When Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visits Okinawa for a meeting Saturday with Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima and other local politicians, he'll be sitting down mostly with fellow Liberal Democratic Party members or those who won with LDP support.
Unfortunately for Abe, they all strongly oppose the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko in the northern part of the main island, a policy dear to the prime minister and the mainstream of his party.
Under the circumstances, little or no progress is expected from Abe's visit. Okinawans remain angry over the deployment last fall of tilt-rotor MV-22 Ospreys to Futenma, and political resistance has stiffened as local politicians, officials and antibase activists take heart from growing opposition in Washington to the Henoko move.