Most of the Japanese political community is all agog over the overwhelming victory of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's Liberal Democratic Party in the Sept. 11 Lower House election. Okinawa Prefecture is the exception.
In Okinawa, the ruling LDP-New Komeito coalition barely won, taking four seats against three for the opposition parties. Voter turnout in Okinawa was the lowest of all prefectures in the nation, although it was better than in the previous election. Voters in Okinawa failed to respond to Koizumi's slogan calling for postal privatization, amid widespread concern that it could ruin postal service in the prefecture, which includes many remote islands.
Okinawans are most interested in a reduction of their burden from the massive U.S. military presence as Washington continues to realign its forces overseas. Koizumi so far has relegated to bureaucrats the task of dealing with problems resulting from the reorganization of U.S. forces. In Okinawa, which accounts for 75 percent of the total area occupied by U.S. bases in Japan, there appears to be strong discontent with Koizumi. Most Okinawans hope that, with the ruling coalition having gained a more than two-thirds majority in the Lower House, Koizumi will take the initiative in moving to reduce and consolidate U.S. bases in Japan. These problems need to be settled by yearend.