In an apparent gesture intended to soften Okinawa’s opposition to the relocation of MCAS Futenma to Henoko, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga promised Wednesday that the central government would give its full support to the plan to build a Universal Studios Japan theme park on Okinawa.

Suga made the promise when he met Glenn Gumpel, the USJ chief executive in Tokyo.

For his part Gumpel told Suga that his company would make all-out efforts for opening the theme park on Okinawa if it is able to obtain the government support for promoting the park.

In his reply, Suga stressed that the government thinks Okinawa’s economic development is extremely important, and opening such facility in the prefecture would give a big boost to tourism and help to create a large number of jobs.

The Universal Studios Japan hopes to open the park sometime in 2019, when the second runway at Naha Airport is scheduled to be complete. USJ has been in discussions with officials in Nago City about a possibility of purchasing the Nago Neopark and an area of land surrounding it as a possible location for the new theme park. Another possible location that has been mentioned in the media is in Motobu next to the Expo Park that with its Churaumi Aquarium is currently the most popular tourist spot on Okinawa.

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