As soon as new Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga took office on Wednesday, he reiterated his pledge to block the relocation of the MCAS Futenma to a new base in Henoko.

Holding his first press conference Onaga said, “I want everyone in the country to think about how to resolve Okinawa’s excessive burden of hosting U.S. bases.”

Onaga stated, “We will not permit the construction of a new base at Henoko, and this will be a major pillar of my administration.”

He also said that he would immediately start the work to find a possible way to cancel the approval for the landfill that his predecessor Hirokazu Nakaima gave in December last year. He intends to assemble a team of lawyers and other experts to examine if there was any legal flaw in the approval process.

He also said that he will strictly assess another application that the Okinawa Defense Bureau of the Japanese Defense Ministry has filed seeking changes to the construction plan.

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