Photo/Illutration Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi, left, meets with Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki at the Okinawa prefectural government office in Naha on Jan. 28. (Shohei Sasagawa)

NAHA--The government will proceed with land reclamation work for a U.S. military base project in Okinawa Prefecture despite the prefectural governor’s demands to suspend it, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said.

In a 15-minute meeting with Hayashi on Jan. 28, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki reiterated his opposition to U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, being relocated to Henoko Point in Nago, also in the prefecture.

“We ask the government to seriously take to heart the will of the people of Okinawa who oppose the project, halt the landfill work and open dialogue with Okinawa Prefecture to resolve the issue,” Tamaki told Hayashi at the prefectural government office.

Tamaki made a similar call for dialogue when he met with Defense Minister Minoru Kihara for the first time at the Defense Ministry in Tokyo on Jan. 24.

The Defense Ministry started reclaiming a sea area in Oura Bay north of Henoko Point on Jan. 10 after land minister Tetsuo Saito approved design changes by proxy on Dec. 28, overriding Tamaki's refusal to sign off on the changes.

Hayashi, who doubles as minister in charge of mitigating the impact of U.S. forces in Okinawa, was the first Cabinet member to visit Okinawa Prefecture and speak with Tamaki after the land minister’s approval.

It was also Hayashi's first trip to the prefecture since he assumed office on Dec. 14.

Hayashi told Tamaki on Jan. 28 that the government plans to schedule a meeting of a working group under the Futenma air station burden reduction promotion council, which brings together central and prefectural government representatives and Ginowan city officials.

“It is my responsibility as the minister in charge to reduce the burden one by one,” he said at the beginning of the meeting.

After the meeting, Hayashi said the central government plans to communicate with the prefectural government “across various levels.”

The working group Hayashi mentioned is a framework only for working-level discussions.

A senior prefectural official said it is far from being a venue for the full-fledged dialogue that Tamaki has been seeking.

“We need an opportunity to sit down and talk about the base relocation project in depth,” the official said. “We would like to use the meeting (between Tamaki and Hayashi) and the working group as a foothold (for holding such dialogue).”

Manabu Sato, a political scientist at Okinawa International University, said the government responded to Tamaki’s longstanding calls for dialogue merely as a token gesture by sending the chief Cabinet secretary.

“The government did not change its policy regarding relocating the base to Henoko and only resumed discussions with the prefecture opposed to the project without any prospect of reaching an agreement,” Sato said. “The meeting failed to provide any meaningful dialogue for either side.”

It remains to be seen whether the Kishida Cabinet will seek to gain Okinawa’s understanding in carrying out the project.

The meeting on Jan. 28 was the first between Tamaki and a chief Cabinet secretary since October 2022.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida traveled to Okinawa Prefecture in August to watch a FIBA Basketball World Cup game but did not meet with Tamaki.

In a break from tradition for a newly appointed defense minister, Kihara also did not sit down for talks with Tamaki in September when he visited Okinawa Prefecture for the first time since he assumed office.

A Defense Ministry official said the Kishida administration is not interested in the Okinawa base issue “at all.”

“Policies that government ministries proposed were sometimes overturned (by the prime minister’s office) under the administrations of (Kishida’s predecessors) Shinzo Abe and Yoshihide Suga,” the source said.

“Now, such policies are approved as they are, even surprising (the bureaucrats who drafted them).”

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