Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga's death Wednesday night greatly complicates the already difficult and long-standing question of when, or even if, construction of an offshore replacement facility for the U.S.'s Futenma base will ever be completed.
Onaga was a staunch opponent of the central government's plan to relocate U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma base to the Henoko coastal area of Nago, in the northern part of the prefecture's main island, from densely populated Ginowan in central Okinawa.
The governor's death at age 67 following a monthslong bout with pancreatic cancer came less than two weeks after he announced he was revoking his predecessor Hirokazu Nakaima's 2013 decision to approve the land reclamation permit needed for the Henoko project.