March 2, 2019

Okinawa Governor Tamaki Denny has notified both the Japanese and U.S. governments of the result of the February 24 referendum in which more than 70% of voters expressed their opposition to the Henoko landfill work for the construction of a U.S. base in Okinawa's Nago City.

Gov. Tamaki also notified the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo of the referendum result.

The governor on March 1 visited Prime Minister Abe Shinzo at the PM Office in Tokyo and said that if Abe's statement, "I will take the result seriously," came from his heart, he should accept the will of Okinawans and immediately put a halt to the reclamation work.

In the meeting, the governor pointed out that already 23 years have passed since the SACO agreement where both governments decided to relocate the U.S. Futenma base from Okinawa's Ginowan City. He then suggested that a new forum of discussion, what he says "SACO WITH OKINAWA=SACWO", be set up with Tokyo, Okinawa, and Washington participating.

Past related articles:
> Okinawa confronts PM Abe with overwhelming ‘No’ in Henoko referendum [February 25, 2019]
> Backed by referendum results, Okinawa will push Tokyo to give up on Henoko base project [February 25, 2019]