoshima’s Amami Islands.

General Manager of local agricultural cooperative Shigemitsu Kamioka also expressed his resentment, saying: “The Tokunoshima Island is an island of agriculture. With the relocation of the base, local farmers could lose their land and excessive noise could prevent animals from reproducing.”

Also in attendance at the event was local House of Representatives member of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Takeshi Tokuda, as well as other lawmakers and prefectural assembly members of the LDP, Komeito and the Japanese Communist Party, making it look like an anti-Democratic Party of Japan campaign.

“The island was once split over an election campaign, and the dispute is finally settling down. I don’t want the locals to clash with each other ever again,” said a 51-year-old woman, expressing her concern that the island may be involved in a political war.

Japanese islanders rally against US base plan: here.

Hundreds of protesters demonstrated in central Tokyo on Sunday against plans to turn a popular public space into a Nike-sponsored skateboarding centre: here.