Just two weeks after voters elected a governor opposed to moving U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko, in the northern part of Okinawa Island, the saga is once again the central political issue in the prefecture.
The Nov. 16 victory of former Naha Mayor Takeshi Onaga, who ran on an anti-Henoko platform against incumbent Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, who was heavily backed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party, reinvigorated opponents of the base relocation.
Onaga's supporters said even before his victory was announced that their next goal is to unseat LDP Lower House members who, like Nakaima, agreed to the Henoko move. The new governor is likely to support all candidates, regardless of party affiliation, running against the LDP.