Southwest Japan’s Challenges: Global Wave / U.S. Military Sites on Okinawa West Coast Eyed for Integrated Commercial Development by Council 

By Jun Yokoyama and Ken Nakao / Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writers

7:00 JST, March 12, 2025

This is the third installment of a series that follows the waves of change taking place in Kyushu and nearby Yamaguchi and Okinawa prefectures ahead of 2050.

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“We launched the Gateway 2050 Projects Promotion Council in cooperation with municipalities and other business organizations to create an economic development model in which Okinawa drives the Japanese economy. We are committed to realizing this goal,” emphasized Katsuya Kinjo, the chairman of the council of business organizations in Okinawa Prefecture, at a party held at a Naha hotel by the Okinawa Association of Corporate Executives on Jan. 24.

The Gateway (GW) 2050 Projects are a major public-private sector initiative aimed at realizing the integrated use of three U.S. military facilities near residential areas on the west coast of Okinawa Island that are set to be returned to Japan, as well as enhancing the functions of Naha Airport in Naha.

The council is specifically considering developing the three sites in an integrated manner by turning the Naha Port Facility (Naha Military Port) near central Naha into a global industrial park, the Makiminato Service Area (Camp Kinser) in Urasoe into an international resort area that combines history, culture and tourism and the Futenma Air Base in Ginowan into an area that symbolizes the affluent lives of people. The combined land area of these sites is about 800 hectares, equivalent to 170 Tokyo Domes.

Furthermore, there are plans to enhance the functions of Naha Airport to make it an airline hub of the highest global standards. The council will consider building a transportation network that starts from the airport and connects it with the three areas. If these plans are realized, Okinawa Prefecture will be significantly changed.

Driving the economy

Okinawa was once the prosperous Ryukyu Kingdom (1469-1879) thriving on trade, but it became a site for fierce battles during the Pacific War and after the war remained under U.S. control for 27 years. With the reversion of Okinawa to Japan in 1972, many U.S. military sites were not returned to Japan and residents have been troubled by incidents, accidents, noise and other issues caused by the U.S. forces.

However, the sites of the abovementioned three facilities near residential areas are set to be returned to Japan under a Japan-U.S. agreement. They will be returned to Japan after these facilities are relocated or by other means.

“We will be able to develop widespread cleared land areas. This has the potential to allow Okinawa to develop dramatically enough to drive the Japanese economy,” said Denichiro Ishimine, an advisor to the Okinawa Electric Power Co. and former chairman of the Naha Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He has been considering the development of former U.S. military sites for many years.

Ishimine noticed that the former military sites that have been returned since 1972 have become areas centered around large-scale commercial facilities, leading to competition for demand with each other.

He felt a sense of urgency, thinking, “We need to have an integrated strategy for more sustainable growth in Okinawa by creating areas with distinct characteristics.” In around 2023, he began to personally approach people in various fields, which led to the launch of the Gateway 2050 Projects Promotion Council, of which he is a member, in August 2024.

The council obtained support from the central government, with the Cabinet Office earmarking ¥159 million in the current budget for promoting projects for Okinawa’s development to go toward the council’s research activities. The council will use the money to study new industries and transportation facilities for 2050.

2 billion live within 4 hours

Meanwhile, there are many challenges in planning to develop the international resort area in Urasoe. One of them is that tourists to the prefecture stay a low number of nights and spend relatively little money.

In mid-January, the Naha Kokusaidori shopping street, a tourist attraction in central Naha, was crowded with tourists from within and outside Japan.

“We came during our days off from work and will spend two nights. We’ll look around Naha and the surrounding areas before going home,” said a 57-year-old woman from Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, visiting with her family.

Since the 2010s, more foreign tourists have been visiting Okinawa Prefecture, with the number of tourists having reached a record high of 10 million people in fiscal 2018. While Hawaii attracts a similar amount of tourists to Okinawa, the average length of stay in Hawaii is between eight and nine days, compared to about four days in Okinawa. This difference affects per capita spending by tourists as the average spending per tourist is about ¥100,000 in Okinawa Prefecture, less than half that of Hawaii.

On the other hand, Okinawa has the geographical advantage of having about 2 billion people within a four-hour flight from it across Asia.

“It is important to improve tourism productivity through measures such as attracting affluent tourists who tend to stay longer and enhancing experience-oriented tourism,” said Senshu University Prof. Masato Yamauchi, who is knowledge about the prefecture’s economy.

There are expectations that Junglia Okinawa, a new theme park to be opened on July 25, will change the situation. The theme park is designed for visitors to stay for about six hours by offering attractions, a spa and other facilities on about 60 hectares of land between Nago and Nakijin on the northern part of Okinawa Island.

“We would like to help increase the length of stay and per capita spending by tourists in the entirety of Okinawa,” said Takeshi Kato, the president of Japan Entertainment, the company operating Junglia Okinawa.

Integrating tourism with IT

“It is important to use the Gateway 2050 Projects as an opportunity to promote collaboration between industry, academia and governments to strengthen existing industries, as well as to create new industries, such as startups collaborating with research institutes, in order to build a strong economy,” said Tomoo Takeda, a senior official at the Ryugin Research Institute Ltd.

Recently, the information technology industry has increased its presence in Okinawa Prefecture, with the number of companies doubling over the past decade to about 940 companies in fiscal 2022. Attempts to further expand the scale of the project by combining IT and tourism are also attracting attention.