Photo/Illutration Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki speaks during a joint interview by news organizations in Naha in May. (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

NAHA--Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki announced he will seek a second term, setting the stage for a rematch in the September election with former Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima--but with a change in tactics.

Tamaki, 62, announced his candidacy at a news conference here June 11. Sakima, 57, is backed by the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s prefectural chapter.

Although Tamaki is a fierce opponent of a contentious reclamation project for a U.S. base in the southernmost prefecture, he pitched his candidacy on helping to rebuild Okinawa’s economy battered by the novel coronavirus pandemic.

“Economic recovery is a major issue in the election,” he said.

Tamaki’s subtle shift in priority reflected a changing mood in his support base.

A former Lower House member, Tamaki won by a landslide in the last election in 2018 after All Okinawa, a broad coalition of groups from progressives to conservatives, including business leaders, united to back him under the banner of stopping the central government project to build a new base off the Henoko district of Nago to take over the functions of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan.

Ignoring bubbling public sentiment in the prefecture and Sakima’s resounding loss, the central government forged ahead later that year with the project to build landfill for the base.

It did not halt the reclamation work even after a prefecture-wide referendum on the issue held the following year showed that 70 percent of islanders were opposed to the project.

Okinawa strongly resents shouldering 70 percent of all U.S. bases in Japan despite its small land area.

The central government’s high-handed approach to the issue has triggered a sense of resignation in many segments of the population.

Also, the cohesion and influence of All Okinawa is waning as business and political heavyweights bowed out.

In the Lower House election last October, an incumbent from a constituency that includes Nago lost a seat. A candidate opposed to the base project was also defeated in the Nago mayoral election in January.

Surveys show that Okinawans, weary of the lack of progress on the base issue and the toll on the prefecture’s mainstay tourism from the pandemic, are increasingly concerned about their economic well-being.

A survey published in March by the prefectural government found that the U.S. base issue ranked fourth as a challenge prefectural officials should address after child poverty, environmental conservation and tourism. It ranked second in a similar survey in 2018.

“Standing against the U.S. base project alone will not draw many votes,” said a member of the prefectural assembly who supports Tamaki.

Still, Tamaki’s commitment to block the base project remains as solid as ever. Construction of landfill has stalled due to the discovery of soft seabed in the planned reclamation area, raising doubts about the feasibility of the costly project.

Tamaki last November refused to approve a change in the design of the reclamation work that was submitted by the central government in what amounted to the last and most effective card he can play to stop the construction work.

“It is becoming difficult to sway voters with a slogan against the U.S. base project alone,” said a prefectural assembly member who is close to Tamaki. “But many people still cannot forgive the central government for trying to bulldoze the construction without pausing to ponder whether the project is actually achievable.”

In endorsing Sakima, the central government plans to highlight the economic benefit of having a direct channel to Tokyo to air grievances while not touching on the base issue as much as possible.

“If the governor is replaced, the central government will provide more funds to promote the local economy,” one official close to the central government noted. “The key issue of the election will be whether the prefectural government will keep in step with the central government.”

(This article was compiled from reports by Shogo Mitsuzumi, Yoshichika Yamanaka and Kazuki Uechi.)

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