Moral Arc of Universe Bends Towards Justice: Anti-US Base Candidate Inamine Wins Nago Mayoral Election

Kyodo News reports that anti US-Base candidate Inamine won the Nago mayoral election:

Susumu Inamine, who has been opposed to accepting the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station, won the mayoral race Sunday in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, making it difficult for Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama to implement a 2006 Japan-U.S. accord to relocate the facility to Nago.

Kyodo News also reports:

Hatoyama has said he wants to see the election result before making any decision on the U.S. base issue and vowed to conclude negotiations with the United States by the end of May, but prospects are dim that he can find a feasible alternative site.

But this remark ignores the fact that there is no need for a "feasible alternative site."

The mayor of Ginowan, Okinawa revealed that the Henoko base was never part of the US original plan. The US always intended to move all the Futenma troops to Guam.

However, the US bowed to pressure from Japanese construction companies (backed by the LDP) that wanted contracts for the proposed military base that was to "float" over the coral reef home of the endangered Okinawan dugong.

The details are outlined in Tanaka Sakai's article at Japan Focus: "Japanese Bureaucrats Hide Decision to Move All US Marines out of Okinawa to Guam [Japanese original text at Tanaka News (tanakanews.com)]."

Of course, the next question is: Where does this leave Guam--where US military bases already take up 1/3 of the island?