Does Autonomy Exist?

The oral argument on the case in which national government sued Governor of Okinawa, Takeshi Onaga, started in Naha Branch of Fukuoka High Court on Wednesday. Onaga stressed that the problem Okinawan people suffered was common in everywhere in Japan, asking whether true autonomy did exist in Japan. Government of Japan rejected discussion over relocation of Futenma Marine Air Base. Newspapers depicted the lawsuit as opposition between central and local powers.

Simply saying, the national government suited Onaga, requiring withdrawal of his decision to nullify the approval of landfill in Henoko coastal district by previous governor for constructing alternative facilities to relocate Futenma Base. If the national government wins this case, they will be able to overwrite the decision Onaga has made.

Onaga was eloquent in the court. “What is questioned in this case is not only right or wrong of nullification of an approval. In spite of seventy years passed from the end of the war, national government concentrated 73.8% of facilities of United States Force in Japan to Onkinawa, which shares only 0.6% of all Japanese land. Does autonomy or democracy really exist in Japan?” appealed Onaga.

What Onaga raised was a fundamental question whether a central government could execute a policy that would sacrifice human rights of people in the region. Quoting fatal accident in First Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant, Onaga asked broad discussion on issues burdening specific region. To ignite international opinion, Onaga made a speech in United Nations Human Rigths Committee in Geneva in September.

National government does not happy with discussion over human rights. “We have to make pure legal discussion,” told Litigation Bureau Chief of Ministry of Justice, Makoto Jozuka, in the court, “and we should not argue military base in Okinawa here.” Jozuka argued that administrative decision like approval on landfill could not nullify with some exception of causing severe damage on public welfare. National government also argued that Onaga’s nullification would cost ¥47.3 billion, which was the amount of investment on Henoko relocation plan, and that regional government could not be responsible for national defense.

National defense is to protect human rights of the nation, not to violate human rights. Reference on the cost of nullification is a blackmailing, indicating compensation for damages. The argument that administrative decision cannot be nullified was an effusion of firm belief of bureaucrats in Tokyo that people must be subjugated under strict control of the government. The question is whether it is a democracy, as Onaga raised.