Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga departed Wednesday for a 10-day trip to Hawaii and Washington, where he hopes to take his case against relocating U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to skeptical lawmakers, policy experts and the American public.
But while meetings with congressional representatives in Hawaii are penciled in, Onaga's schedule once he reaches Washington on Saturday morning remains up in the air. Before departing Wednesday morning, nothing more than a couple of nonpolitical events had been confirmed for the five days he will be in the U.S. capital.
While in Hawaii, Onaga will meet with Democrats Sen. Mazie Hirono, who was born in Fukushima Prefecture, and Sen. Brian Schatz, a member of the Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee.