Sunday's victory in the Nago mayoral election by a candidate who appears to favor the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to the city's Henoko district is widely seen as a political victory for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and a defeat for anti-base advocates in Okinawa, starting with Gov. Takeshi Onaga.
But with the Henoko project still facing considerable opposition within the prefecture, the new mayor, Taketoyo Toguchi, could prove tougher to deal with than the prime minister and his allies initially thought.
Toguchi, who was strongly backed by Abe and the Liberal Democratic Party, also won Komeito's support and received an endorsement from Nippon Ishin no Kai. He ousted Mayor Susumu Inamine by less than 3,500 votes out of more than 36,000 cast. Turnout was 76.92 percent, a slight increase over the previous election in 2014.