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| Futenma Air Station |
By Mina Pollmann
Tokyo’s favored candidate won reelection as Ginowan’s mayor, providing a boost for the relocation of a U.S. base.
Sunday’s mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture will reverberate far beyond the local level, impacting national politics and even the U.S.-Japan alliance. The incumbent, Atsushi Sakima, defeated rookie challenger, Keiichiro Shimura, for a second four-year term – and clinched Tokyo’s victory in what Kyodo News called a “proxy battle between the central and prefectural governments.” At stake is the Futenma relocation plan, which would move the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station from crowded Ginowan to the Henoko area of Nago. The relocation is important for the maintenance of the U.S.-Japan alliance, but fiercely opposed by Okinawans because of the unfair burden that the U.S. bases place on the prefecture, especially relative to the rest of Japan.
Starting with Susumu Inamine’s victory in the January 2014 Nago mayoral election and Takeshi Onaga’s victory in the November 2014 Okinawa gubernatorial election, candidates backed by the ruling bloc and central government have suffered a series of defeats at the local level at the hands of politicians running in opposition to the Henoko relocation plan. Okinawans are not opposed to the idea of moving the Futenma air base from Ginowan per se – after all, the base’s close proximity to a residential center is a dangerous nuisance for the locals – but they want the base to be relocated outside of Okinawa all together.
Tokyo welcomed Sakima’s win, of course, and central government officials hope that this will reverse some of the recent political setbacks in the prefecture. This victory is also considered key to building momentum for the Futenma base relocation. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe characterized Sakima’s victory as “significant.”
Read the full story at The Diplomat