Henoko

So in terms of getting along with the central government, Kojo takes a more pro-military base stance.

A symbolic project that characterizes this is the Henoko project, which involves relocating the Futenma air base from a crowded city to another site on reclaimed land along the east coast of Okinawa's mainland.

Tamaki and the administration before him fiercely opposed that project.

But Kojo, on the other hand, he was in favor of the Henoko project, so that marks a real shift.

It seems surprising that Okinawans would now elect a governor who is keen on these military bases, having opposed them for so long.

What's changed?

He's in favor of the US-Japan alliance.

So for him, it's a matter of protecting Okinawans' dignity.

recommended relocating Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

By 2006, Japan and the U.S. agreed to move it to Henoko on landfill in Oura Bay.

Okinawa's governor approved the landfill permit in 2013.

The original estimate? 350 billion yen.

4.

The cost and timeline overruns tied to environmental or geological conditions that nobody accounted for.

Henoko's seafloor, Guam's typhoon and Nicobar's very obvious seismic exposure.

And lastly, 5.

The council has not met since Takeshi Onaga was elected Okinawa governor in 2014.

Onaga opposed the relocation of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to Henoko in the prefecture, a stance that contributed to years of friction between Tokyo and Okinawa.

Growth mandate.

The day before meeting Kōja, Takaichi welcomed the election results and the chance to expand Okinawa's economy.

Tamaki gained support from seventy-three percent of those who selected the military base issue, but that group itself has shrunk.

In the twenty eighteen election, forty-six percent of voters picked the military base issue, and thirty-four percent did so in twenty twenty-two.

Exit polls over the years have also shown a decrease in voter opposition to the plan to relocate the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to Nago's Henoko district, also in Okinawa Prefecture.

In the latest election, which was conducted after the Supreme Court ruling in twenty twenty-five favored the central government's relocation plan, fifty percent of voters supported the move, outpacing the forty-four percent who opposed it.

The 42-year-old will become the prefecture's first governor born after the return of Okinawa from US rule in 1972.

Koja accepts ongoing work to relocate the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station from Ginowan City to the Henoko area of Nago City.

He also expressed his intention to ask the central government to realize an early return of land used by the base.

Tamaki, on the other hand, opposed the relocation project.

Naha Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, whose political identity has been defined by his opposition to a U.S. military base project, is barely talking about the issue in his bid for a third term.

At a Sept. 5 campaign rally in Naha for the Sept. 13 gubernatorial election, Tamaki, 66, did not once mention the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenmai in Ginowan to Henoko, also in the prefecture.

Instead, banners promoted rent support for the working generation while campaign leaflets touted the prefectural economy.

It was a striking departure from four years ago, when Tamaki put opposition to the relocation project at the forefront of his re-election campaign.

However, Tamaki and other opponents have essentially run out of legal options to halt construction at the Henoko site.

And Okinawans, particularly younger voters, have lost interest in the issue and want more done to revitalize the local economy.

Tamaki did declare at his official campaign launch on August 27, Henoko can never be completed.

I am absolutely opposed.