Differences of opinions have widened between Okinawa Prefecture and Tokyo since Keizo Obuchi tried to bring issues facing the southern island prefecture to the fore of government policy.

Now, the daughter of Obuchi, who was prime minister when he died following a stroke in 2000, is trying to narrow those gaps.

On the afternoon of April 28 in the Lower House, Yuko Obuchi read out a draft resolution marking the 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japan from U.S. military rule.

Her proposal drew a big applause from lawmakers in the chamber.

But Obuchi, who has served as chairwoman of the Liberal Democratic Party’s Research Commission for the Promotion and Development of Okinawa for three years, said she feels a growing sense of crisis.

“Those who didn’t know much about Okinawa were not deemed politicians in my father’s era,” she said at a commission meeting in February. “But fewer lawmakers are currently showing an interest in it.”

Back in her father’s days, Ryutaro Hashimoto, a former prime minister, then Chief Cabinet Secretary Hiromu Nonaka and other powerful politicians discussed Okinawa’s problems on various occasions.

Yuko Obuchi said, however, that those holding important posts in her commission are usually elected from Okinawa Prefecture.

Some LDP members said lawmakers these days fear that their “reputations could be damaged if they touch on Okinawa issues.”

LONG CONNECTION TO OKINAWA

Obuchi said her father provided the starting point for her as a politician working for Okinawa.

Although Keizo rarely talked about Okinawa in front of Yuko, she had heard that he stared at the sea from the Bankoku Shinryokan convention hall in Nago city, which served as a venue for the Group of Eight summit held in Okinawa Prefecture and Kyushu in 2000.

In spring 2001, a year after she became a lawmaker for the first time, Obuchi visited the site and also stared at the clear waters of Nago Bay.

Obuchi said she felt she could understand her father’s feelings about the scars left in Okinawa and recognized the gravity of the issues in the prefecture.

Even before he entered politics, Keizo, as a passport-carrying student, repeatedly traveled to Okinawa when it was under U.S. rule. He traced the prefecture’s trauma while searching for remains of the war dead.

For Keizo, “warfare and Okinawa” were inseparable elements.

A veteran Lower House member from the LDP said the activities of Keizo and other lawmakers were a form of compensation.

“Many civilians were involved in war,” the member said. “Okinawa was put under U.S. rule for a prolonged period after World War II. They felt a need to atone because of those facts.”

CARROT-AND-STICK POLICY

Despite highlighting the issues, the administrations of Obuchi and Hashimoto did not change Tokyo’s basic stance of forcing Okinawa to host the majority of U.S. military facilities in Japan.

They stuck firmly to the postwar Japan-U.S. security framework as a pillar of Tokyo’s diplomatic and defense strategy, a policy underpinned by Okinawa.

After an Okinawa schoolgirl was abducted and raped in September 1995, Washington refused to hand over the suspects--a group of U.S. servicemen--to Japanese police, citing the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA).

A number of accidents involving U.S. military equipment, including helicopters, as well as crimes committed by U.S. personnel have since been reported on Okinawa.

SOFA, however, remains unchanged.

But the rape of the girl sparked outrage and huge protests across Japan.

Hashimoto, who took office in 1996, agreed with U.S. Ambassador to Japan Walter Mondale on the reversion to Japan of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture.

Hashimoto retained the decision to relocate the base within the prefecture.

Obuchi took over from Hashimoto as prime minister.

In line with a Hashimoto policy, Obuchi included 10 billion yen ($77 million) in the special budget to promote Okinawa Prefecture after he decided that Japan would host the Group of Eight summit in Okinawa Prefecture.

Keiichi Inamine, the Okinawa governor at that time, selected the Henoko district of Nago as a candidate site for the Futenma base’s relocation.

For 50 years, successive administrations have injected promotion budgets totaling more than 13 trillion yen into Okinawa for its burden of hosting so many military bases.

The carrot-and-stick policy has changed over time.

In September 2015, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga met with Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga to discuss the Futenma relocation issue.

Onaga called on Tokyo to resolve the issue of U.S. bases in Okinawa by referring to the prefecture’s “unique” postwar history.

But Suga clearly disagreed with Onaga, telling a news conference after their meeting, “Everyone across the nation worked very hard in the aftermath of the war to establish a peaceful Japan.”

The opinions of the Shinzo Abe administration and Okinawa were in sharp contrast.

As a result, Tokyo forged ahead with the relocation plan by bypassing local municipal authorities and providing subsidies directly to residents’ groups that empathize with the project.

CLOSING THE GAPS

The prefecture remains home to 70 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan, although Okinawa accounts for only 0.6 percent of the country’s land area.

Average income per capita in Okinawa is 2.39 million yen, the lowest among all prefectures, according to statistics released in fiscal 2018.

Obuchi explained the role she wants to play for Okinawa Prefecture as a member of the ruling coalition.

“There now is an increasingly deeper division between the government and Okinawa,” she said. “Despite the differences in views, I will be seeking points on which we can reach consensus.”

Obuchi initially was not knowledgeable about Okinawa affairs. She gained knowledge by repeatedly visiting Okinawa for election campaigns as a “daughter of Prime Minister Obuchi.”

She said Okinawa has become her “assignment.”

“Current lawmakers differ from politicians who stayed close to Okinawa while it was recovering from the war,” she said. “For that reason, I would like to at least prepare more opportunities to visit Okinawa and listen to the stories of residents.”