Vehicles move in and out of the construction zone for a Marine Corps runway being built at Camp Schwab, Okinawa, Japan, on Nov. 16, 2023. (Matthew M. Burke/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa - A security guard was killed, and an anti-base protester injured Friday when they stepped into the path of truck outside a port in northern Okinawa, according to Japanese police.
The guard, Yoshikazu Usami, 47, and an unidentified 72-year-old woman stepped from the sidewalk “for some reason” around 10 a.m. and were hit by a truck turning left from the port in Awa, Nago city, an Okinawa Prefectural Police spokesman told Stars and Stripes by phone Friday.
A bystander at 10:14 phoned the Nago Fire Department to report “two persons were injured after being hit by a truck,” a department spokesman said by phone Friday.
Usami suffered severe head injuries and was declared dead at a local hospital at 11:09 a.m.; the woman was treated for a broken leg, the spokesman said.
“The reasons of the accident are under investigation,” the spokesman said.
Protestors opposed to the U.S. military presence on the island are a regular presence outside the port. Landfill material is trucked from the port to the Marine Corps airfield under construction at Camp Schwab in the Henoko district, according to a statement by the prefectural assembly in December 2018.
“It is not certain, but it is highly likely that the truck was transporting landfill materials to Henoko,” the police spokesman said.
Some government officials in Japan may speak to the media only on condition of anonymity.
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki on Friday said the accident is “extremely regrettable,” public broadcaster NHK reported that day. Tamaki waged a years-long legal fight against the airfield construction that was turned back last year by Japan’s courts.
“As a prefecture, we will ask Okinawa Defense Bureau to stop transporting landfill materials until the reason of the accident becomes clear and it is possible to take preventive measures,” Tamaki said.
He also urged the protestors “to comply with the law and consider the safety and security of the local citizens.”
The defense bureau, an arm of the Japan Ministry of Defense, did not respond to a phone call seeking further information Saturday morning.
