Okinawa Gubernatorial Election: Candidates Should Advocate Realistic Measures for Regional Development

Editorial

16:10 JST, April 26, 2026

Do the people of Okinawa Prefecture truly want to continue opposing the plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma air station in Ginowan to the Henoko district in Nago?

There is no doubt that implementing realistic measures to reduce the burden on Okinawa Prefecture of hosting U.S. military bases and improving the lives of local residents are important issues for the prefecture. The next Okinawa gubernatorial election must be used as an opportunity to bring about regional development.

Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki held a press conference to formally announce his intention to seek a third term in the gubernatorial election, for which campaigning is set to officially start on Aug. 27 and voting is slated for Sept. 13. He cited the planned relocation of the Futenma base to Henoko as one of the key issues in the election.

Former Naha Deputy Mayor Genta Koja has already announced his plan to run for governor. The Liberal Democratic Party is expected to endorse him.

Tamaki has reiterated his opposition to the relocation plan, while Koja has adopted a stance of accepting it.

Thirty years have passed since the Japanese and U.S. governments agreed in April 1996 to fully return the land of the Futenma base to Japan. The delay in the return can be attributed to the administration led by the now defunct Democratic Party of Japan, which advocated an unrealistic plan to relocate the base outside the prefecture, and to the prefecture’s legal battle with the central government over the relocation.

Relocating to Henoko is the only realistic option to realize the return of the Futenma base, which is said to be the most dangerous airfield in the world. Tamaki needs to take seriously the fact that the prefecture’s claims have repeatedly been rejected in court.

However, concerns remain regarding the relocation plan.

The runway at the Futenma base is 2,700 meters long, but the two runways planned to be built in Henoko are both shorter, at 1,800 meters each. The assumption is that the Henoko runways will be used primarily for helicopters, so the types of aircraft that can take off from and land there will be limited.

As a condition for the return of the Futenma base, Japan and the United States agreed in 2013 to secure an airport with a long runway to be used by the U.S. military in times of emergency. The central government envisages using Naha Airport for this purpose, but the prefectural government opposes this idea. It is essential for the central and prefectural governments to engage in sincere discussions.

Okinawa Prefecture is home to 70% of all U.S. military facilities in Japan. It is the central government’s duty to steadily reduce the burden on the prefecture by advancing the consolidation and downsizing of U.S. military bases and spreading them to the mainland of Japan.

The challenges faced by Okinawa Prefecture are not limited to the base issue. Per capita prefectural income is the lowest among all Japan’s prefectures, and there are many households living in poverty in the prefecture.

The local business community is moving forward with plans to transform the sites of U.S. military bases that are planned to be returned to Japan, including Futenma, into hubs for advanced medical care and marine exploration, among other purposes.

Leveraging the expertise of the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, one of the world’s leading research institutions, is one option to create new industries, thereby helping to make Okinawa a prosperous prefecture.

(From The Yomiuri Shimbun, April 26, 2026)