The Economist.
Hello and welcome to The Intelligence from The Economist.
I'm Rosie Blau.
Today on the show, a boost for Japan's defense build-up,
and is it the end of summer forever?
First up, though.
Last weekend, I visited Okinawa,
an island in Japan's south famous for tourism and beautiful beaches.
But I wasn't there for the beaches.
Moeka Iida is our East Asia reporter.
I watched Koga Genta deliver a speech at a rally
surrounded by an enthusiastic crowd.
Koga was running in the prefecture's governor election
that was held on September 13th.
He repeated his campaign slogan: "Move Okinawa forward."
Although Koga had been leading in the polls,
many people were surprised when the results came out.
He won in a landslide, getting more than 400,000 votes,
more than any candidate in the prefecture's history.
He beat Tamaki Denny, a popular incumbent