Henoko and the U.S. Military: A History of Dependence and
Resistance By Steve Rabson Attention in Japan and elsewhere has
focused recently on the seaside village of Henoko (Ryukyuan:
Hinuku) in northern Okinawa where a powerful protest movement
has stymied the Japanese and U.S. governments from building an
offshore air base.1 Attempting to ameliorate outrage in Okinawa
after three U.S. servicemen raped a twelve-year-old schoolgirl
in 1995, the governments in Tokyo and Washington announced an
agreement in 1996 to close Futenma Marine Corps Air Station,
located in the middle of Ginowan City. However, the agreement
stipulated that a “replacement facility” be built in Okinawa
“within five to seven years.” 2 Yet, after more than fifteen
years and numerous bi-lateral declarations reiterating the two
governments’ determination to build the base, construction has
yet to begin. In 2006 they announced a related agreement to
transfer 8,600 of the 18,000 Marines in Okinawa and their 9,000
dependents to Guam, but this is