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The Ginowan Mayoral – Okinawan Currents and Counter-Currents

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 March 2025

Gavan McCormack
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Having written recently of the prospect for the three upcoming elections (Ginowan mayor on January 24, Okinawan Prefectural Assembly in June, and Upper House of National Diet in July), what follows is a comment on the outcome of the first of these, on which some misconceptions circulate widely.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Asia-Pacific Journal , Volume 14 , Issue 3 , February 2016, e4
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Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BYCreative Common License - NCCreative Common License - ND
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-No Derivatives licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is unaltered and is properly cited. The written permission of Cambridge University Press must be obtained for commercial re-use or in order to create a derivative work.
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Copyright © The Authors 2016

References

Notes

1 “Battle Stations – Okinawa in 2016,” The Asia-Pacific Journal, January 18, 2016.

2 “Naha, Nago shi o nozoki ‘hoshuteki shicho no kai’ hossoku han-Onaga seiryoku ga kesshu,” Okinawa taimusu, August 30, 2015; “Sho-in, hai-in wa Ginowan shicho sen matomeyomi,” Okinawa taimusu, January 25, 2016.

3 “Sakima shi saisen, Abe shusho ‘yukizukerareta’, Suga shi wa chiji hihan,” Okinawa taimusu, January 26, 2016.

4 “Taisho no hamon, Ginowan, shisei keizoku (4) seifu, seron doko omoi fukuzatsu,”Okinawa taimusu, January 29, 2016.

5 Ibid.

6 53.7, according to a Kyodo poll, “Abe support rate rises despite Amari scandal but half oppose changing constitution,” Japan Times, January 30, 2016.

7 Elaine Lies, “Tokyo-backed candidate set to win Okinawa election in boost for PM Abe,” Reuters, January 25, 2016.

8 “Incumbent's victory in Ginowan mayoral race a boost to Abe gov't over base relocation plan,” Mainichi shimbun, January 25, 2016.

9 “‘Ginowan-shichosen kokuji’ soten ga hakkiri shinai,” Okinawa taimusu, edit, January 17, 2016.

10 Exit Poll 1 conducted by Ryukyu shimpo, Mainichi Shimbun and Kyodo tsushin, “Sakima shi, Shimura shi, hageshiku seriau Ginowan shicho senkyosen, Ryukyu shimpo, Mainichi Shimbun, Kyodo tsushin godo deguchi chosa,” Ryukyu shimpo, January 24, 2016. Exit Poll 2, conducted by Okinawa taimusu, Asahi Shimbun, and Ryukyu Asahi Broadcast, “Deguchi chosa de ukiboru ni natta Ginowan shi no min-i,” Okinawa taimusu, January 25, 2016.

11 The figure indicating very low level of support for the government's stance (that the new Henoko base was the essential and only way to achieve Futenma return) was nevertheless higher than previous polls had found. Pre-election surveys in December and early January found only 14.3 per cent of people agreed with the Henoko replacement project and more than 70 per cent wanted Futenma either closed and returned unconditionally or else shifted elsewhere out of Okinawa. (See “Shimura shi, Sakima shi ga yoko issen, Ginowan shicho sen, -Ryukyu shimpo seron chosa,” Ryukyu shimpo, December 29, 2015, and “Shimura, Sakima shi ga sessen, Ginowan-shi cho sen seron chosa,” Ryukyu shimpo, January 19, 2016.)

12 Ryukyu shimpo, January 24 2016, op. cit.

13 Emma Chanlett-Avery and Ian E. Rinehart, “The U.S. military presence in Okinawa and the Futenma base controversy,” Congressional Research Service report, January 20, 2016 (CRS 7-5700, R 42645, pp. 3, 17.)

14 Heianna Sumiyo (quoting from the Marine Corps document, Marine Aviation Plan 2016, which is not yet posted on the web), “Henoko shin kichi kassoro chakko wa 2024 nendo, Futenma henkan wa 25 nendo igo ka,” Okinawa taimusu, January 23, 2016.

15 See my “Battle stations,” op. cit. Also Elaine Lies, “Tokyo-backed candidate set to win Okinawa election in boost for PM Abe,” Reuters, January 25, 2016.

16 “Ginowan shicho sen, hayaru zenshosen, genshoku to komei ga kyotei, hikishimeru Onaga shi, kokuji made ikkagetsu,” Asahi Shimbun, December 18, 2015.

17 Shirai Satoshi, “Ginowan shichosen' Dizuni yuchi no ‘iya na kanji’,” Okinawa taimusu, January 21, 2016.

18 “Tokyo Disneyland,” Wikipedia, January 29, 2016.

19 “Dizuni yuchi yosei ‘seifu kotaeru tachiba nai’, ‘zenryoku de shiji’ kara itten,” Ryukyu shimpo, January 20, 2016.

20 The effect was to reduce by just 3 per cent the area of base-occupied lands in the southern half of Okinawa Island. (“Land returns barely reduce base burden,” Japan Times, April 18, 2015).

21 “Sakima shi saisen, Henoko hazushi ga soko shita,” editorial, Okinawa taimusu, January 25, 2016.

22 “Front-runner” (sic) is a favoured Onaga expression.

23 Quoted in Ryukyu shimpo, January 29, 2016. Here I follow the discussion in Kihara Satoru, “Shin kichi soshi ni ‘wakai’ nashi! ‘Shin kyogikai’ wa kokai shi gijiroku nokose,” January 30, 2016.

24 Kihara Satoru, “Onaga chiji wa tadachi ni ‘gansho hasai kyoka’ o torikese,” January 14, 2016.

25 “Henoko dai shikko sosho, kosai ga wakai kankoku,” Okinawa taimusu, January 30, 2016.

26 “Kuni ga ken o uttaeta saiban wakai-an hanmei,” NHK Newsweb, February 3, 2016.

27 Gavan McCormack and Satoko Ota Norimatsu, Resistant Islands: Okinawa Confronts Japan and the United States, 2012, pp. 96-97.

28 “Henoko koji o haru iko ni enki e, Ginowan shicho sen shori de keikaku ni yoyu,” Sankei Shimbun, February 1, 2016.

29 Ibid.