Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga's official duties have been taken over by Vice Gov. Kiichiro Jahana, as the governor has fallen into a state of disordered consciousness due to cancer, the vice governor announced Wednesday evening.
Based on the nation's local autonomy law, Jahana will serve as acting governor effective from Wednesday through Sunday, and Moritake Tomikawa -- another vice governor -- will assume the post from Monday on, Jahana said at a press conference at the Okinawa prefetural government office in Naha.
Jahana did not specify how long Tomikawa will serve in the post.
After undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer, Onaga was discharged from the hospital on May 15 and resumed his official duties. However, he has been hospitalized since July 30 at a facility in Urasoe in the prefecture, Jahana said.
The governor is breathing on his own but his condition is "serious," as the cancer has metastasized to his liver, the vice governor quoted Onaga's doctor as saying. Jahana also said that Onaga's state of disordered consciousness was attributed to compromised liver and kidney functions.
Attention has been focused on whether Onaga will run in the gubernatorial election in November, as his first term will end in December. On July 27, he announced a decision to start procedures to withdraw the prefecture's approval of land reclamation off the Henoko district in Nago, the location to which the U.S. Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station is planned to be relocated.
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