In late December, work to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma was resumed at its Okinawa replacement site in Nago to the fury of locals who fear the project will destroy their lives and the environment.
Yukihisa Fujimoto, 62, a film director who has covered issues related to U.S. bases in Okinawa for more than a decade, finds their protests symbolic of a long-standing conflict and feels a sense of responsibility to show their plight.
The relocation of the Futenma operations from the city of Ginowan, central Okinawa Island, has been pending since 1996, the year the U.S. promised to return half of its training area in Yanbaru in the island's northern highlands. The plan was conditioned on the construction of six helipads in the mountainous Takae district in the village of Higashi. Two of the planned helipads have already been completed.