U.S. Marine’s Son Wins Okinawa Election on Promise to Oppose Military Base

The New York Times
Sept. 30, 2018


Denny Tamaki, center, on Sunday celebrating his victory in the Okinawa governor’s race.CreditCreditHitoshi Maeshiro/EPA, via Shutterstock

U.S. Marine’s Son Wins Okinawa Election on Promise to Oppose Military Base

TOKYO — Denny Tamaki, the son of a Japanese mother and a United States Marine, became the first mixed-race governor in Japan on Sunday after winning a close election in Okinawa, a southern archipelago heavily populated by American military installations.

His victory poses a setback to plans by the Japanese government and the United States to transfer a busy Marine air base on Okinawa from the city of Ginowan to a less populated coastal area on the island.

Mr. Tamaki wants the base moved out of Okinawa altogether. His opponent, Atsushi Sakima, who was backed by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was until recently the mayor of Ginowan and supported the base’s transfer.

Mr. Tamaki, 58, succeeds Takeshi Onaga, an outspoken critic of the American bases, who died in August from complications of pancreatic cancer.

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Okinawa to proceed with late governor’s move to block U.S. base construction

Okinawa to proceed with late governor’s move to block U.S. base construction


Koichiro Nakajima (center), chief of the Defense Ministry's Okinawa bureau, faces reporters after attending a hearing with Okinawa Prefectural Government on Thursday in Naha. The prefectural government held the session to revoke its permission for land reclamation as part of construction of a U.S. military base in the Henoko coastal district in the city of Nago. | KYODO

The Japan Times
Aug 9, 2018

NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – The Okinawa prefectural government held a hearing with local Defense Ministry officials on Thursday over its plan, announced by the late Governor Takeshi Onaga, to revoke permission for land reclamation during construction of a U.S. military base in the Henoko coastal district in the city of Nago.

The hearing took place as scheduled, following the death on Wednesday of Onaga, who had led opposition to the plan to build a replacement facility in Henoko for the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station currently located in Ginowan, another city in the southern prefecture.

Although the Okinawa Defense Bureau objected to the planned revocation and demanded the continuation of the hearing process, the prefectural government told the bureau that there would be no more hearings.

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Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, dies at 67

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, long a voice for those opposed to U.S. bases in the prefecture, dies at 67



The Japantimes
Aug 8, 2018

OSAKA – Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga died Wednesday evening at age 67 following hospitalization related to pancreatic cancer.

The death of the governor, who had been ill for many months and who underwent surgery in April to remove a cancerous tumor, comes just days after he ordered local officials to start the process of retracting the previous governor’s 2013 approval of a landfill project needed to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, in northern Okinawa, from a densely populated area in Ginowan, central Okinawa.

In October 2015, Onaga revoked his predecessor Hirokazu Nakaima’s 2013 approval of Tokyo’s request for related landfill work in Nago, saying it was legally flawed. But the Supreme Court ruled against Onaga’s position in December 2016, allowing the central government to resume construction last year.

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Metal window frame from U.S. military helicopter falls on elementary school grounds in Okinawa

Metal window frame from U.S. military helicopter falls on elementary school grounds in Okinawa　(the japan times)

KYODO
Dec 13, 2017

NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – A metal window frame fell off a U.S. military transport helicopter and onto the grounds of an elementary school in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Wednesday, triggering renewed anger and concerns in the municipality where a key U.S. air base is located.

A student was slightly injured by small stones that were scattered by the impact when the object fell on the playground of the school, located just next to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. About 60 students were there at the time.

Brig. Gen. Paul Rock, commander of Marine Corps Installations Pacific and Camp Butler, met and apologized to Okinawa Vice Gov. Moritake Tomikawa later in the day.

He also said flight operations of the helicopters of the same type at Futenma had been suspended as of Wednesday afternoon.

“The safety of children should come first. It is unforgivable that it dropped in the middle of the playground,” Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga told reporters as he visited the school.

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Japanese nursery school hit by possible US aircraft part

Japanese nursery school hit by possible US aircraft part

By REX SAKAMOTO

OKINAWA JAPAN — Dec 7, 2017, 8:54 AM ET


A Japanese nursery school, which is located about 2.5 miles from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

The 1st Marine Aircraft Wing, a unit of the U.S. Marine Corps, is investigating reports that an object from a U.S. military aircraft fell onto the roof of the Midorigaoka Nursery School in Okinawa, Japan, Thursday morning.

A staff member at the school told NHK, a Japanese public broadcasting company, that a cylindrical object fell on the roof right after an American military aircraft passed over. The nursery school is located about 2.5 miles from Marine Corps Air Station Futenma.

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