About 70 percent of Okinawans including some LDP voters support OPG’s revocation of land reclamation approval
A portion of land reclamation area 2-1 at the shore of Camp Schwab (photograph taken via small drone)
September 19, 2018 Ryukyu Shimpo
Over the course of three days starting on September 14, the Ryukyu Shimpo conducted a telephone public opinion poll jointly with the Okinawa Television Broadcasting Company (OTV) and JX Press Corporation.
The poll revealed that about 70 percent of those asked support the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG) in its revocation of land reclamation approval relating to the new base being constructed in Henoko.
Only about 20 percent of respondents answered they do not support the revocation.
This is yet another indicator of Okinawans’ determination to block construction of the Futenma replacement facility in Henoko.
On August 31 the OPG revoked land reclamation approval, and this is the first time Okinawans’ thoughts on this decision have been demonstrated.
In the poll, 56.8 percent of respondents said they “strongly support” revocation, and 12.5 percent said they “somewhat support” it.
On the other hand, 12.1 percent of respondents said they “don’t support [revocation] at all,” and 9.2 percent said they “somewhat don’t support” it. Out of respondents 9.4 percent answered they were “undecided.”
If responses are parsed out in terms of age groups, the ages with the highest ratio “strongly supporting” the revocation were in their 70s, 60s, 80s, 50s, 30s, and 40s in descending order.
The ages with the highest ratio of “don’t support [revocation] at all” responses were in their 20s, 30s, and 40s in descending order.
In terms of political parties, independent voters had the highest ratio of “strongly support” responses.
The most people to respond they “don’t support [revocation] at all” were LDP voters, but a portion of them also supported the revocation.
Komeito voters supporting revocation outnumbered those who do not.
In terms of gender, more women than men answered that they “strongly support” revocation, and only slightly more men than women said they “don’t support [revocation] at all.”
On July 27 in an interview the late Takeshi Onaga, governor of Okinawa at the time, he first announced that he would pursue procedures to revoke former governor Hirokazu Nakaima’s land reclamation approval for construction of the Henoko base.
Following Governor Onaga’s death, on August 31 in accordance with Onaga’s wishes the land reclamation approval was revoked based on the Public Water Body Reclamation Act.
(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)
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