Defense Agency Chief Fumio Kyuma visited Okinawa Prefecture on Wednesday to unveil blueprints for a sea-based heliport off Nago, northern Okinawa Island, in a last-ditch effort to win local support for the plan.
The heliport is to take over the major functions of the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Ginowan in the central part of the island. With the Nago Municipal Government planning a plebiscite for Dec. 21 to put the heliport plan to a vote, Kyuma's visit to the prefecture was considered crucial to convince local residents of the sea-based facility's safety.
During meetings with Nago Mayor Tetsuya Higa, Okinawa Gov. Masahide Ota and officials of prefectural fisheries cooperatives to formally ask for their cooperation, Kyuma presented two methods of construction for the sea-based facility, which would be approximately 1,500 meters long and 600 meters wide. One method calls for a pontoon platform, protected by breakwaters, moored outside a coral reef at a point approximately 3 km from Henoko, the nearest residential area. The other entails a platform supported by stilts sunk in the sea bottom inside the reef and about 1.5 km from Henoko.