- What is going on in Takae,Okinawa.-Oct. 14, 2010.

Where is Yanbaru?
The wide forest area in the northern part of Okinawa Island is calledYanbaru. Its subtropical natural forest and mountain stream provides
habitats for over 4,000 species of wild life, including at lease 11 animals and 12 plants peculiar to this Yanbaru area. Many of them arelisted in the endangered species Red List, such as, Yanbaru Kuina (Okinawan Rail) or Noguchi Gera (Okinawan Woodpecker).
Yanbaru is not only considered to be domestically significant, but also globally crucial for its abundant nature. Numbers of people have acknowledged the nature's value, and eventually, the area is now one of
the nominees of the World Natural Heritage and those of the National
Park.

Takae in Higashi village and the U.S. military bases
Higashi is one of the villages in Yambaru, and the small district located in the northern part of it is called Takae. Its population is approximately 160 people, 20% of which is junior high school students
and younger including preschoolers. The kids are happily growing up in
the surrounding beautiful mountains and rivers. However, adjacent tothis natural area is U.S. marines' Northern Training Area (Jungle Warfare Training Center), which totals up to 7,800 hectares. U.S. started
using this training area in 1957, few years before U.S. went down into the quagmire of the Vietnam War, mainly for the purpose of the guerrilla warfare training.
Currently, there are 22 helipads (landing zones) scattered in thetraining area, and Takae's local habitants have been forced to sufferfrom the ear-breaking sound of the propellers, and the high possibility that the helicopters might crash into the area. Even so, six more
helipads are going to be constructed. The planned location is only 400
meters away from the nearest residence.

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Why are the helipads planned to be located in Takae?
What is the SACO agreement?
SACO is a term that always appears when discussing U.S. military bases
in Okinawa. In 1995, right after the tragedy of three American soldiers
raping a local girl, approximately one hundred thousand people in Okinawa had demonstrations against the military's presence. In response tothis action, U.S. and Japanese governments established SACO (Special Action Committee on Okinawa), in which they aimed "to reduce the impactof the activities of U.S. forces on communities in Okinawa." However,
the actual and hidden intention of this committee was "restructuringand re-strengthening of the bases."
About the returning plan of the half of Northern Training Area, bothof the governments agreed to set it with the two conditions. One is toprovide the estuary region of Uka river in order to ensure access fromthe Training Area to the ocean. And the other is the relocation of helipads to the remaining Training Area, which found to be the construction
plan of 6 new helipads surrounding Takae residential district. They also hid the conspiracy to deploy the new type of aircraft, V-22 Osprey.

What is Osprey?
Currently, Helicopters like CH46 fly across the sky of Takae even after 10 p.m. These helicopters fly so low that streets in the residential area are often littered with the crashed-down trees. Despite thisvery dangerous situation, the new Ospreys, which are going to be deployed soon, are even more dangerous; their flying distance is fivetimes longer, capacity three times more (one Osprey is 27.5 tons if
loaded to maximum), and the speed twice faster, than CH46. If so, howmany times will the noise be louder? Ospreys are not only capable oftaking off vertically but also sliding and taking off parallel, whichenables 3.5 tons more of loading than vertical takeoff. The six planned helipads, experts call "Osprey Pads" for they might specially bebuilt for Osprey operations. Three of the 15 Ospreys produced in theyear 2000 already had accidents, and ever after, voices of disagreement have been appearing even in the U.S. domestically.

Takae(2) "flies forward with its
advancing engine-propellers"

Henoko(1)"takes off vertically"

The U.S. military facilities
in Okinawa

Osprey2

Yambaru water is being contaminated!
There are five dams in the Northern Training Area, which are crucial
to the people living in Okinawa because the dams supply 60 % of life
water to the island. In 2007, more than 10,000 wasted ammunitions werefound in these dams. Also, the fact has been revealed recently thatthe U.S. forces spread defoliant (Agent Orange) to the area during theVietnam War. If the helipads are constructed, jungle training will beeven more active, so possible further contamination of the water inthese dams, has been a serious concern.

Money and Bases = Carrots and Sticks
In April 2007, a new mayor of Higashi village, who had been against
the construction of the helipads in its election manifesto, was suddenly made a complete turn-around right after elected. He made an apology
to the people by saying "I am aware that I broke the promise". Behind
his change of the decision was this: Japanese government enacted abill for facilitating and realigning the U.S. forces, which provides
subsidies to related municipalities in return for the acceptation ofUS bases. In this moment, Japanese government didn't even hide implementation of the so-called "carrots and sticks" policy.
Some say that Okinawa should accept the U.S. force's stationing because, in such condition, Okinawa can take advantages to increase its
economical benefit. However, the reality is that the provided subsidies result in revenues of private companies that came from the mainland Japan, not of the locals. And as aftereffects of it, the local
governments need to waste budget to administrate the unneeded roads
and buildings. Some also say that there are certain numbers of employments thanks to the U.S. bases, but consider the fact that Okinawa's
average individual income and the unemployment rate are both the worst
among all the prefectures in Japan, despite 75 per cent of U.S. basesin Japan are locatedin Okinawa.
Now, we have to admitthat people's recognition of U.S. bases isquite controlled bythis myth: "we can't
live without the bases" in this island.
The policy of "carrots
and sticks, i.e. moneyand bases" is so influential that the local
people are still polarized into advocatesand oppositions toward
the presence of thebases.

No Helipad map.

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Sit-in action got started
Residents in Takae resolved to take actions against the helipad constructions on February 23, 2006. After that, we headed to the relatedorganizations to appeal them to revise the construction plan. However,the Ministry of Defense began the construction on July 2, 2007, ignoring our voices. Since that date, we have been showing protest by sitting in at the construction area, sparing much of our daily lives.

We need everyone's attention!
The sit-in protest is taking place in Takae (also in Henoko) even now.
This area of great nature has become the first importance for the nation that craves for fighting in war. This is not a particular issue
to Takae; the same situation can happen at anytime anywhere in Japan.
The U.S. military and Japan's self-defense forces are steadily combining, by wasting our taxes to realign the forces (The two governments
already agreed upon the budget of \3,000 billion for the realignment).
Also, it is our responsibility to support and raise our children peacefully. We need your recognition to us all!

Come to Takae!
＊Participate in the movement by sitting in with us!
You can see and feel what is really going on in Takae.
Contact with "No Helipad Takae Resident Society"e-mail:info@nohelipadtakae.org
Postal Address:Takae 85-2, Higashi Village, Okinawa JAPANzip 905-1201
TEL and FAX:+81-980-51-2688

No moreU.S. militaryfacilities!!

Ryukyu YamagameNoguchi Gera

Yanbaru Kuina

Ryukyu Inoshishi

Hontou Akahige
Iboimori4

TAKAE Thereafter.
July 2,2007-February 18,2010

Suddenly, the Japanese government sued us
On November 2008, ODB (Okinawa Defense Bureau, a subordinate agencyof Ministry of Defense) filed 15 residents and supporters a provisional injunction with the Naha District Court for obstructing the construction. Without setting up the negotiation with us, the Japanese
government unfairly chose to use the judicial power to promote theirplan. Against this governmental decision, a team of 24 lawyers was organized to protect our rights.
The litigation documents the government submitted to the court werevery faulty. As we pointed out at the court, there were multifarious
mistakes found in the documents such as scrambling of the names andfaces of the accused. Moreover, an eight-year-old child was also included in the accused 15 (although there was no evidence). How is it
possible for the child to block the construction by her or himself? After we strongly protested against that, ODB dropped charges of thischild. But they did not admit their ethical fault at all.

The decision of the Naha district court
After five-time court hearing and the inspection of site by the judge,
the judgment was given on December 11, 2009.Only two people out of 14
accused were charged with obstructing behavior, although other 12 people had been doing almost the same protest action.
The Japanese government also alleged that even our activities including appeals on the website, holding the events, creating posters andDVDs, and proposing to ODB that construction be stopped, were obstructive behaviors. According to the court decision, however, 'the court
must be very cautious about treating those activities as obstructive
behaviors.' That means our activities were recognized as justifiable.
The Japanese government, however, treats our actions as obstructive behaviors and has still been trying to eliminate our protest.

To the court
On December 14, 2009, we filed official complaints against the Naha
District Court because we were not satisfied with their decision. On
the other hand, if the government decides to drop the suit, the provisional injunction order will be reversed. We hoped that ODB would cancel the order as the Democratic Party's victory in the election led tothe change of government.
On January 29, 2010, however, the government filed a suit against 2residents at the district court. The new administration continues toadhere to the administration policy of the previous Liberal Democratic
Party regime. Hence the case will be referred to the open judicialcourt. The court decision for this case might set a crucial precedentfor other protest movements in Japan such as anti-nuclear and anti-damconstruction movements which may face similar law suits.

Takae at the moment
On February 1, 2010, ODB held an explanatory meeting for the residents of Takae. But they repeated the same one-sided explanation without providing answers to our questions such as: whether V-22 Osprey,
the US military's newest aircraft known for its safety risk, will bedeployed, its flight route, degree of noise, and possible measures forthe safety. This backhanded meeting made us more frustrated. Moreover,while ODB admits the lack of explanation they have given us, they alsodeclared the construction would continue. This duplicity reflects
ODB's irresponsibility as a public institution. On February 18,
2010,ODB finally started installing the fences in front of the paths
that lead to the planned construction site.

What you can do for Takae
Get Information!
＊Check out our blog to catch up with up-dated information of Takae
http://takae.ti-da.net/(written in Japanese).
＊Get the DVDs
1 The message from YANBARU
documentary film of sit-in in Takae.
(contact: oracion@nohelipadtakae.org)
2 KUKURU : UA Live in Yanbaru
music concert in Takae by a singer called UA.
(contact: www.wacca.com/88)
Let other people know what is going on in Takae!
＊Let your family and friends know the fact about Takae. Our grassroots movements can influence the members of the Diet and the mass
media. To hold screening tour of our films is also effective.
Come to Takae!
＊Participate in the movement by sitting in with us! You can see
and feel what is really going on in Takae.