Okinawa's Anti-Base Alliance Weakens After Election Loss

What next for Okinawa’s anti-base alliance after Japan election loss?

The broad anti-base alliance that has shaped Okinawa’s politics for nearly a decade is reeling after a bruising election defeat, raising questions about the future of organised resistance to the US military presence on Japan’s southernmost islands. All Okinawa – a coalition of opposition parties and civic groups that backs Governor Denny Tamaki and campaigns to curb the US military footprint in the prefecture – failed to win a single one of Okinawa’s four single-seat constituencies in the...

By Julian Ryall