Ginowan Mayor Declares Bid for Okinawa Governor

August 14, 2018

Ginowan, Okinawa Pref.- Atsushi Sakima, mayor of the Okinawa Prefecture city of Ginowan, on Tuesday announced his bid for the governorship of the southernmost Japan prefecture following the death of Governor Takeshi Onaga.

The announcement came one day after the prefectural election board decided to hold a vote on Sept. 30 to select Onaga's successor.

The ruling Liberal Democratic Party's Okinawa chapter has already decided to field Sakima in the election.

The focus of the election is the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma air station in Ginowan to the Henoko coastal district in Nago, another Okinawa city.

Sakima has been calling for an early return of the Futenma site to remove the danger posed by the military base located in a densely populated area.

Onaga, who died of pancreatic cancer on Wednesday at the age of 67, had strongly opposed building any new U.S. military base in Okinawa. Opponents of the Futenma relocation plan have yet to choose their candidate who can challenge Sakima.

"We need to move away from confrontation to cooperation to consider how Okinawa should be in a future-oriented manner," Sakima told reporters at the city government's office.

Earlier on Tuesday, Sakima tendered his resignation as Ginowan mayor to the speaker of the city assembly. The assembly is expected to approve the resignation on Friday.

Sakima, who became Ginowan mayor in February 2012, is currently in his second term in office. Jiji Press