Irabu-Jima, the bridge and the fake airport

Irabu is not all roses and turquise water. There are a lot of run down houses with cars on blocks. Reminds me of rural Vermont.

This is a storage shed for sugar cane, the number one crop on the islands.

The folks at the guest house were getting excited because there was going to be a 'Peace' demonstration. It turns out this little island has a functioning airport with a long runway for 747's. It is only used for practice by all the Japanese airlines. I had been wondering why we didn't fly out of here rather than take the ferry back to Miyako-Jima since I saw lots of passenger jets. Now I know.

So it seems the US government along with the Japanese one have been thinking of moving the controversial base from Okinawa to here. It would totally destroy this peaceful place. That and the Bridge that is going to be done in 2012. Here is the approach to the airport, the landing lights stretch into the beautiful water.

So the protest was about that and I joined about 30 other folks in chanting and holding hands while people gave speeches that were probably boring but since I could not understand it was ok by me.
I was happy to be the only foreigner there. I don't have any photos of myself there which may be a good thing. Here are some I took.

At the end I got a cool 'Peace' button. The organizer actually drove to the guest house later in the day to find me, shake my hand and give me the button.