Japan Press Weekly

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2013 November 27 - December 3 [OKINAWA]

LDP lawmakers in Okinawa supporting US base relocation receive money from contractors of relocation-related projects

It has been revealed that Okinawa’s four parliamentarians of the Liberal Democratic Party, while breaking an election promise to oppose the planned relocation of the U.S. Futenma base to the Henoko district, received a total of 6.1 million yen from local construction companies awarded state contracts related to the base relocation.

This came out in the 2012 political funds reports released by the Okinawa Prefectural Electoral Commission on November 30.

The four lawmakers, Kokuba Konosuke, Higa Natsumi, Nishime Kosaburo, and Miyazaki Masahisa, won their seats in the Okinawa constituency in the 2012 House of Representatives general election by pledging to block the construction of a new U.S. base within the prefecture.

In 2012, Kokuba accepted 2.4 million yen in political donations from 14 local companies engaged in relocation-related construction projects. The 14 companies also donated 1.2 million yen to Higa, 2.2 million yen to Nishime, and 300,000 yen to Miyazaki.

LDP Upper House member Shimajiri Aiko, who abandoned her 2010 election promise to move the Futenma base outside the prefecture, received 3.5 million yen in political donations from Okinawa’s four construction companies related to the relocation projects.

The Defense Ministry as of the end of FY 2012 carried out a total of 19.2 billion yen in construction work near Camp Shwab in Nago City in Okinawa Prefecture based on the premise that an alternative facility for the Futenma base will be built in the city’s Henoko district.

Past related article:
> Okinawa’s LDP lawmakers cancel promises to oppose US base construction [November 26, 2013]