White and green polo shirt, rainbow mask and white gloves, Denny Tamaki has a smile. The outgoing governor of Okinawa, an archipelago in southern Japan, is the favorite to retain his seat in the election, scheduled for Sunday, September 11. The half-breed born to a GI father and an Okinawan woman, radio host, peace activist and former deputy, should keep the head of the southernmost department of Japan, and thus inflict a snub on the Japanese central government, who supports his first opponent, Atsushi Sakima.
In the meantime, the dashing sixty-something parades through Uruma, his hometown, flanked by banners displaying his slogan: “For a warm society, in the spirit of Okinawa, which does not let anyone down”. Coalition candidate “All Okinawa” bringing together democrats, communists, environmental NGOs and part of the local business world, Mr. Tamaki hammers home his wish to promote women, protect the environment and, above all, to see “Okinawa remain an island of peace”.
What irritate the central government because “Denny”, as his supporters affectionately call him, remains determined to stop the move of the American base of the marines of Futenma, currently in the city of Ginowan, towards a site developed on a polder under construction at Henoko Point, north of Okinawa.
” Nothing has changed “
This operation, negotiated by Tokyo and Washington in 2006, is continuing against a backdrop of growing tensions with China around Taiwan. The maneuvers launched by Beijing in August after the visit to the “rebellious” island to China by the speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, encroached on the exclusive economic zone of Japan. Beijing did not hesitate to fire a salvo of missiles which fell not far from Yonaguni, the westernmost island of the archipelago and part of Okinawa. For Tokyo, there is no question, in this context, of giving up the move to Futenma. Japan even wants to strengthen the defense of Okinawa.
But Futenma remains a point of tension for the local population, who sees in it the expression of the central government’s contempt for a department which represents 0.6% of Japanese territory but houses 70% of the American bases in the archipelago. “The government doesn’t care. The problem of the bases dates from the Second World War and nothing has changed”storm Hiroji Yamashiro, a tireless pacifist activist who crossed paths with the canvas and wood camp set up in Henoko by opponents of the transfer. “We are worried about the tensions with China. But the central government does not respect the will of the Okinawan people. We want a fair distribution of the burden of US bases”adds Kenichi Moriyama, English teacher supporting “Denny”.
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