Daily Denny 19 July 2021

 


Daily Denny 19 July 2021

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/4ba7e53ac3d4608306e3adfc6daf82ecf8a12dfa


AERA dot.: Saturday 17 July 2021, 10:00

“Declaration Extension” an economic predicament for Okinawa...the expanding concern that “tourist equals enemy” due to the import of the virus from outside the prefecture. 


For over 3 months Okinawa Prefecture has been continuously under the State of Emergency Declaration. In addition to cries from the tourism business community, voices are being raised requesting compliance with the “new common sense” of tourists entering the prefecture  only after receiving screening.   


From AERA to be released in the 26 July edition ＊　　＊　　＊


Okinawa’s Governor Denny Tamaki commented to the press corp on 8 July on receipt of the declaration extension, “Long! I honestly think so.”   　Since the end of the State of Emergency Declaration on 12 July, he has been requesting the National Government for a change to “ Special Spread Prevention Measures.” The National Government rebuffed the idea with a six week extension of the declaration.


Shock ran through the tourism business community. Yoshiro Shimoji, Okinawa Convention Visitors Bureau (OCVB) Director, lamented, “I had hoped the extension would be avoided.” The OCVB had anticipated the lifting of the declaration with a hard stare at the tourism business community. They had counted on a 2.5 increase in tourist numbers in August, maybe up to half a million more.


Shimoji noted, “If we don’t reach that, I’d have to think that we can’t save Okinawa’s tourism business community.” In 2019, the number of tourists to the Prefecture surpassed ten  million for the first time. But in 2020, that number fell to 37.3 million, a drop of 63.2% from the previous year. This extension means for 2 years in a row the summer vacation demand will be lost. In tourism facilities the layoffs come one after another. This year’s March unemployment rate was 4.4%, even higher than the national rate of 2.7%. According to the March combined estimates of the Southwest Regional Business Activity Center think tank in Naha, a 9.8% drop  was forecast for 2020 real gross production in the prefecture compared with the previous year.


Moreover, there’s a smoldering dissatisfaction with the tourism community and tourists among people in the prefecture. Okinawa’s widespread contagion has one special distinction being an “island prefecture.” The “imported cases” where a virus brought in from outside the prefecture becomes a trigger in raising the contagion rate.  

　

Again facing a long set of consecutive holidays, Governor Tamaki, giving careful consideration to the views of the economic community, has not requested self restraint in liquor distribution. However, its link to widespread contagion had been pointed out.


A businessman in his forties living in Naha states, “When you look around for a rental car, even people nearby show disgust. I’m worried that the view that ‘the tourism business community equals bad’ and ‘tourists equal enemies’ is spreading.” In the midst of it all, Prime Minister Yoshide Suga’s words and deeds are brewing controversy. 



Translator’s Note

Daily Denny: Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki in the news


Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media.


This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

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