OSAKA -- In May, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi met with Defense Agency chief Fukushiro Nukaga and trade minister Toshihiro Nikai to discuss Okinawa's future.
Tokyo and Washington had just reached agreement on the realignment of U.S. bases in Japan. The prime minister was now interested in discussing macroeconomic projects the central government could promote in Okinawa, where local opposition to the base realignment plan was strong.
Nikai briefed Koizumi on the state's efforts to develop ethanol on Miyakojima from local sugar cane and mix it with gasoline. Although such efforts had been under way well before the May meeting, they now received an extra boost of political support from Koizumi.