Japan Press Weekly

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2010 November 10 - 16 [OKINAWA]

DPJ changes position since previous Okinawa gubernatorial election

The November 28 Okinawa gubernatorial election campaign officially started on November 11, which is turning out to be a one-on-one fight between Iha Yoichi, a firm opponent of the government plan to relocate the U.S. Futenma base within the prefecture, and the incumbent governor Nakaima Hirokazu.

In the 2006 gubernatorial election, the Japanese Communist Party together with the Social Democratic and the Okinawa Social Mass parties put up Itokazu Keiko (current independent member of the House of Councilors) as a joint anti-base candidate. The Democratic Party of Japan also joined this coalition.

On the first day of official campaigning for the last gubernatorial election, one of the persons who delivered a campaign speech in support of Itokazu was then DPJ acting president Kan Naoto, the current prime minister.

Kan during the election campaign said, “Now is our chance to move the U.S. Marine Corps, including the Futenma base, to somewhere in the United States or its territories such as Guam. In this gubernatorial election, we have the chance to determine whether U.S. bases will remain in Okinawa for 100 years or be removed to the U.S. mainland.”

Then, four years later, in May of this year, the DPJ-led government with the U.S. government agreed to construct a new U.S. base in Henoko, Nago City in Okinawa. Furthermore, because the DPJ could not put up its own candidate for the gubernatorial election, it has instructed party members in Okinawa to vote for a candidate of their own choice.

On November 4 and 5, Nago City Mayor Inamine Susumu, an opponent of the U.S. base construction in Henoko, visited Tokyo with a statement adopted by the city assembly in October urging the government to revoke the May Japan-U.S. agreement. Inamine requested the government and the DPJ to arrange a meeting with the three top officials of the Cabinet as well as the Foreign and the Defense ministries. However, his request was rejected.

The key issue of this gubernatorial election is which candidate can present to both the Japanese and the U.S. governments the firm consensus of Okinawans opposing the new base construction.
- Akahata, November 12, 2010