The Japan-US Joint Committee has agreed to return part of the Kishaba Housing Area on Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan, pictured here on April 17, 2026, to local control. (Keishi Koja/Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — A housing area on this Marine Corps base may be returned to Okinawa by fall to help alleviate traffic congestion on a major highway, according to U.S. and Japanese authorities.
The Japan-U.S. Joint Committee on Thursday finalized an agreement for the return of approximately 12 acres in the Kishaba Housing area, according to a news release that day from Japan’s Ministry of Defense.
The property straddles Foster’s southeastern fenceline alongside a two-lane section of Prefectural Road 81 and the eastern fence line next to the smart interchange entrance to the Okinawa Expressway.
The 2013 Consolidation Plan for Facilities and Areas in Okinawa includes the site as one of three on Foster to be returned once replacement facilities are provided by Japan. The Kishaba Housing area to be returned includes 32 housing units, according to the plan.
The Marine Corps estimates the property will be returned to Okinawa in late fall, Marine Corps Installations Pacific spokeswoman 1st Lt. Kelsey Enlow said by email March 3.
“This is determined by other conditions being met such as operational utilities and livable condition,” she wrote.
Approximately 200 new housing units under construction in the northern Kishaba Housing area behind Zukeran Elementary School are part of the plan, Enlow said.
The Okinawa Defense Bureau, an arm of Japan’s Defense Ministry, estimates that relocating housing and demolishing homes obstructing the installation of new boundary fences will take approximately one year, a spokesman said by phone Friday.
“Demolition work on the family houses that obstructs the boundary fence will begin as soon as the necessary preparations are complete,” he said.
Some Japanese government officials must speak to the press only on condition of anonymity.
Once the return is complete, the prefecture plans to widen Prefectural Road 81 from two lanes to four to alleviate morning and evening traffic, Defense Minister Shinjiro Koizumi told reporters Friday in Tokyo.
“Prefectural Road 81 is a major thoroughfare connecting the east and west of Okinawa Prefecture, used by many residents, and suffers from chronic traffic congestion,” he said. “We understand that there are strong requests from local residents for measures to alleviate this congestion.”
He said the ministry will continue to “ensure the earliest possible return of the land.”
