Yomitan requests Defense Bureau access to place of worship located on U.S. military base
Yomitan Mayor Denjitsu Ishimine (third from right) reading the letter of request to Director-General Toshinori Tanaka (far left) at the Okinawa Defense Bureau in Kadena on December 1.
December 14, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
On December 1, Shokichi Yokota, chair of the Yomitan Village Makibaru Community Association, Kantoku Teruya, member of the House of Representatives, and Yomitan Village Mayor Denjitsu Ishimine, visited the Okinawa Defense Bureau Director-General Toshinori Tanaka. The group requested that the fence in front of the
Chichen Utaki, a place of worship located inside the U.S. Army’s Kadena Ammunition Depot, be moved back toward the base so that the former residents of Makibaru village can visit and worship freely. The former Makibaru village was seized by the U.S. after the war; Still, in the past, the gate provided locals free access to the Utaki, and people visited to pray an