All national dailies reported on the start on Tuesday of official campaigning for Lower House by-elections in Osaka and Okinawa on April 21 that are seen as a prelude to the Upper House elections in the summer. Noting that the by-election in the Okinawa No. 3 district, which includes Nago, will fill a vacancy left by Denny Tamaki, who won the gubernatorial race last September on a platform of opposing the FRF construction at Henoko, the papers speculated that the election will gauge the Okinawan people’s views on the ongoing construction project. The race will be fought between former State Minister for Okinawa and Northern Territories Affairs Aiko Shimajiri, who is backed by the LDP and Komeito, and freelance journalist and former Okinawa Times editorial writer Tomohiro Yara, who is aligned with Governor Tamaki’s position of opposition to the Henoko project.