Bureaucrat elected Okinawa governor
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From Times Wire Reports
A candidate who supports a plan for a new base for thousands of U.S. troops has won a closely watched gubernatorial election in Okinawa, electoral officials announced.
Hirokazu Nakaima, 67, a bureaucrat with support from Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s ruling bloc, narrowly beat Keiko Itokazu, said local election board official Maiko Tashiro.
Itokazu opposed Tokyo’s plan to relocate a U.S. Marine Corps airstrip to another site on the island.
There are about 50,000 U.S. troops in Japan.
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