Tokyo Report | Politics | East Asia

Okinawa Voted for a New Governor

Koja Genta didn’t win because of his stance on U.S. bases. He won because of his vision for the economy.

Koja Genta greets a supporter as he celebrates his victory in the Okinawa governor’s election, Sep. 13, 2026.

On September 13, Japan’s Okinawa Prefecture held its gubernatorial election. Koja Genta, a 42-year-old former mayor of Naha City, emerged with a convincing victory – 59 percent (423,124 votes) to 38 percent (276,060 votes) – against incumbent Governor Denny Tamaki.

His election can create genuine – and long overdue – momentum to transform the relationship between the Japanese government and Okinawa from the confrontation over U.S. bases in the prefecture into a partnership to move Okinawa forward.

As a home to the U.S. Marines Third Expeditionary Force (III MEF) headquarters, local elections in Okinawa from the governor’s race on down always attract not only national attention but also a great deal of interest from the U.S. defense establishment. With the ongoing plan to realign and consolidate the U.S. Marine Corps’ presence in Okinawa, Sunday’s election was particularly critical.  

As a governor, Koja has a profile that is different from any of his predecessors. First and foremost, at the age of 42, he is the youngest governor that Okinawa has ever elected.  Born in 1983, he is also the first governor who was born after Okinawa reverted to Japan in 1972.

Furthermore, while he was born and grew up in Okinawa, he spent his formative years as a young adult in Tokyo as a college student, a civil servant at the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, and a program manager in the private sector.  

His profile – born and grew up in Okinawa but left his hometown for mainland Japan for higher education and employment before returning to Okinawa to run for office – crystallizes the economic challenge that the working-age generation in Okinawa has long been facing. Okinawa’s economy lacks diversity; it is heavily dependent on tourism. This makes employment in the prefecture more seasonal and temporary in nature. Furthermore, while its aging population continues to create greater demand for workers in senior living management, medical assistants, and nursing, there are far fewer opportunities for high-skilled and well-paying jobs. 

The local economy makes it challenging for the working-age population, especially younger people, to live in Okinawa and raise families. Its unemployment rate is twice as high as the national average, with persistent structural unemployment.       

Mindful of this reality, Koja placed vitalization of the Okinawan economy front and center in his election campaign.  His landslide victory – he earned the most votes in 40 out of 41 localities in Okinawa – demonstrates that Koja’s message of moving the Okinawan economy forward resonated much more than Tamaki’s message, which attempted to campaign by continuing to tap anti-base sentiment within the prefecture.

This election exposed a clear generational divide. The exit polls showed that over 60 percent of voters younger than 60 years old voted for Koja, while Tamaki continued to retain strong support among older constituents. That said, this split should not be reduced to a simplistic contest between “younger” vs. “older” Okinawans, let alone the stereotypical explanation of the younger generation being “pro-base” because they see a greater threat from China while the older generation remains “anti-base” due to their memories of the Battle of Okinawa and its tragic ending.  

Kaja’s victory........

© The Diplomat