Skip to main content
Okinawa re-elects governor opposing heavy US troop presence
Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki, who is backed by opposition parties, speaks to media after the gubernatorial election, in Naha, Okinawa prefecture, Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022.

THE governor of Okinawa who has long opposed the US marine base on the Japanese island was re-elected on Sunday.

Denny Tamaki and his supporters declared his victory and celebrated with the chants of “banzai” soon after the exit poll results showed he beat two contenders — Atsushi Sakima, backed by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s governing bloc, and another opposition-backed candidate Mikio Shimoji.

Mr Tamaki, who is backed by opposition parties, won 339,767 votes, or about 51 per cent of the effective votes, over Mr Sakima’s 274,844 votes and Mr Shimoji’s 53,677, according to the final results released yesterday [Mon] by the Okinawa prefecture.

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
IRON FIST: Mass exodus of Latin American migrants cross from Chile at the Santa Rosa border point in Tacna, Peru on Monday in a panic reaction at Jose Antonio Kast’s threats of expulsion
Politics / 3 December 2025
3 December 2025

Far-right forces are rising across Latin America and the Caribbean, armed with a common agenda of anti-communism, the culture war, and neoliberal economics, writes VIJAY PRASHAD

Kunihio Iida, atomic bomb survivor and a volunteer guide the iconic exhibition hall best known as the Atomic Bomb Dome speaks in English to foreign visitors on July 9, 2025, in Hiroshima, western Japan
East Asia / 5 August 2025
5 August 2025

Ageing survivors of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombings are increasingly frustrated by growing nuclear threats by global leaders

The NATO flag waves in the wind in front of the venue ahead of the upcoming NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 23, 2025
World / 25 June 2025
25 June 2025