Marine’s son, an opponent of US bases, to lead Okinawa

TOKYO — Denny Tamaki, the son of a Japanese woman and a U.S. Marine, became the first mixedrace governor in Japan on Sunday after winning a close election in Okinawa, a southern archipelago heavily populated by U.S. military installations.

His victory poses a setback to plans by the Japanese government and the United States to transfer a busy Marine air base on Okinawa from the city of Ginowan to a less-populated coastal area on the island.

Tamaki wants the base moved out of Okinawa altogether. His opponent, Atsushi Sakima, who was backed by Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, was until recently the mayor of Ginowan and supported the base’s transfer.

Tamaki, 58, succeeds Takeshi Onaga, an outspoken critic of the U.S. bases, who died in August from complications of pancreatic cancer.

Speaking after NHK, the public broadcaster, confirmed his victory, Tamaki told supporters at his campaign headquarters that he would carry on the legacy of his predecessor in opposing the Japanese government’s effort to build the new base.

“We have to know that even small ants can move an elephant’s foot,” Tamaki said.

Tamaki, who nine years ago became the first Amerasian to be elected to Japan’s House of Representatives, said he would not grant approval for landfill to be used in the construction of a new runway in Henoko, a fishing village on the northern coast of the main island of Okinawa, to facilitate a new air base.

Okinawans have long protested the presence of the U.S. military, complaining of noise, violence and aircraft accidents. There are 33 U.S. installations on Okinawa, and about 25,000 troops — half of all the U.S. troops in Japan — are based there.

Tamaki faces considerable challenges, however, in getting the base off the island. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe could push Japan’s Supreme Court to overturn any legal objections Tamaki raises to the new base.

In its final count, the Okinawa prefectural election commission said Tamaki had won 396,632 votes, beating Sakima’s 316,458.