The Abe administration has stepped up its efforts to build a replacement facility for the U.S. Marine Corps' Air Station Futenma located in central Okinawa. There have also been reports that law enforcement authorities have roughly handled people protesting the replacement plan. The forcefulness with which the national government is pushing forward with the the Futenma replacement base could harden the attitude of Okinawans who have expressed their opposition to construction of the new facility.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe should not ignore the written opinion adopted in late January by the city assembly of Nago, where Henoko, the planned site of the replacement facility, is located. The opinion protested "excessive security" used against protesters in the area by the local police and the Japan Coast Guard, which has allegedly resulted in many injuries. It also called for an immediate halt to land reclamation work.

Abe should not dismiss the will of local voters, as recent elections show. By a margin of some 100,000 votes, Henoko plan opponent Takeshi Onaga beat incumbent Hirokazu Nakaima, who had approved the reclamation plan, in the November gubernatorial race. Then, in December's Lower House election, candidates supporting Onaga's position won in all four of the prefecture's single-seat constituencies.