Japanese PM Sanae Takaichi’s ally wins election in Okinawa

A candidate backed by Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party on Sunday ousted the incumbent governor of Japan’s southern Okinawa Prefecture in an election, delivering a boost to Takaichi’s push for a stronger military to stave off threats from China.

Genta Koja won more than 50 percent of votes cast in the election, defeating Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki, national broadcaster NHK said, giving Takaichi greater influence over the strategically important cluster of islands in the East China Sea that host the bulk of US military facilities in Japan.

“This election was a referendum on bringing about a fresh start and moving Okinawa forward,” said Koja, who at 42 becomes the youngest governor of Okinawa since it was handed back to Japan in 1972 by the US, which had been the occupying power after World War II.

Okinawa Prefecture governor-elect Genta Koja meets the press in Naha, Japan, yesterday, one day after winning the gubernatorial election.

Photo: Kyodo, via Reuters

Tamaki, 66, has sought to move a major US military base out of Okinawa, but Koja supports a plan for the base to remain in Okinawa in a new location. Koja’s victory might also make it easier for Takaichi to expand Japan’s own military footprint on its southern islands, which stretch toward Taiwan and have assumed greater strategic importance as Chinese military activity in the region intensifies.

“I accept the will of the people,” Tamaki said in conceding to Koja, who is part of a younger generation of Japanese more supportive of building up military power to counter challenges from China and North Korea.

Koja’s win adds to recent electoral gains for Takaichi in Okinawa after her ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) won all four of the prefecture’s seats in the Japanese House of Representatives election earlier this year for the first time.

The former deputy mayor of Naha, Okinawa’s capital city, campaigned on a platform of boosting wages and building a health and wellness industry in Okinawa to help drive growth. His campaign was backed by Takaichi’s LDP and other right-of-center political parties, with heavy hitters from the parties regularly appearing with him on the campaign trail.

Okinawa has traditionally been a center of resistance to US military presence, but the latest election result underscores a shift in the political debate away from that topic as China’s military activities increase near Taiwan and Japan.

“Looking at the global situation, there are problems that can’t easily be solved just by appealing for peace,” Koja said in an interview a few days before the election.

“Our [Japanese] Self-Defense Forces alone are not sufficient to maintain deterrence. I also understand that the Japan-US security framework is necessary,” he said.