Japan to pursue US base relocation in Okinawa despite opponent’s 2nd term

TOKYO – The Japanese government on Monday recommitted to taking necessary steps to relocate a key US base within Okinawa despite vocal opponent Denny Tamaki a day earlier winning his second term as governor of Japan’s southernmost prefecture, Kyodo news agency reported.

Earlier in the day, Tamaki reiterated his campaign pledge to stop the construction of a new US military facility in Okinawa, underscoring the deep rift between the central government and the prefecture.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno told a press conference that the relocation plan is the “only solution” to alleviate the burden on Okinawa, which hosts the bulk of US bases in Japan, adding the central government will not budge on its position.

Tamaki, meanwhile, told reporters a day after winning his second four-year term, “It is an undeniable fact that I was elected by the people who oppose” the relocation plan, meaning the “Okinawans’ true feelings have not changed.”

Opposition-backed Tamaki scored more than half of the votes cast in Sunday’s gubernatorial election, beating rival former Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima, who was supported by the ruling coalition of the Liberal Democratic Party and its junior partner Komeito.

Tamaki received 339,767 votes, or 50.8 percent, while Sakima collected 274,844, or 41.1 per cent, and former lawmaker Mikio Shimoji gained 53,677, or 8.0 percent, according to official data.

Sakima ran on a platform of going ahead with relocating US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the densely populated area within the city of Ginowan to the Henoko coastal area of Nago.

The central government has long claimed the transfer plan can both ensure deterrence under the long-standing Japan-US security alliance, considered particularly vital amid China’s rise, while removing the dangers posed by the Futenma base.

Tamaki has long said Okinawa bears an unreasonable burden by hosting around 70 per cent of all US military facilities in Japan. The prefecture was returned to Japan from US control half a century ago.