As Okinawa continues to be roiled by tensions over a plan to move a key U.S. air base within the prefecture, filmmakers from Iwate Prefecture are using their next documentary to give younger Okinawans a greater voice.
Movie director Shinya Todori and his twin brother Takuya, both 35, were in Okinawa on Aug. 15 shooting footage in a hilltop park overlooking U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, which is located in a densely populated area of Ginowan.
In front of their camera was Jinshiro Motoyama, 26, who leads a civic group campaigning for a prefectural referendum over the central government's plan to move the Futenma base to the less populated Henoko coastal district of Nago, also in the prefecture.