East China Sea: Japan improves Yonaguni

For decades, Yonaguni was known almost exclusively to diving tourists and butterfly lovers. Now that little island is becoming the center of world politics. The reason: Taiwan is just a stone’s throw away.

Kenichi Itokazu throws himself back onto the sofa. “If I could, I’d put our island further into the Pacific!” Itokazu has been the full-time mayor of Japan’s Yonakuni Island for three years. He rules about 1,500 people. If he climbs the island mountain Uruba-dake, he can see Taiwan in clear weather. It is 110 kilometers away. US Marines are currently on the island for emergency drills with the Japanese. There has been fear here for two years.

Pacific foam in the morning. Four nautical miles off Yonaguni, schools of yellowfin tuna dart back and forth just below the surface, forever chasing prey, forever eluding swordfish. That’s what fisherman Hirotoshi Ogimi is looking for. First he catches two tuna, then dangles them on long lines in the hope that the swordfish will bite. Folk music from Okinawa blares from the loudspeaker. “Sometimes it helps,” Fisher says. But the security situation around Taiwan further restricts him.

Chinese Navy disturbs fishermen

It has been two years since then-Speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi made a demonstrative visit to Taiwan. In response, China conducted military exercises around Taiwan. “Here and there,” Hirotoshi Ogimi points out from his deckhouse window, “two Chinese missiles fell into the water.” Since then, cargo ships have been circling Taiwan closer and closer to Yonaguni. “Boats sometimes tear off our buoys,” the fishermen report.

It almost looks like a small demonstration: a few dozen small Yonakuni horses trotting past a heavily guarded Japanese military base in the tropical heat. Behind the fence, Okinawa’s US Navy has installed a high-resolution radar. Surveillance cameras roll over anyone approaching. Meanwhile, a patriotic anti-aircraft unit was also stationed here. There is no detailed information about this.

The US Navy pledges to help

Japanese and Americans came together on the island for “Resolute Dragon” training. Japan has announced a 60 percent increase in its defense spending in a historic move to counter the threat from China.

“That’s necessary,” says political scientist Narushige Michishita. “We will protect the Taiwan Strait. But we need as many allies as possible to do that.”

Now the US military is helping the Japanese. Okinawa has a large base, but Yonaguni is about to receive further military reinforcements. To underline this, three-star general Robert Turner arrived on the island. “China is destabilizing the entire region with its aggressive behavior,” he assures us. “We will defend the Southwest Islands against any threat.” His Japanese counterpart, General Masayoshi Arai, nods.

The military scares old people

On the one hand, this is good news for the island’s mayor, Kenichi Itokazu. “With the army gone, there are more people living in Yonaguni again. More children are going to school. There is economic growth.”

He wants to extend the runway of the island airport and enlarge the port. But that doesn’t apply to everyone here. An old woman sits in the back room of a small island market with her face in the sunlight. Hatsumo Ohtomo is 89 years old and has seven daughters, 20 grandchildren and 30 great-grandchildren. Some of them keep circling around her. The army scares her: “I have lived my life and I may die any day. But what about my grandchildren?”

As a ten-year-old girl, she witnessed Yonaguni being attacked by Allied bombers during the Battle of Okinawa. Carrying her little sister on her back, she ran into a cave behind the house. Both luckily survived. Other families burned to death in their caves. The shock continues. Mayor Itokazu is now preparing evacuation plans: In case of emergency, residents must leave the island.