Disney in Okinawa city? Japanese mayor wants resort built after US air base relocates

The mayor of an Okinawa city, home to a key US air base, said on Tuesday he aims to have a Disney Resort facility built on a land area to be vacated after the base is relocated, with Tokyo expressing full support for the idea.

After holding talks at the prime minister's office with Ginowan Mayor Atsushi Sakima, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said he heard a “very much dream-inspiring” idea from Sakima, for whose realisation the central government “will pledge to work all out.”

The top government spokesman also revealed that he has already introduced executives at Oriental Land Co., the operator of Tokyo Disneyland and Tokyo DisneySea theme parks, to the mayor.

The central government will “convey the city of Ginowan's strong request (to Oriental Land) and fully cooperate with the city”, Suga told a press conference following the talks.

Such a cooperative attitude is apparently aimed at breaking years of a deadlock over the relocation of the US Marine Corps Air Station Futenma, sitting in a crowded residential area in Ginowan.