Son of Ex-Okinawa Governor Announces Bid for Naha Mayor

Naha, Okinawa Pref., Aug. 24 (Jiji Press)--Takeharu Onaga, the second son of the late former Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga, on Wednesday announced his intention to run in the Naha mayoral election Oct. 23.

Onaga, 35, a former assembly member of the southernmost Japan prefecture, accepted a request from the All Okinawa camp, which opposes the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Okinawa's Ginowan to the Henoko district in Nago, also Okinawa.

His father, who died in 2018, once served as mayor of Naha, the prefecture's capital.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's Liberal Democratic Party made a unanimous decision at a selection committee meeting Wednesday to field Satoru Chinen, 58, vice mayor of Naha, as the party's candidate in the mayoral election.

Chinen was a close aide to Takeshi and served as secretary to him when the late politician was Naha mayor.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]