Govt Seeks Okinawa Promotion Budget of ¥282 bil.; Futenma Air Station Relocation Remains Contentious

The Yomiuri Shimbun

13:23 JST, August 28, 2024

The government has made final adjustments to its fiscal 2025 budget request, setting the Okinawa promotion budget at ¥282 billion, a decrease of ¥10 billion from the fiscal 2024 budget request, according to government sources.

This is the fourth consecutive year that the budget request has fallen below ¥300 billion, a trend thought to be linked to Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki’s opposition to a government-backed plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station from Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, both in the prefecture.

In anticipation of the use of the former military site after its return, ¥6.8 billion will be newly appropriated for a project to support local governments in acquiring land, and ¥3.1 billion will be newly included for a project to reduce transportation costs for remote island residents. Another ¥100 million will be included for an underwater exploration project related to the Tsushima-maru, an evacuation ship for schoolchildren that was sunk by a U.S. submarine in August 1944 during the Pacific War.

The Okinawa prefectural government had requested the central government to set the budget request in the ¥300 billion range this month.