Photo Gallery
Okinawa International University students and staff come together with delegates and members of Okinawa Environment Network at the joint UNEP/OIU sponsored Civil Society Workshop on military activities and the environment, 28 November, 2009. 
Angry but determined, protesters leave the site of the November 7 demonstration in Ginowan against any revamped Futenma facility within Okinawa. Obama's visit days later undoubtedly left many wondering whether, as far as Okinawa is concerned the US president's campaign promise of hope and change was little more than empty rhetoric.
Kasim Turki, whose brother died at a US military checkpoint in Iraq, visits Henoko in an attempt to come to terms with his brother's death. See comment page for further details.
Kasim Turki's message to the US Marine Corps, which seems to prefer to incinerate such messages rather than respond to them.
Baseball practice, Futenma Dai Ni Elementary School, 27 March, 2008.
FHAN friends and supporters begin to gather at the Okinawa Convention Center ahead of the September 29 rally. The demonstration, the biggest for over 35 years, sent a loud message to the Japanese government that the people of Okinawa are not willing to exchange memories of the senseless slaughter of World War II for government censored history books designed to reaccommodate the Japanese military into the modern war machine.
Peter Simpson meets Lindis Percy of the UK based Campaign for the Accountability of American Bases in Leeds, August 24, 2007. Lindis and CAAB, who inspired the flag campaign at Okinawa International University, have made the upside down US flag, and the slogan, "Independence from America" a trademark of their protests against the secret and unaccountable use of British territory to support US espionage and military operations.
Upside down US flags hang from teachers' offices overlooking the Futemna Base at Okinawa International University as others join the flag protest on the third anniversary of the OIU helicopter crash. The protest, which began on July 4, was inspired by and co-ordinated with UK based international organisation Campaign for the Accountability of American bases.
The OIU Flag Campaign gathers support on the third anniversary of the helicopter crash, August 13, 2007.
July 4, 2007 Peter Simpson and Lei Shimamura of Futenma-Henoko Action Network are joined by Okinawa International University students at the beginning of the Flag Campaign. According to the US Law Code, (Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8), “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.”
Poster designed to draw attention to the OIU flag campaign, 4 July, 2007
Participants in Okinawa International University's Summer Intensive English programme visit Kushi, near Henoko, to learn about water pollution caused by US munitions testing and disposal in the area. (September 16, 2006)
This warning, on Futenma Air Station, is one the US Marine Corps seems reluctant to share with the 91,000 people who live in neighboring communities only a few meters away.
... and this one, from the fuselage of one of the hundreds of US military helicopters which circle urban areas in Okinawa, is not one most citizens of Ginowan are in a position to heed. (Futenma Flightline Fair, 20 August, 2006.
Former Okinawa International University student Adachi Nako attaches a photo to the Futenma Air Station fence behind Sakima Art Museum, which hosted an exhibition of photographs she compiled to mark the second anniversary of the helicopter crash into the university campus. August 13, 2006.
On the same day, Okinawa International University students release balloons to demand an end to US military flights over the city. 2006 also marks the tenth anniversary of the promise of the US and Japanese governments' Special Action Committee on Okinawa to close the Futenma base "within five to seven years." August 13, 2006.
Back by satirical demand: the Neo-Nazi goons who circled the May protest from the air conditioned comfort of their Third World War battle bus.
34th anniversary of Okinawan reversion, Ginowan City, May 14, 2006.
Students, staff and members of the public begin to arrive for the first official screening of the BBC World Earth Report documentary at Okinawa International University, May 13, 2006.
Some of the 35,000 who gathered in Ginowan City on March 5, 2006 to protest against latest base construction plans in Henoko and Oura Bays. If carried out, the plans will allow US forces to fulfil a long envisaged strategy to upgrade their military facilities. For further information about the rally, please see our news page.
March 2, 2006: A US military C-130 Hercules comes in to land while conducting a regular take-off and landing drill over Ginowan City (pop. 89,000). For news about the crash of the same type of aircraft in Iran, and its alarming recent safety record, and yet another CH-53 crash, please visit our news page.
March 2, 2006: A US Navy Lockheed P3 Orion comes in to land for the second time in the afternoon. According to GlobalSecurity.org the aircraft is favoured by the US navy for its "long loitering capabilties," not an endearing feature for Ginowan residents as it begins a long afternoon of take-off and landing manoeuvres.
On its fifth landing approach of the afternoon, the P3 passes over Okinawa Catholic Nursery School, one of countless schools and kindergartens in its flightpath.The aircraft first came into service in 1957, making its loitering capabilities almost as great as those of Futenma Air Base itself.
Okinawan Nightmare: Graffiti along the sea-wall at Awase Tidal Flat makes appropriate comment on the environmental vandalism which is currently laying waste to the area, a vital resource for the future of biodiversity in Okinawa, for migratory birds, and for sustainable fisheries. On the horizon work continues on the most senseless and destructive project currently underway in Okinawa: an offshore resort off the heavily industrialised coastline of Okinawa City.
Crane Parade: An unintenional celebration of Japan's national bird, which has proved a highly destructive invasive species in Okinawa. This picture was taken on land made barren since being 'reclaimed' from Uchidomari Tidal Flat in Ginowan City, an operation which involved sealing yet another coastal wetland under concrete.
FHAN members seem less than convinced by Japan Defense Facilities Administration Bureau chief Nishi Masanori's attempt to gloss over the potential impact of construction in Henoko Bay.
The No Fly Zone balloon over Okinawa International University considered more of a menace to public safety by Naha Defense Facilities Administration Bureau than heavy lift helicopters and C130 transport aircraft which regularly circle Ginowan City on training flights.
FHAN members with the Earth Report programme makers and former Okinawa governor Ota Masahide.
Students from Korea, Japan and Okinawa attempt to recover a sense of history at the atelier of Okinawan sculptor Kinjo Minoru in Yomitan, Korea-Japan Student Forum, August 6, 2005.
Detail of Kinjo Minoru relief depicting the consequences of massacres which took place during the Battle of Okinawa.
Kinjo Minoru relief depicting the horror of the Battle of Okinawa, during which many Okinawans were killed or forced to commit suicide after seeking refuge in the island's caves.
Two views of Kadena Air Base, August 6, 2005. A virtually empty four lane road flanked by expansive lawns and a golf course belie US claims that land seized from Okinawans by the US military is being used for 'mission essential operations.'
A few minutes later Okinawan motorists contend with the congestion which is one of the side effects of the occupation of large parts of the island.
Okinawa International University students join in song to mark the first anniversary of the August 13 helicopter crash. The anguish caused by incessant flights over Ginowan City remains a blight on the urban population.