Okinawa elects pro-base governor, ending 12 years of anti-military resistance

Okinawa elects pro-relocation governor in sharp break from decade of base opposition

A conservative candidate who accepts Tokyo's controversial US airbase relocation plan has won Okinawa's gubernatorial election by a landslide, ending 12 years of anti-base governance in Japan's southernmost prefecture.

Genta Koja defeated two-term incumbent Denny Tamaki, raising questions about whether Okinawa is finally shifting away from the US military base issue that has dominated its post-war politics.

Economic revival trumps base resistance

The 42-year-old Koja, backed by Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's Liberal Democratic Party, campaigned on economic revival and support for Tokyo's plan to relocate the US Marine Corps' Futenma air station from densely populated Ginowan to the coastal Henoko district in Nago, both on Okinawa Island.

His victory represents a striking reversal for the anti-base movement. Tamaki had opposed the relocation project throughout his tenure as governor, continuing a stance he inherited from his late predecessor after winning the 2018 election on an anti-base platform.

The result suggests economic hardship has frustrated Okinawans enough to rally behind a new governor willing to work with Tokyo, leaving the long-standing anti-base resistance in disarray. Koja's win marks a decisive break from more than a decade of governance defined by opposition to the American military presence.

Source: South China Morning Post