The government's formal request last week for Okinawa's permission to allow land reclamation work to start for the new airfield that would replace the U.S. Futenma base was a calculated move that came amid signs that local political opposition might be softening.

But with all 41 Okinawa cities, towns and villages, the prefectural assembly and the prefectural chapter of the Liberal Democratic Party officially opposed to building a new base in Okinawa to replace U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima is now caught between the stepped-up demands of Tokyo and those in the prefecture who fear the consequences of not agreeing to the new base, and base foes, who are expected to increase their opposition in the days and weeks ahead.

The Friday announcement by the Okinawa Defense Bureau that it would seek permission to fill in offshore areas along the Henoko coast in Nago comes after nearly a month of political signals that the long-entrenched opposition to the base might be weakening. Earlier this month, the Nago fishermen's cooperative voted overwhelmingly to agree with the central government's formal request to begin reclamation work for the new base, whose planned runways would extend offshore.