Lawsuit against the Development of Iriomote Resort

We would like to explain briefly about why we are bringing a lawsuit against Unimat Inc. to prevent the development of the Iriomote Resort. Please read the following message written by Mr. Kinsei Ishigaki, the primary representative for the plaintiffs. We hope that this will help you understand the importance of this lawsuit.


A Message to the World from Kinsei Ishigaki
621 Ji Iriomote, Taketomi Ward, Yaeyama District, Okinawa Prefecture

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 Uranai River. This area consists primarily of mangrove habitat that is home to a variety of unique plants and animals. According to Unimat's plan that was 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 Corp, is turning this precious natural environment into a large-scale business resort that will consist of a 19-row building with 98 cottage rooms. The Unimat group makes its money from consumer financing, real estate, and coffee services for office people. In 2001, Mr. Youji Takahashi, the CEO of Unimat Corp, was one of the biggest tax payers 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 the CEO's interests. Using this strategy, Mr. Takahashi has already constructed large resorts on Miyako Island and Kohama Island, two other Okinawan islands. Mr. Takahashi recently moved his residency to Taketomi Ward, paying 1.4 trillion Japanese yen (approximately 12 million US dollars) 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 20 hectars 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 group 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, Inc., the Okinawan government and the local residents of Takatomi Ward (please refer to http://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/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 this lawsuit regardless of age, sex, or nationality. Legally speaking, those who participate in this case will be considered people whose personal human rights have been violated. In a previous lawsuit filed against Osaka Airport for the purpose of stopping evening flights, the Osaka Supreme Court held that personal life, physical safety, and spiritual freedom are the most basic factors of human existence, and are absolutely protected by law. Therefore, these personal rights should not be violated by anyone. Even if their effects are not yet determined, one has the right to protect him/herself from potential acts that would do harm to the body and cause extreme pain to one's spiritual well-being. (Decision of Osaka Supreme Court, November 27, 1975). In the present lawsuit, anyone who feels that their spiritual well-being will suffer from the construction of the Iriomote resort is qualified to become a plaintiff. This kind of lawsuit has never taken place before in Japan, but will be a model for future environmental protection efforts. The Iriomote Island is Japan's treasure as well as the treasure of the world. We wish that people who are willing to protect the future of this island will together with the Iriomote people respond to this call.

On May 17th of this year, at high tide, green sea turtles came up on the Tudumari Beach to lay eggs. Even now, they continue to come to the beach to lay eggs. The local residents believe that these turtles are messengers from their gods. They composed a song commemorating this event to express their wish to preserve the natural environment of the beach:

Semaruhako-turtle from the forest
Until they come to the sea to become sea turtles
Our life, along with the Iriomote Island
Please keep it the way it is, dear gods!

We intend to file our first lawsuit towards the end of June. Our primary goal is to gather 1000 plaintiffs. We call upon all of you to take part in this action.

Sincerely Yours,

Kinsei Ishigaki