MAEBASHI, Gunma Pref. (Kyodo) Six governors from the Kanto region visited the Yamba Dam construction site in Naganohara, Gunma Prefecture, on Monday to demand that the government cancel plans to scrap the controversial, decades-in-the-making project.

The governors of Tokyo, Ibaraki, Tochigi, Gunma, Saitama and Chiba issued a joint statement calling on the Democratic Party of Japan to actually build the dam.

It is the first time the six governors of prefectures shouldering part of the project's cost have visited the site, which dates to the 1950s, at the same time, according to the Gunma Prefectural Government.