Defense Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, a newcomer to defense issues, is quickly being put to the test with the stalled issue of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma within Okinawa.
Unlike his predecessor, Shigeru Ishiba, who is known as a military policy wonk, Hayashi had taken no defense-linked posts in the government or the Liberal Democratic Party since he became a House of Councilors member in 1995.
The first task facing the 47-year-old businessman-turned-legislator is to make clear his willingness to promote dialogue even over long-standing defense problems. He chose to visit Okinawa only three weeks after he took the post.
"Thank you for coming here early," Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima told Hayashi during a meeting at the prefectural office in Naha last week.