Okinawa Land Deal Near US Base Puts Japan's New Rules to the Test

The Yokatsu Peninsula juts into the Pacific off central Okinawa's main island. At its tip sits a cluster of strategically sensitive facilities. They include the Ground Self-Defense Force's Camp Katsuren detachment, home to the 7th Surface-to-Ship Missile Regiment, the United States Navy port known as White Beach, and the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Okinawa base unit.

Katsuren-Heshikiya, in the city of Uruma on Okinawa's main island, lies near the tip of the Yokatsu Peninsula. The Sankei Shimbun found that an undeveloped tract of land just a few hundred meters from the bases is owned by a Naha real-estate firm run by a Chinese man in his 40s.

"I bought it thinking I'd develop a resort hotel with views of both sunrise and sunset," he said. "The bases have nothing to do with it. If anything, having them nearby makes it safer."

That was the plan, he says. However, he hasn't filed any permit applications to open a hotel. He bought roughly 6,000 square meters of land in late 2017, and it has sat idle ever since. "Construction costs have gone up," he said. "Once I can see a path forward, I'd like to start building."

Deals in Monitored Areas

Just several hundred meters away sits the US military's White Beach port facility. The surrounding area has since been designated a "special monitored area" under the National Land Planning Act that took effect in 2022, requiring advance notification for land transactions.

"I can't believe someone would build a resort hotel there," said Hideji Oshiro, head of the Katsuren-Heshikiya neighborhood association. "It's surrounded by military land, and a lot of it is steeply sloped. Even building homes there is difficult, let alone a resort hotel."

*US military White Beach (left) and the land acquired by a company run by a Chinese man (right) are only a few hundred meters apart. fecture (©Sankei by Naoki Otake).*

On a visit to the site, guided by cadastral maps, the plot was choked with brush and trees. Part of the farm road leading in was blocked by a landslide. A Ministry of Defense (MOD) official questioned the purchase. "There's almost no practical use for that land," they said. "So why buy it?"

Bought Through Japanese Intermediaries

The National Land Planning Act allows the government to monitor purchases of land and buildings near security-sensitive facilities. It also imposes criminal penalties for failing to file required advance notifications or for ignoring government orders. But it hasn't stopped deals.

"Foreign buyers sometimes use Japanese intermediaries to acquire land near bases," an MOD official said. "That makes the real ownership harder to pin down."

A Cabinet Office survey found that in fiscal 2024, foreigners and foreign-owned companies bought land and buildings within one kilometer of sensitive sites, including defense facilities, nuclear plants, and airports. There were 3,498 purchases across 37 prefectures. China accounted for the biggest share by far — 1,674 deals, nearly half.

Hideki Hirano, head of the National Land Resources Research Institute, which tracks foreign land purchases, said: "Foreign ownership around bases could create openings for sabotage." He cited risks ranging from drone launch sites and power cutoffs to weapons caches and surveillance posts.

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Breaking from a Laissez-Faire Approach

Thirty-five years after the Cold War, Japan is trying to move beyond what critics describe as a hands-off posture on security. Economic stagnation during the country's "lost three decades" squeezed public finances. Defense budgets then shrank for a decade after the Junichiro Koizumi administration began cutting them in fiscal 2003 under a slogan of "structural reform with nothing off limits." Japan's position in global defense-spending rankings slipped as a result.

Now the security environment looks very different. Japan's defense posture is shifting away from the Cold War-era emphasis on the north. The focus is moving to the country's southwestern islands, with China's expanding maritime reach in mind. As its sense of crisis grows, the government is stepping up spending. It plans to bring defense-related outlays to 2% of GDP by fiscal year 2027, after years at or below 1%.

In the United States, Chinese-backed purchases of farmland near military bases have drawn scrutiny. The Donald Trump administration announced plans in July 2025 to bar the sale of farmland to Chinese companies and individuals.

Japan, too, is trying to move away from what critics describe as a hands-off approach. Building a mechanism that can block land deals that run counter to the national interest has become an urgent task.

(Read the article in Japanese.)

Author: Naoki Otake, The Sankei Shimbun