Earlier this fall, the Yaeyama Defense Association (YDA) petitioned the central government to request the Maritime Self-Defense Force establish a presence in the southernmost part of the Nansei Islands.
The YDA is an active and influential group of 140 business and political leaders in Ishigaki and nearby islands formed in the 1970s following Okinawa Prefecture’s reversion to Japan. It includes former personnel from the SDF and has played a key role in facilitating the establishment of a Ground Self-Defense Force missile base, currently under construction, on Ishigaki Island itself.
The popular three-term mayor of Ishigaki City, Yoshitaka Nakayama, serves as the Association’s honorary advisor. A conservative, Nakayama was first elected in early 2010 at the age of 42 despite the nation’s voters having chosen the center-left (and now defunct) Democratic Party of Japan the previous fall.