Takeshi Onaga

Early life

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. His father, Josei Onaga, was a politician who was once the mayor of Naha, and his mother, Kazuko, was a merchant. Onaga went on to become a member of the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly in 1992. This stance also made him a target of regular smear campaign by some Japanese right-wing activists on the internet. 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. His deputy, Kiichiro Jahana, took over the governorship , and announced that 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.