A Message to the World

Iriomote Island, one of many beautiful natural settings of the Ryukyu Islands, is standing on the verge of environmental destruction. A group of developers by the name of Unimat, Inc., is constructing an extremely large four-story building of iron and concrete in the northwestern region of Iriomote Island. This group, which has the goal of developing the largest business resort in Okinawa Prefecture, is operating on Tudumari Beach, located near the mouth of the Urauchi River. This area consists primarily of mangrove habitat that is home to a variety of unique plants and animals. According to Unimat's plan released in June 2003, the building currently under construction will have 141 rooms.

Tudumari Beach is sacred land for the local people, not only because they consider it a place where gods descend and play, but also because it provides the nurturing environment for many endangered species such as the crested serpent eagle (Spilornis cheela) and the yellow-margined box turtle (Cistoclemmys flavomarginata). The beach also offers places for green turtles (Chelonia mydas) to come and lay eggs.

Unimat Real Estate, a member of Unimat Corporation, is turning this precious natural environment into a large-scale business resort that will consist of a nineteen-row building with ninety-eight cottage rooms. The Unimat group makes its money from consumer financing, real estate, and coffee services for offices. In 2001, Youji Takahashi, the CEO of Unimat, was one of the biggest taxpayers in Japan. His resort-developing strategy consists of filing residency in the place he wants to build and paying large amounts of taxes to local autonomous governments in order to get them to support his interests. Using this strategy, Takahashi has already constructed large resorts on Miyako Island and Kohama Island, two other Okinawan islands. Takahashi recently moved his residency to Taketomi Ward, paying 1.4 trillion yen (approximately $12 million) to the local autonomous government. His tax money amounted to one-third of that town's annual budget. The mayor of Taketomi Ward has praised Mr. Takahashi's residential registration as a "voice from heaven," welcoming his current attempt to erode Iriomote Island's invaluable natural environment.

Iriomote Island is not part of the national park system. Under the current law, only parcels of land twenty hectares and over can be set aside as the subject of environmental assessment. Therefore the Okinawan government claims the construction of the resort is legal. Taking advantage of these conditions, Unimat is executing its operation without taking environmental protection into consideration. Moreover, the government of Okinawa Prefecture went ahead and permitted the development in October 2002, officially recognizing it in March 2003. Both Unimat and the governing body of Taketomi Ward have thus far rejected any attempts made by the local people to hold meetings to discuss the issues concerning the effects of the resort on the local natural environment. While construction has already begun, no sufficient dialogue has taken place between Unimat, the Okinawan government, and the local residents of Taketomi Ward (please refer to www5e.biglobe.ne.jp/~irimira for details).

The local people have established ecotourism as a principle, working hard to maintain a healthy balance between the natural environment and tourism. The plan for Unimat to develop a business resort will certainly interfere with the people's efforts to preserve this balance. Therefore, over one hundred local residents in March 2003 filed a legal claim against Unimat in the Naha District Court. However, the court has not yet determined how much damage the development will cause to Iriomote Island's natural environment.

With determination to stop construction, the local people are calling upon people from all over Japan and the international community to help with the legal proceedings to prevent Unimat's development of their precious land. Anyone who thinks he or she will suffer physically, mentally, or spiritually from the environmental destruction that will occur on Iriomote Island is qualified to participate as a plaintiff in...