TOKYO — The Japanese and U.S. governments have broadly agreed that the Makiminato Service Area in Okinawa, one of the five U.S. military facilities and precincts in the southern part of the prefecture, will be returned to Japan in the mid-2020s, government sources said Saturday.
Tokyo and Washington will continue talks on the other four facilities, eyeing their return by 2030, the sources also said.
As for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station in Ginowan, Okinawa, the two governments have begun considering the return of the facility’s land in the early 2020s on condition that its functions are relocated within the prefecture, according to the sources.
The timing of the return of the five facilities and the land on which they sit — Camp Zukeran, the Makiminato Service Area, the U.S. Army tank farm, Camp Kuwae and the Naha port facility area — will be set out in a plan on the return, which will be announced by the two governments in early April.
In April last year, the Japan-U.S. Security Consultative Committee, known as the two-plus-two, issued a statement stipulating that the facilities and land, which total about 570 hectares south of Kadena Air Base, will be returned to Japan. But the statement stopped short of referring to the timing of the return.
In making final coordination, Japanese and U.S. diplomatic and defense authorities are discussing whether more specific timing, possibly a specific year, can be given in the plan, the sources said.
The Japanese central government has submitted an application to Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima for permission to reclaim land on the Henoko coast in Nago for the relocation of the Futenma Air Station. Japan and the United States have agreed to handle the two issues — the return of the five facilities and land and the Futenma relocation — separately. The Japanese government apparently hopes to obtain local understanding on relocating the Futenma facility within Okinawa by showing a clear sign that the prefecture’s burden of hosting such U.S. military facilities is being reduced.
The Okinawa prefectural government has particularly demanded the return of the Makiminato Service Area, which is about 677 acres, as it occupies a prime location near a national highway.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe also asked U.S. President Barack Obama for the early return of the area during their summit meeting in February.
In April 2012, the Japanese and U.S. governments jointly announced that the facilities and land, currently used by the U.S. military, will be returned to Japan under three different sets of circumstances. The facilities and precincts are divided into three categories:
c Eligible for swift return.
c Eligible for return once replacement facilities in Okinawa are provided.
c Eligible for return with the relocation of U.S. marines from the prefecture to overseas locations.
The warehouse district that widely covers the Makiminato Service Area falls in the second category, but the return of other parts of the area, which fall in the first category, is expected to start in 2015.
The two governments initially planned to draw up the return plan by the end of last year. But Tokyo called for stipulating the timing of the return in the plan to help the Okinawa prefectural government make plans for the returned land. However, Washington was reluctant to give such timing, apparently out of concern over a local backlash if the return is delayed.
The U.S. military functions in the five facilities and land will be relocated to places such as other U.S. facilities in Okinawa. The warehouse and other districts currently in the Makiminato Service Area are expected to be moved to several locations, including the U.S. Army Garrison Torii Station in Yomitanson, Okinawa.
