Denny in the News: 6 September 2021

Dr. Tokuda and others ask the governor for transparency in prefectural policies


Dr. Yasuharu Tokuda of the Muribushi Clinical Training Center and Dr. Kenji Shibuya who is employed as senior advisor to the WHO Secretary General sent out a letter of request to Governor Denny Tamaki asking for transparency on personnel and organizational restructuring affecting the prefecture’s Covid-19 policy decision process. They are requesting immediate disclosure of information such as the full names and  specialties of each member of the Epidemiological Statistics and Analysis Committee as well as the establishment of a system to hold the pertinent experts accountable.


 On 8 September the governor received the documented opinions of Dr. Tokuda and others pointing out the inadequacies in that committee’s analysis and positions. Since the committee is under the governor’s control, he announced the appointment of Dr. Yoshihiro Takayama, a committee member, as Prefectural Medical Advisor.


As for that outcome, Dr. Tokuda’s group objected, “That was sudden with reasons unclear. It clearly was done without an established reason or even a grasp of administration. Even Dr. Takayama’s appointment gives rise to a suspicion that government policy is tied to a particular individual.” He pointed out, “Such actions are contrary to the transparency in the decision making process that the people of the prefecture expect. For the prefecture’s administration to be trusted, an explanation is necessary for the continuing reorganizations.”

 

Masami Kawamura, representative of the research group Informed Public Project (IPP), was also named in the request. IPP also made a request to Prefectural Experts Conference Chair Jiro Fujita that the conference contents be made public to the prefecture’s citizens, not just the media, and a record be kept as a public document.


Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published Monday 6 September 2021

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/20d52e653d756d3a9d8c01c72efcf7bcc477a46d


Denny in the News: news about Okinawan Governor Denny Tamaki.

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


  1. 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.


  1. Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be of great help.



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