With 1 Month until Okinawa Poll, Both Key Contenders Lack Trump Card

Naha, Okinawa Pref., Aug. 14 (Jiji Press)–With only a month left to go until the Sept. 13 Okinawa gubernatorial election, neither of the two main potential candidates has been able to secure decisive support in the closely watched race for the leader of the southernmost Japan prefecture. The election will effectively be a one-on-one battle between incumbent Governor Denny Tamaki, 66, who is gunning for a third term, and Genta Koja, 42, former deputy mayor of the prefectural capital of Naha who is backed by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party. Amid waning focus on key points of contention in the election, both Tamaki and Koja are emphasizing their efforts to boost benefits for the people of Okinawa, in hopes to expand support among unaffiliated voters. “We are no longer in an era in which we are asked to choose between whether we should concentrate on the U.S. base issue or the local economy,” a person close to Tamaki said. A major point of contention has been the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district in the city of Nago, also in Okinawa. The relocation, however, has been becoming a fait accompli since the Japanese government began landfill work in 2018 off Henoko to build a Futenma replacement facility. The local economy is relatively strong thanks to robust tourism demand. Even Tamaki, who has vehemently maintained his opposition to the planned Futenma base relocation, is shifting his campaign focus to medical care and social welfare policies. The “All Okinawa” camp, which supports Tamaki, has lost its momentum. The All Okinawa camp’s candidates who oppose the base relocation lost to LDP candidates in all four single-seat constituencies in the prefecture in February’s election for the House of Representatives, not helped by the establishment of the Centrist Reform Alliance, a new opposition party in national politics, by Lower House members of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan and Komeito just before the election for the all-important lower chamber of parliament. For the upcoming gubernatorial election, Tamaki has decided not to ask political parties for support, in hopes to reduce parties’ presence in his campaign. A ceremony to mark the opening of his campaign office highlighted his focus on students and women raising children. At a rally on Monday, Tamaki said, “I aim to be a leader who will walk with everybody (in the prefecture).” His camp is also putting efforts into boosting its presence on social media. Tamaki, however, has faced online slander over a fatal accident in March in which two boats capsized off Henoko. Two people died, including one of students at a high school in Kyoto Prefecture, western Japan, who were on a peace education trip to Okinawa. “This is the most challenging election ever for us,” a senior official of Tamaki’s camp said. A former bureaucrat at the internal affairs ministry, Koja has received the backing of the business community. In addition to support from the LDP and its ruling coalition partner, the Japan Innovation Party, Koja has received the backing of the Democratic Party for the People and Sanseito, both opposition parties. Also, he obtained support from Komeito’s Okinawa prefectural headquarters Thursday. “We can’t win unless we expand our wings (of support),” an executive of the LDP’s Okinawa prefectural chapter said. Koja’s rallies have featured company chiefs and others. His camp has in mind the 1998 gubernatorial election, which resulted in Keiichi Inamine being elected Okinawa governor. Inamine concentrated on criticizing the Okinawa prefectural government for causing a slump of the local economy, garnering votes from a wide range of people, mainly those in the business circle. He thus blocked Masahide Ota’s bid for a third term as governor, despite initial expectations that Ota had the upper hand in the race. For the upcoming election, Koja vows to double take-home pay. “We focus on (policies) that are easy to understand,” an official of his camp said. Still, a prefectural assembly member from the LDP said, “People of Okinawa now don’t think that the local economy is in a slump, unlike in the past.” At a gathering on Aug. 5, Koja said, “I’ll realize a prefectural government that will hold negotiations with the central government.” Although Koja is criticizing a sense of stagnation within the prefectural government and a decline in the central government’s budget for the development of Okinawa, some of his supporters are skeptical about whether he would be able to double people’s take-home pay. Former Lower House lawmaker Mikio Shimoji, 65, and others have also announced their intentions to run in the Sept. 13 gubernatorial election. Shimoji, a former member of the LDP, has expressed his opposition to the planned relocation of the U.S. forces’ military port in Naha to Urasoe, a city in the prefecture. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]