:Takeshi Onaga

Takeshi Onaga was born on 2 October 1950 in Naha, Okinawa, at the time under American military administration after Japan's defeat in World War II.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/09/obituaries/takeshi-onaga-okinawa-governor-and-critic-of-us-bases-dies-at-67.html|title=Takeshi Onaga, Critic of U.S. Bases as Okinawa Governor, Dies at 67|work=The New York Times|date=9 August 2018|access-date=11 August 2018}} His father, Josei Onaga, was a politician who was once the mayor of Naha, and his mother, Kazuko, was a merchant.

According to his biographer Koji Matsubara, Onaga was interested in politics since his childhood. When he was 12 years old, Onaga told his classmates that he wanted to run for mayor. Onaga pursued higher education at Hosei University in Tokyo, but because Okinawa was still under American occupation unlike the rest of Japan, he required a passport to go to Tokyo.

Upon graduating from Hosei University, Onaga returned to Okinawa shortly before the United States returned the islands to Japan in 1972. After briefly working for a construction company, Onaga ran and was elected to the Naha City Council in 1985 for the Liberal Democratic Party.{{cite news|url=http://www.okinawatimes.co.jp/articles/-/295992 |script-title=ja:翁長沖縄知事が死去 67歳 辺野古新基地反対を貫く|date=8 August 2018|work=Okinawa Times|access-date=11 August 2018|language=ja|trans-title=Governor Okinawa dies, 67 years old, opponent of the new base}} Onaga went on to become a member of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly in 1992.

Onaga became the Mayor of Naha in 2000, running as an independent candidate. During his term as mayor, Onaga supported a plan to relocate the Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, located in an urban area near Naha, to a more remote area of the island in Nago. According to his biographer, Onaga gave this support reluctantly. Onaga thought the base was against the will of the Okinawan people but he did not feel as mayor he has the power to oppose the Japanese central government, who supported the move. Onaga served four terms as mayor until he was elected as the Governor of Okinawa Prefecture in 2014.

Onaga was elected to the governorship defeating the incumbent, Hirokazu Nakaima. His campaign was based on opposing the relocation of the Futenma Base within Okinawa, and ending U.S. military presence in Okinawa. In October 2015, Onaga revoked the land reclamation permit needed for continued work on the base.{{Cite news|url=https://thediplomat.com/2015/10/its-official-okinawa-governor-withdraws-permission-for-us-base-construction/|title=It's Official: Okinawa Governor Withdraws Permission for US Base Construction|last=Tiezzi|first=Shannon|date=13 October 2015|work=The Diplomat|access-date=11 August 2018|language=en-US}} This stance also made him a target of regular smear campaign by some Japanese right-wing activists on the internet.{{cite news|url=http://www.scmp.com/week-asia/geopolitics/article/2122311/chinese-agent-and-other-insults-okinawa-governor-lives|title='Chinese agent' and other insults the Okinawa governor lives with for opposing US base|last=Ryall|first=Julian|date=31 December 2017|work=South China Morning Post|access-date=29 January 2018}} For example, in April 2015, Toshio Tamogami, former chief of the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force tweeted that Onaga's daughter had studied in Beijing and married a Chinese Communist Party (CCP) official, an allegation intended to link Onaga and his opposition to the American bases in Okinawa to the CCP.

Onaga was diagnosed with a pancreatic tumor in April 2018, then had a surgery and returned to work in May. According to The New York Times, Onaga looked "visibly weakened" during a war-memorial service in June.

Onaga died at a hospital in Urasoe on 8 August 2018, four days after announcing his "last resort" of withdrawing planning permission for the construction of the U.S. military .{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/08/08/national/politics-diplomacy/okinawa-gov-takeshi-onaga-dies-at-67/|title=Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga dies: source|last=Johnston|first=Eric|date=8 August 2018|work=The Japan Times|access-date=11 August 2018}} His deputy, Kiichiro Jahana, took over the governorship {{Lang|la|ad interim}}, and announced that {{As of|2018|August|alt=an election would be held within 50 days|post=.}}{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/obituaries/takeshi-onaga-okinawa-governor-who-opposed-us-military-base-dies-at-67/2018/08/08/1932cc2a-9b29-11e8-843b-36e177f3081c_story.html|title=Takeshi Onaga, Okinawa governor who opposed U.S. military presence, dies at 67|date=8 August 2018|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=11 August 2018}} Around 70,000 people rallied in Okinawa on 11 August 2018 in honour of Onaga's memory and his struggle against the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko Bay in northern Okinawa Island.{{cite news|url=http://www.asahi.com/ajw/articles/AJ201808110034.html|title=70,000 gather to honor Onaga, renew fight against Henoko|newspaper=Asahi Shimbun|date=11 August 2018|access-date=12 August 2018}}

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{{Governors of Okinawa Prefecture}}

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{{s-bef|before=Hirokazu Nakaima}}

{{s-ttl|title=Governor of Okinawa Prefecture|years=10 December 2014 – 8 August 2018}}

{{s-aft|after=Kiichiro Jahana {{small|(Interim)}}}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Onaga, Takeshi}}

Category:1950 births

Category:2018 deaths

Category:20th-century Japanese politicians

Category:20th-century mayors of places in Japan

Category:21st-century Japanese politicians

Category:21st-century mayors of places in Japan

Category:People from Naha

Category:Governors of Okinawa Prefecture

Category:Members of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly

Category:Hosei University alumni

Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Japan

Category:Mayors of places in Okinawa Prefecture

Category:Japanese politicians of Ryukyuan descent