TOKYO (AP) — Denny Tamaki, the newly elected governor of Okinawa, is the first person with an American parent to lead the southern Japanese island,…
TOKYO (AP) — Denny Tamaki, the newly elected governor of Okinawa, is the first person with an American parent to lead the southern Japanese island, campaigning on a longtime popular demand to reduce the U. S. military presence there.
Tamaki is planning to visit the U. S. to talk to people and try to gain their understanding about what he sees as Okinawa’s shouldering an unfair burden of hosting U. S. troops. At the center of contention is relocating a U. S. air base from densely populated Futenma to less-crowded Henoko on the east coast. Early construction has begun at Henoko, but it’s far from finished. The U. S. and Japan’s central government support the relocation, and government ministries have rejected Okinawa’s legal maneuvers to block the construction.
Tamaki, 59, spoke with The Associated Press on Wednesday. Questions and responses have been edited for clarity and length.
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Q: What is at the root of the problem in Okinawa with the U. S. military bases?
A: How long is it going to be Okinawa? How much longer? When you ask these questions, the answer was that we just don’t need any more bases, and that answer was reflected in the election results this time. The people of Okinawa have opposed this new base for more than two decades and so there is a basic mistake in Henoko.
They say Henoko is the only one, Henoko is the only solution. But we think that it is definitely not the case and that they’re refusing to think critically. The American side has made multiple proposals under reorganization plans and the Japanese government should consider them. The Japanese government should be relaying ways to put Okinawa at ease and to promote peace in Japan along with the message of the people reflected by my election victory to the American government.
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Q: What is your view on Okinawa’s history and how that fits in with peace and the base problem?
A: There are things that we Okinawans must speak up because we feel strongly about peace because of Okinawa’s history and that is connected to the very core of our hearts.
