Denny Tamaki, successor-designate of late anti-base governor, …

Denny Tamaki, successor-designate of late anti-base governor, declares candidacy in Okinawa race

the japantimes Aug 29, 2018


NAHA, OKINAWA PREF. – Opposition lawmaker Denny Tamaki, who was reportedly designated as a successor by Okinawa’s late governor and anti-U.S. base activist Takeshi Onaga, on Wednesday formally declared his candidacy in the gubernatorial election next month.

Tamaki, 58, a House of Representatives member of the Liberal Party, is set to face off against Atsushi Sakima, 54, a former Ginowan mayor who is backed by the Liberal Democratic Party led by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who has been promoting the controversial relocation of a U.S. military base within the prefecture.

The gubernatorial election will be held on Sept. 30 following the death of Onaga on Aug. 8.

“Succeeding the last wish of Onaga, I’ll go through with our goal of stopping construction of the new base,” Tamaki told a news conference in Naha.

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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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