The Okinawa delegation was led by Shingaki Tetsuji, president of the Federation of Okinawa Prefecture Liberal Democratic Party branches.
They held separate meetings with the CNMI Senate and House of Representatives on Monday and visited Tinian yesterday.
They wanted to get an update regarding the CNMI government’s effort to persuade the U.S. to relocate the 4,000 U.S. Marines and their families at the Futenma airbase in Okinawa to Tinian.
Last May, the Japanese government admitted that it would be difficult if not impossible to move Futenma’s facilities off Okinawa.
“Realistically speaking, it is impossible,” then-Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama said. “We have reached a conclusion that it is difficult to relocate all of Futenma’s functions outside the country or the island because of a need to maintain deterrence under the Japan-U.S. alliance.”
Hatoyama later resigned for breaking his campaign promise to close the Futenma airbase.
American officials said that keeping the base in Okinawa is important for maintaining regional stability given the island’s geographical location — near Taiwan and China and not far from the Korean peninsula.
Shingaki on Monday told CNMI lawmakers that the Futenma airbase must be relocated because it is surrounded by schools, hospitals and residential areas and is located right in the center of the city.
The U.S. and Japan have agreed to relocate the airbase to Nago, a less crowded, northern part of Okinawa.
Shingaki said he people of Okinawa want the airbase out of their island.
He said they visited the CNMI to know the “impact” on the U.S. of the resolution adopted by local lawmakers urging the Department of Defense to consider Tinian as a new location for the Futenma airbase.
Onaga Masatoshi, the federation vice president, said the Japanese is spending 900 billion yen, or $10.8 billion, for the maintenance of the airbase and pays the U.S. government 2 trillion yen, or $24.2 billion, for the presence of American military personnel.
But if the U.S. base is relocated to Tinian, he said the Japanese government is willing to pay for it.
Shingaki asked Speaker Froilan C. Tenorio about the U.S. military’s response to the CNMI Legislature’ resolution.
“We did not hear any response from either Japan or the U.S.,” said Tenorio, Covenant-Saipan.
Masatoshi said he and his colleagues also want to discuss tourism.
Okinawa, he added, has 6 million tourists who can visit the CNMI.
He noted that a lot of Okinawans worked for Saipan’s sugar industry during the Japanese administration of the Northern Marianas.
Aside from Shingaki and Masatoshi, the other members of the Okinawa delegation were former deputy speaker Gushi Kosuke; general affairs committee member Isho Urasaki; civil engineering committee member Minei Hiraku; federation chairman Tsujino Hiroko; economy and labor committee member Kazuyuki Zakimi; general affairs committee member Yoshimoto Yoshihiko; welfare committee member Kuwae Sachio; acting federation secretary general Nakagawa Kyoki; special committee on Okinawa development member Shimabukuro Dai; federation New Komeito branch chief representative Itosu Tomonori; delegation secretary Yamashiro; and tour escort Tsuyoshi Tomori.
