NAHA—Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki, whose political identity has been defined by his opposition to a U.S. military base project, is barely talking about the issue in his bid for a third term.

At a Sept. 5 campaign rally in Naha for the Sept. 13 gubernatorial election, Tamaki, 66, did not once mention the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan to Henoko, also in the prefecture.

Instead, banners promoted “rent support for the working generation” while campaign leaflets touted the prefectural economy.

It was a striking departure from four years ago, when Tamaki put opposition to the relocation project at the forefront of his re-election campaign.

However, Tamaki and other opponents have essentially run out of legal options to halt construction at the Henoko site. And Okinawans, particularly younger voters, have lost interest in the issue and want more done to revitalize the local economy.

Tamaki did declare at his official campaign launch on Aug. 27: “Henoko can never be completed. I am absolutely opposed.”

But the Henoko opposition is absent from the seven main pillars of his campaign platform.

“If we talk about Henoko, independents won’t just stay away. They’ll leave us,” a senior campaign official said. “From now on, the focus must be on his record and, in particular, what he will accomplish in a third term.”

Another campaign official put it more bluntly.

“Henoko alone can’t win,” the official said. “People feel: ‘We’ve continued expressing our opposition. What more are we supposed to do?’”

HENOKO NO LONGER SELLS

Genta Koja, 42, a former vice mayor of Naha who is Tamaki’s main challenger in the election, supports the relocation of the Futenma air station. But he, too, avoided the issue in his first speech of the official campaign on Aug. 27.

“Henoko is no longer an issue,” a senior Koja campaign official said. “The project will simply proceed. What’s more important is appealing to voters with economic policies.”

At his campaign launch, Koja argued that cooperation with Tokyo offered a better path forward for Okinawa Prefecture.

“It’s easy to blame the national government and lament that life in Okinawa is not improving,” Koja said. “But Okinawa will not change that way.”

After years of court defeats to the central government and the continued construction at Henoko, both camps appear to believe voters are more concerned about economic issues and daily life than another round of arguments over the new military base.

WHO SPEAKS FOR OKINAWA?

Koja is presenting himself as the candidate of a broad coalition that crosses traditional party lines, echoing the formula that once helped the All Okinawa movement dominate prefectural politics.

At Koja’s Sept. 2 rally in Naha, a 3,500-capacity arena was packed, with flags from six political parties crowding the stage.

One Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker elected from Okinawa proudly declared: “Now we are the true All Okinawa.”

The remark amounted to a direct challenge to the movement that helped propel Tamaki to office.

In 2014, former Governor Takeshi Onaga built the All Okinawa movement by uniting conservatives and progressives opposed to the relocation.

Years of confrontation with Tokyo gradually weakened that coalition and drove away business leaders and conservative supporters.

But not everyone aligned with Koja is comfortable with closer ties to Tokyo.

A senior member of his support organization asked: “If he becomes governor, will Okinawa simply end up doing whatever the mainland tells it to do?”

‘DEBATE IT PROPERLY’

The disappearance of Henoko from campaign speeches has produced both resignation and frustration among some voters.

“Nothing has changed,” said a 50-year-old company employee after visiting an early-voting station in Ginowan, where the Futenma air station is surrounded by homes.

A resident of the city for about 25 years, she has endured the daily roar of U.S. military aircraft and the anxiety when planes fly low over the residential neighborhoods.

She wants Futenma returned, opposes relocating its functions elsewhere within Okinawa and voted for anti-relocation candidates in 2014, 2018 and 2022.

Her opposition remains unchanged. But years of failed legal challenges and the continued construction have left her wanting for a new strategy.

“I don’t want Okinawa to simply do whatever the national government says,” she said. “But we need to accept some things and move matters forward.”

A 71-year-old part-time worker from Naha expressed a different concern.

The future of Futenma remains uncertain despite the ongoing work at Henoko. The offshore replacement facility faces difficult engineering challenges and has no clear completion date.

It also emerged this year that the U.S. Defense Department will not return Futenma until a longer replacement runway is selected, raising new doubts about whether the air station would be handed back even after the replacement facility is completed.

Fearing Futenma could remain in use even after Henoko is finished, the man said: “The candidates are avoiding Henoko. They should debate it properly.”

(This article was compiled from reports written by Mika Kuniyoshi, Kazufumi Kaneko, Takae Kumagai, Satsuki Tanahashi and Nobuyuki Takiguchi.)