Tokyo, Nov. 9 (Jiji Press)–Tetsuya Higa, former mayor of Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, who accepted construction related to the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air base, died at his home in the city Friday. He was 99. A Nago native, Higa was elected mayor of the city for the first time in the election in 1986. In 1996, during his third term, Higa announced his decision to accept a survey off the Marine Corps’ Camp Schwab in Nago after the area was chosen as a candidate location for an offshore airport following a Japan-U.S. agreement to return the site for the Futenma base in Ginowan, another city in Okinawa, despite local opposition to the construction of the replacement facility in Nago. In a referendum held in Nago in December 1997, a majority of voters showed opposition to the heliport construction in the city. Three days later, Higa visited then Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto in Tokyo and told the Japanese leader that he would accept the construction, contrary to the result of the local referendum. Higa stepped down as mayor after telling reporters following the meeting with Hashimoto that he has decided to accept the project as the top leader of Nago and would bring his political career to an end. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]
