Okinawa Governor Tamaki to Seek 3rd Term

Tokyo, March 17 (Jiji Press)–Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki plans to run for a third term in the southernmost Japan prefecture’s gubernatorial election to be held ahead of the expiration of his current term in September, according to informed sources. Tamaki, 66, plans to officially announce his candidacy at a press conference in the prefectural capital of Naha on March 28, the sources said. His campaign is expected to focus on seeking the early return to Japan of the site of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in the Okinawa city of Ginowan, as well as opposing its planned relocation to the Henoko district in the city of Nago, also in Okinawa. First elected Okinawa governor in 2018 as the successor to Takeshi Onaga following his death, Tamaki won re-election in 2022. In the upcoming race, he is again expected to receive support from the “All Okinawa” camp, which opposes the relocation plan. Opponents of the relocation have recently faced setbacks, including losing the Nago mayoral election in January and failing to secure a win in any of the prefecture’s four constituencies in February’s House of Representatives election, in which candidates from the ruling Liberal Democratic Party prevailed. Seeking to regain control of the prefectural government for the first time in 12 years, the LDP plans to field Genta Koja, 42, a former official at the internal affairs ministry and former Naha deputy mayor, as a challenger to Tamaki. He is set to hold a press conference on Monday. Although Tamaki was asked in January by the All Okinawa camp to run for a third term, he only said at a prefectural assembly meeting in February that he would “make a decision after consulting with related parties.” END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]