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Okinawa pref. assembly member Sakima to run for Ginowan mayor

GINOWAN, Japan - Atsushi Sakima, an executive member of the Okinawa prefectural chapter of the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and a member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, in Ginowan on Dec. 31, 2011, declares his intention to run in the Ginowan mayoral election slated for February 2012. The city in Okinawa Prefecture currently hosts the Futenma Air Station, a key U.S. Marine Corps base which is planned to be relocated from a densely populated area.

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Okinawa prefectural assembly election

OKINAWA, Japan, June 7 Kyodo - Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki casts his vote at a polling station in Okinawa, southern Japan, in the Okinawa prefectural assembly election on June 7, 2020, wearing a face mask amid continued worries about the novel coronavirus.

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Anti-U.S. base relocation bloc gains majority in Okinawa assembly

NAHA, Japan, June 6 Kyodo - Kyoko Higa (center L) celebrates with supporters after winning a seat in the Okinawa prefectural assembly election on June 5, 2016. Candidates opposed to a plan to relocate a key U.S. military base within Okinawa, including Higa, gained a majority in the election, giving a boost to Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga's efforts to block construction of the new base in the island prefecture.

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Okinawa may block landfill work for U.S. base transfer

NAHA, Japan - New Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga makes a policy speech at the prefectural assembly in Naha on Dec. 12, 2014. Onaga said the prefectural government will consider scrapping approval to start landfill work needed for a planned U.S. military base transfer within the prefecture.

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Nago mayoral election

NAGO, Japan - Candidate Bunshin Suematsu casts his vote in the Nago mayoral election in Okinawa Prefecture on Jan. 19, 2014. In the election, in which the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to Nago is the main issue, Suematsu, a former Okinawa prefectural assembly member who supports the construction of a new U.S. military facility in the Henoko district of the city, is challenging Mayor Susumu Inamine, who is opposed to the relocation plan.

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Okinawa assembly urges governor to quit

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa prefectural assembly adopts a resolution in Naha on Jan. 10, 2014, urging Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima to quit for reneging on his election pledge to have a U.S. Marine base moved outside the prefecture.

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Okinawa governor

NAHA, Japan - Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima speaks during a plenary session of the prefectural assembly in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, on Dec. 5, 2013. Nakaima reiterated his call to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps air base outside of the island prefecture.

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Mayoral candidate

NAHA, Japan - Bunshin Suematsu answers reporters' questions in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Oct. 24, 2013, after announcing his plan to run in the Nago mayoral election. Suematsu is a member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly elected from the city of Nago and a former vice mayor of the city.

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Mayoral candidate

NAHA, Japan - Bunshin Suematsu answers reporters' questions in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, on Oct. 24, 2013, after announcing his plan to run in the Nago mayoral election. Suematsu is a member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly elected from the city of Nago and a former vice mayor of the city.

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Okinawa assembly voices "burning resentment" over rape

NAHA, Japan - Photo taken on Oct. 22, 2012, shows a plenary session of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, which unanimously adopted a resolution to express "burning resentment" against Tokyo and Washington over the alleged rape on Oct. 16 of a woman by two U.S. sailors.

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Sakima wins Ginowan mayoral election in Okinawa Pref.

GINOWAN, Japan - Atsushi Sakima (C), a former member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, celebrates his victory in Ginowan mayoral election at his election office in Ginowan, the city hosting the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, on Feb. 12, 2012. Sakima, backed by Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima as well as the main opposition Liberal Democratic Party and its ally the New Komeito party, beat former Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha in the closely contested election.

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Ex-Ginowan mayor Iha loses in mayoral election

GINOWAN, Japan - Former Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha (R) looks dejected in his election office in Ginowan, the city hosting the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture, on Feb. 12, 2012, after losing in the Ginowan mayoral election. Atsushi Sakima, a former member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, won the election held the same day.

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Mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture

GINOWAN, Japan - Atsushi Sakima casts his vote in the mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Feb. 12, 2012. Two independents -- Sakima, 47, a former member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, and former Ginowan Mayor Yoichi Iha, 60 -- are vying for the position amid controversy over a plan to relocate a key U.S. base from the city.

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Mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture

GINOWAN, Japan - Yoichi Iha casts his vote with his wife in the mayoral election in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, on Feb. 12, 2012. Two independents -- former Ginowan Mayor Iha, 60, and Atsushi Sakima, 47, a former member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly -- are vying for the position amid controversy over a plan to relocate a key U.S. base from the city.

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Ginowan mayoral election

NAHA, Japan - Atsushi Sakima, a former member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, campaigns on Feb. 5, 2012, for the mayoral election in Ginowan, with the relocation of a key U.S. Marine Corps base in the Okinawa Prefecture city the top issue.

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Defense Ministry's Okinawa bureau chief Manabe

KADENA, Japan - Ro Manabe (back), the Defense Ministry's Okinawa bureau chief, speaks with a member of the Okinawa prefectural assembly in the town of Kadena, Okinawa Prefecture, on Feb. 1, 2012, over his lecture linked to the upcoming Ginowan mayoral election. Ginowan hosts the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station.

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Okinawa assembly members protest base relocation plan

NAHA, Japan - Members of the Okinawa prefectural assembly opposed to the relocation of a U.S. base within the southern Japanese prefecture block the entrance of the prefectural government office in Naha on Dec. 26, 2011, in an attempt to prevent Defense Ministry officials from submitting a key environmental impact assessment report to the office. The document marks another step in the controversial plan to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station within Okinawa.

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Japan voices regret over U.S. official's alleged comments

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa prefectural assembly unanimously adopts a resolution in Naha on March 8, 2011, seeking a retraction and apology over alleged comments by Kevin Maher, head of the Japanese affairs office at the U.S. State Department, disparaging the people of Okinawa.

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Okinawa assembly head asks Obama in letter to scrap Futenma plan

NAHA, Japan - Zenshin Takamine (L), chairman of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, hands U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos a letter calling for scrapping a plan to transfer the Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station within the prefecture in Naha on June 21, 2010. Takamine said in the letter addressed to U.S. President Barack Obama that 90 percent of residents in the prefecture are opposed to the plan.

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Okada stresses U.S. Marines' role in Japan's defense

TOKYO, Japan - Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada (R) receives a request from Zenshin Takamine (L), chairman of the Okinawa prefectural assembly, at his ministry on April 27, 2010, on relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station in Okinawa Prefecture. Takamine led the Okinawa delegation which had taken part in a mass rally April 25 to seek the removal of the Futemma base out of the prefecture.

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Defense minister in Okinawa

NAHA, Japan - Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa (2nd from L) holds talks with Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Chairman Zenshin Takamine (R, front) in Naha on March 25, 2010. Takamine repeated a call on the government to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station outside Okinawa.

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Defense minister in Okinawa

NAHA, Japan - Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa attends a meeting with Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Chairman Zenshin Takamine in Naha on March 25, 2010. Takamine repeated a call on the government to relocate the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station outside Okinawa.

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Okinawa lawmakers demand measures against U.S. bases

TOKYO, Japan - Seiichi Oyakawa (2nd from R), an Okinawa Prefectural Assembly member and chairman of the assembly's special committee on U.S. bases, hands a paper to Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba (3rd from R) in Tokyo on Feb. 18, calling for effective measures to prevent recurrence of criminal cases by U.S. bases' staff. Oyakawa met Ishiba following the arrest Feb. 11 of a 38-year-old Marine staff sergeant based at Camp Courtney in the prefecture on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl the previous day.

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Okinawa assembly adopts protest resolution over alleged rape

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa prefectural assembly adopts a resolution protesting the U.S. military and the United States over the recent alleged rape of a local girl by a U.S. Marine during a plenary session on Feb. 14.

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Okinawa assembly adopts anti-gov't statement on mass suicides

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa prefectural assembly in a rare move adopted a second statement July 11 following one last month urging the central government to retract its instruction to history textbook publishers to play down the military's role in wartime mass suicides in Okinawa.

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Okinawa assembly protests gov't view on wartime mass suicides

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly on June 22 unanimously approves a statement urging the Japanese government to retract its order for history textbooks to be changed to play down the military's role in wartime mass suicides in Okinawa.

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Okinawa Gov. Inamine to retire in November

NAHA, Japan - Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine speaks at a plenary session of the prefectural assembly in Naha on June 29 about his intention to retire when his second four-year term ends in November.

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Town assembly demands U.S. Marines leave Okinawa

NAHA, Japan - The Chatan town assembly in Okinawa on Feb. 15 unanimously adopts two resolutions demanding the withdrawal of all U.S. Marines from the prefecture and the resignation of the top U.S. commander in Okinawa. The resolutions were prompted by a series of arson attacks in Chatan, just northeast of the prefectural capital Naha, that were allegedly committed by a U.S. serviceman, and an e-mail by Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston, commander of U.S. forces in Okinawa, in which he described local Japanese officials ''nuts'' and ''wimps.''

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U.S. naval port plan backer elected mayor of Urasoe, Okinawa

NAHA, Japan - Mitsuo Gima (L), who won Sunday's Urasoe mayoral election, raises his hands with his wife Asako in a celebration at his campaign office Feb. 11. Gima, 57, a former Okinawa prefectural assembly chairman, supports a plan to relocate a U.S. naval port to Urasoe from nearby Okinawa prefectural capital Naha. He won 19,739 votes, beating incumbent Kenichi Miyagi with 18,553. Gima was supported by the Liberal Democratic Party, the New Conservative Party and the New Komeito party.

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U.S. commander apologizes to Okinawa governor over comments

NAHA, Japan - Lt. Gen. Earl Hailston (L), U.S. military commander in Okinawa Prefecture, apologizes to Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine (R) on Feb. 8 over his description of the governor and other local officials as ''nuts and wimps.'' Hailston used the derogatory remarks in an e-mail he sent to 13 U.S. officers in Okinawa on Jan. 23 in connection with the response of the prefectural assembly to an indecent act by a U.S. Marine in the town of Kin in northern Okinawa on Jan. 9.

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Okinawa demands reduction in U.S. forces after scandal

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa prefectural assembly on Jan. 19 adopts a resolution demanding a reduction in the number of U.S. Marines in the prefecture in the wake of allegations that a Marine had molested a Japanese high school girl. It is the first time for the assembly to demand a cut in the number of U.S. Marines posted in the area, the assembly office said.

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Visitors protest Okinawa assembly's support for heliport

NAHA, Japan - Visitors to the Okinawa prefectural assembly on Oct. 15 protest against the assembly's decision to back a U.S.-Japan accord to relocate the heliport functions of the U.S. Marine Corps Futemma Air Station within the prefecture.

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Okinawa Gov. Inamine to retire in November

NAHA, Japan - Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine speaks at a plenary session of the prefectural assembly in Naha on June 29 about his intention to retire when his second four-year term ends in November. (Kyodo)

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Okinawa assembly protests gov't view on wartime mass suicides

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly on June 22 unanimously approves a statement urging the Japanese government to retract its order for history textbooks to be changed to play down the military's role in wartime mass suicides in Okinawa. (Kyodo)

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Okinawa assembly adopts anti-gov't statement on mass suicides

NAHA, Japan - The Okinawa prefectural assembly in a rare move adopted a second statement July 11 following one last month urging the central government to retract its instruction to history textbook publishers to play down the military's role in wartime mass suicides in Okinawa. (Kyodo)

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Okinawa lawmakers demand measures against U.S. bases

TOKYO, Japan - Seiichi Oyakawa (2nd from R), an Okinawa Prefectural Assembly member and chairman of the assembly's special committee on U.S. bases, hands a paper to Defense Minister Shigeru Ishiba (3rd from R) in Tokyo on Feb. 18, calling for effective measures to prevent recurrence of criminal cases by U.S. bases' staff. Oyakawa met Ishiba following the arrest Feb. 11 of a 38-year-old Marine staff sergeant based at Camp Courtney in the prefecture on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old girl the previous day. (Kyodo)

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Okinawa assembly demands halt to U.S. helipad construction

Members of the Okinawa prefectural assembly stand to approve a statement calling on the central government to stop construction of helipads in the U.S. military's Northern Training Area in the southwestern island prefecture during a session in Naha on July 21, 2016. The statement, citing safety and noise concerns if the Osprey aircraft are deployed as planned, says the helipads will cause adverse effects on the natural environment and people's lives. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Anti-U.S. base relocation bloc gains majority in Okinawa assembly

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga speaks with reporters in the prefectural capital of Naha in the early hours of June 6, 2016, after candidates opposed to a plan to relocate a key U.S. military base within Okinawa gain a majority in the prefectural assembly election the previous day. The result gave a boost to Onaga's efforts to block construction of the new base in the island prefecture. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Campaign begins for Okinawa assembly election

Supporters rally for a candidate in the Okinawa prefectural assembly election in Naha, the capital of the southernmost Japan prefecture, on May 27, 2016, the first day of electoral campaigning, amid tension over the arrest of a U.S. base worker over the death of a local woman. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Campaign begins for Okinawa assembly election

People offer prayers in Uruma, Okinawa Prefecture for a women who a former U.S. Marine has admitted to killing, before participating in a kick-off rally as campaigning for a prefectural assembly election began on May 27, 2016. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa assembly calls for U.S. Marine pullout after woman's death

Members of the Okinawa prefectural assembly stand to adopt a resolution protesting a civilian U.S. base worker's alleged involvement in the death of a local woman and calling for the withdrawal of U.S. Marines from the southwestern island prefecture during an extraordinary session in Naha on May 26, 2016. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa calls for U.S. Marines' withdrawal

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga addresses the prefectural assembly in the city of Naha on May 26, 2016, which prepared a protest to be sent to the U.S. government calling for the withdrawal of Marines from Okinawa following the arrest of a civilian U.S. base worker over the death of a local woman. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa prefectural assembly lodges protest over woman's death

Okinawa prefectural assembly members hold a moment of silence on May 26, 2016, for the death of a local woman, whose body was found one week ago. A former U.S. Marine was arrested for dumping her body, and the assembly adopted a resolution by majority vote to lodge a protest over the incident. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa to sue state early in 2016 to stop U.S. base transfer

The Okinawa prefectural assembly passes a bill on Dec. 18, 2015, to file a lawsuit early in 2016 to block the central government's plan to relocate a key U.S. military air base within the southern island prefecture. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa assembly calls for scaling down U.S. military bases

The Okinawa prefectural assembly adopts a resolution on Aug. 19, 2015, calling for the consolidation and scaling down of U.S. military bases in the southwestern Japanese island prefecture. It followed the Aug. 12 crash of a U.S. military helicopter off the coast of the prefecture that injured seven of the crew members aboard. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa assembly panel adopts resolution against U.S. chopper crash

A special committee of the Okinawa prefectural assembly decides on Aug. 14, 2015, to present a resolution to a plenary session condemning the crash of a U.S. military helicopter in waters off Uruma in the southwestern Japanese prefecture on Aug. 12. The assembly adopted the resolution on Aug. 19. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa assembly passes ordinance to hinder U.S. base relocation

The Okinawa prefectural assembly holds a meeting on July 13, 2015, to pass an ordinance to regulate the transport of soil from outside the island prefecture to be used in landfill work for the facility for the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station. The ordinance could delay the relocation of the base. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa assembly passes ordinance to hinder U.S. base relocation

File photo taken in March 2015 shows the coast of Henoko, where a U.S. military base is planned to be relocated in Japan's southernmost island prefecture of Okinawa, with the U.S. Marine Corps Camp Schwab seen in the background. The prefectural assembly passed on July 13, 2015, an ordinance that could delay the relocation of the base within the prefecture which is being promoted by the state government despite staunch local opposition. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa governor stresses importance of freedom of expression

Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga attends the prefectural assembly in Naha on June 29, 2015. He stressed the importance of freedom of expression, after four Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers were punished over anti-media remarks. It was also reported that novelist and former NHK board member Naoki Hyakuta attended a meeting with the quartet and said two major Okinawa newspapers critical of the government over U.S. military bases and other issues should be destroyed. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo

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Okinawa team formed to lobby against Futenma relocation

Osamu Toguchi (4th from L), a member of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, meets the press in Naha on May 26, 2015, on the occasion of the formation of a team accompanying Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga on a trip to the United States to convey to the American public their objections to relocating U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Ginowan to the Henoko district in Nago in the prefecture. Governor Onaga's delegation is visiting the United States from May 27 to June 5, 2015. (Kyodo) ==Kyodo