Equitable Solutions Needed for Okinawa Base Issue: N.Y. Times

October 3, 2018

New York- Equitable solutions should be sought to the U.S. base relocation issue in Okinawa Prefecture after an antibase candidate was elected governor, The New York Times said in an editorial on Tuesday.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and American military commanders should join the people of Okinawa "with an equal willingness to find equitable solutions," said the editorial, entitled, "Toward a Smaller American Footprint on Okinawa."

It noted that Sunday's gubernatorial election was "at least partly a referendum" on the relevant American bases in the southernmost Japan prefecture.

The winner, Denny Tamaki, has opposed the Japanese government's plan, based on an agreement with the United States, to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in a crowded area of the Okinawa city of Ginowan to the less populated Henoko coastal area in Nago, also in Okinawa.

Noting the "hugely disproportionate burden" of hosting U.S. bases placed on Okinawa, the editorial said, "The security this (the U.S. military presence in Okinawa) brings to Japan and the region cannot come at the expense of an unfair, unwanted and often dangerous burden" on the citizens of Okinawa. Jiji Press