The 27-year-old who instigated a referendum in famously apolitical Japan

In a country where politics is dominated by established middle-aged politicians, the 27-year-old Okinawa native is a university student with no party affiliations.

But Motoyama has disrupted the norm. He masterminded this month’s Okinawa referendum on the national government’s plan to relocate a longstanding but controversial United States air base within Japan’s southernmost prefecture.