Voters in Nago, northern Okinawa Island, threw down the gauntlet on Jan. 19 when they reelected as mayor the incumbent, Susumu Inamine, a staunch opponent of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma from the congested city of Ginowan in the south to the Henoko district of their town.
Abe thought that promising Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima $25 billion of central government largesse over the next eight years would seal the deal, but even such lavish palm-greasing couldn't convince locals the proposed base is a good idea.
Although Mayor Inamine has vowed to block the base, Tokyo simply isn't heeding local voices and is pushing forward with the relocation plan. Given that democracy is among the shared values that are the foundation of U.S.-Japan relations, the looming confrontations between the central and local governments over Henoko will prove awkward for alliance managers.