Mr. Hiroshi Ahitomi is co-leader of Anti-Helicopter Base Council. He lives in Nago City, Okinawa.
Hiroshi Ashitomi, 69 years old, was a public welfare officer in the Okinawa prefectural office. He retired 9 years ago, and has been involved in the movement against US military bases on the island for 18 years. He co-leads the Anti-Helicopter Base Council, a citizen’s group, founded in 1997 Nago City after a plebiscite on the question of whether to build a new base at Henoko. The council has tree planting groups, kayak activists, a protest ships called Henoko Blue and a diving team that monitors the bases’ impact on the marine environment.
Hiroshi was born in Tokyo in 1946. His father is originally from Okinawa, and moved from Tokyo to Okinawa when it was still occupied by the US military. When he was a high school student, when there was both the Vietnam War and a growing movement in Okinawa against the US occupation.
Hiroshi says the Futenma Airbase was created on land where Okinawa people originally lived. The U.S. military seized land, destroyed villages, and created the airbase
Hiroshi says he is not anti-American – he loves jazz and American pop music. But it is the US government’s treatment of the Okinawan people that has incensed him. His idol is a man who led the original anti-base movement on the island, known as the “Gandhi of Okinawa. Shoko Ahagon led a non-violent resistance movement of Japanese peace activists.
Hiroshi wants to see Futenma Airbase removed from Okinawa, and that a new base at Henoko not be built.