With
the forest where private helicopters brought down materials in the
background, fisherman Yoshikatsu Yamashiro talks about his experience of
Okinawa’s base issues on November 14 in Aha, Kunigami Village.
November 15, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
On November 14, a protest boat took to the sea for the first time in
the protest movement against the U.S. military helipads being
constructed in Takae. The protest boat was manned by fisherman
Yoshikatsu Yamashiro, age 72. Yamashiro waited on the boat for his
friends, who landed their kayaks at the mouth of the Ukagawa River and
went to join the protests. Shortly past noon, several protesters could
be seen from the boat climbing onto the cliffs aiming for the place
where materials had been brought in by air. “The ocean is our father.
The forest is our mother. If the forest is destroyed, red soil flows to
the ocean, and both die,” says Yamashiro, furrowing his brown and
looking up at his friends.
Yamashiro has been a fisherman for fifty years. In order to protect
the forests, which he considers to be a pair together with the ocean, he
is expressing unwavering opposition to the helipad construction.
In 1959, from the second floor of Ishikawa Junior High School, which
he was attending, Yamashiro saw a jet plane rapidly approaching,
spitting fire, as it crashed into Miyamori Elementary School. He also
participated in the Koza Riot. It has now been fifty-seven years since
the Miyamori Elementary School accident. “Okinawa has gotten worse since
returning to Japan. Before, our enemy was the United States, but now we
are facing discrimination from Japan as well,” Yamashiro said with a
look of anguish on his face. Even so, he says, “I won’t give up until we
win. I will never forget the pain we have suffered.” He turned his face
to look straight at the forest. (Yo Kakazu)