Photo/Illutration Nishinoomote Mayor Shunsuke Yaita, right, submits a request to Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi on Feb. 3. (Sunao Gushiken)

The mayor of an island off the coast of southern Kagoshima Prefecture has done an about-face over the controversial relocation of U.S. military exercises nearby after he campaigned to stop it.

Nishinoomote Mayor Shunsuke Yaita won re-election in January 2021 vowing to staunchly oppose the U.S. military using the nearby Mageshima island, which is part of Nishinoomote but uninhabited, as a training site.

But on Feb. 3, Yaita met with Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi in Tokyo and submitted a request regarding Mageshima that all but admitted defeat.

It called for creating a forum between the municipal and central governments to discuss the issue on the assumption that the training exercises would be moved there and that a new Self-Defense Force base would be built there as well.

It also requested “special consideration” of tax subsidies distributed to local governments that agree to cooperate with efforts to relocate U.S. military facilities and drills.

Kishi told Yaita that efforts would be made to respond to local concerns through the new forum and that utmost consideration would be given over the tax subsidy.

“There was a need to resolve the concerns of residents through a realistic approach,” Yaita told reporters after the meeting.

Yaita said he would express his position on the Mageshima plan at a later date, but added he felt this was the responsible way to proceed.

“Although my view has not changed, as the representative of local residents, I felt I could not encourage division among residents.”

Defense Ministry officials had informed Yaita in January that Mageshima had been selected to be the site for U.S. military training exercises and hosting the SDF base.

In December, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s Cabinet approved a draft budget for fiscal 2022 with 318.3 billion yen ($2.8 billion) earmarked for the Mageshima base plan.

During the Jan. 7 conference call involving Kishi, Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and their U.S. counterparts, the two sides agreed to proceed with the Mageshima plan.

Given that the central government has already formally approved Mageshima as the site, the request submitted by Yaita said, “This issue has moved to a new stage.”

The Nishinoomote municipal government held discussions with 51 local organizations, including the chamber of commerce, on the issue in January. Some expressed expectations they would receive tax subsidies while others asked that a forum be set up to discuss local concerns, such as the safety of residents.

The request made clear that the municipal government was prepared to accept the relocation and the new SDF base as it entered discussions with the central government.

(This article was written by Sunao Gushiken and Kaigo Narisawa.)

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