Nobel laureate Kenzaburo Oe speaks out on Okinawa problem in Tokyo

Via Ryukyu Shimpo: "Nobel laureate Oe speaks out on Okinawa problem in Tokyo":

On April 26, Nobel laureate and novelist Kenzaburo Oe and other scholars discussed the Okinawa military base issue at a symposium held at a campus of the Hosei University in Tokyo...

A symposium on the Futenma-Henoko issue was held in Tokyo on April 26. Nobel laureate and novelist Kenzaburo Oe, Gavan McCormack, an emeritus professor of the Australian National University and Masaaki Gabe, a professor at the University of the Ryukyus, made the keynote lectures. After that, the participants discussed the relocation issue of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma...

Novelist Oe visited Okinawa many times to conduct interviews with residents about mass suicides during the Battle of Okinawa for his book of essays, Okinawa Notes. “We should not allow the government to destroy democracy by exercising the right to collective self-defense. We are concerned that the people of Okinawa will suffer great damage,“ he said. “Let us protect our pacifist constitution. This is the action or struggle that we living in the mainland of Japan can take up for the sake Okinawan people.”