LEAD: Upper house member Itokazu to run in Okinawa gubernatorial election

Japan Policy & Politics, Sept 25, 2006

NAHA, Japan, Sept. 19 Kyodo

(EDS: ADDING COMMENT IN 4TH GRAF, INFO AT 8TH GRAF)

House of Councillors member Keiko Itokazu declared her candidacy Tuesday as an opposition contender in the Nov. 19 Okinawa gubernatorial election.

Itokazu said she ''will stride toward victory and regain the helm of the prefectural administration from the ruling camp.''

From the ruling bloc, Hirokazu Nakaima, 67, former chairman of Okinawa Electric Power Co., has already announced his candidacy in the election that will pick the successor to outgoing Gov. Keiichi Inamine.

On the relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station within the prefecture, Itokazu voiced her opposition, saying that both the Japanese and U.S. governments are forcing Okinawans to accept enhanced functions at the base in the name of the U.S. military realignment. ''I will not let a new base be built,'' she said.

Itokazu, 58, is the deputy chief of Okinawa's local political party, the Okinawa Shakai Taishuto (Okinawa Social Mass Party), but acts as an independent in the upper house of the Diet.

The No. 1 opposition Democratic Party of Japan, the Social Democratic Party and the Okinawa Shakai Taishuto agreed in a meeting Sunday to field Itokazu as their joint candidate. Two other opposition parties -- the Japanese Communist Party and the Liberal League -- also expressed support for Itokazu.

Itokazu accepted the request from the five parties in a meeting with their representatives at the Okinawa prefectural assembly Tuesday.

A political group led by independent Mikio Shimoji, 45, is also set to support Itokazu, but it did not attend the meeting, saying it needs time to consider how to support her.

Itokazu was elected to the upper house in July 2004 for a six-year term of office after serving as an Okinawa prefectural assembly member for three four-year terms. She is known to have served as a ''peace bus guide'' telling tourists about the Battle of Okinawa in the closing days of World War II.

Nakaima is backed by the Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito party, which form the ruling coalition in the Diet. Local business communities are also endorsing Nakaima.

In late June, Okinawa Gov. Inamine said he will retire when his second four-year term ends in November without seeking a third term.