In 2019, an incendiary device was unsuccessfully employed by an unknown intruder outside the office of the Okinawa Defense Bureau. The device failed to detonate and no one was injured, but the message and intent were clear. The incident happened a few days after a Japanese government announcement that controversial construction and landfill work at Camp Schwab would resume. A quarter century ago, the United States and Japan agreed to eventually close Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and relocate it to Camp Schwab after the brutal rape of a Japanese civilian by three service members in 1995. However, it took decades to get the project started, and its original projected completion date was six years ago.
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