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August 9, 2018

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, Who Fought U.S. Military Bases, Dies at 67
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And also in Japan, the governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, has died at
the age of 67. Onaga waged a fierce campaign against the construction of
a new U.S. military base on the island, part of a decades-long Japanese
peace movement demanding the expulsion of U.S. troops from Okinawa. This
is Governor Onaga testifying to the United Nations Human Rights Council
in Geneva in 2015.

Takeshi Onaga: "The question is why the issue of bases and national
security is a human rights issue. Let me tell you this: Japan placed
Okinawa for 27 years under U.S. military administration. We were neither
Japanese nor Americans. And during that time, many things happened,
including a rape of a girl, a jet crashing into the ground of a primary
school and hit-and-run deaths by a U.S. soldier who was acquitted and
sent home. And after the return, we found out there is a lot of
pollution from toxins, like dioxins, and there is an environmental
issue. And even to investigate that, we cannot do it, because it is not
possible during the U.S.-Japan agreement."

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga has died at the age of 67 in a hospital
in Urasoe, Japan.


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