INTERVIEW: Many Residents Against Futenma Relocation within Okinawa

Urasoe, Okinawa Pref., Sept. 4 (Jiji Press)--A majority of residents in Okinawa Prefecture are constantly opposed to the planned relocation of the U.S. Futenma base in the Okinawa city of Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, another city in the southernmost Japan prefecture, former Okinawa Governor Keiichi Inamine has said in an interview.

Inamine, a former businessman, was first elected leader of Okinawa in the 1998 gubernatorial election, in which the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps air station to Henoko became a point of contention for the first time. He won the election with the backing of Japan's ruling Liberal Democratic Party.

He served as Okinawa governor for two terms totaling eight years from December 1998 to December 2006.

The interview came ahead of the Okinawa gubernatorial election on Sept. 13, in which incumbent Governor Denny Tamaki is seeking his third term and faces challenges from LDP-backed Genta Koja, former deputy mayor of the Okinawa capital of Naha, and other candidates.

Debates over the Futenma relocation and other issues facing Okinawa are heating up in the run-up to the closely watched election.

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]