Governor Denny Tamaki’s 291 pledges after 3 years in office at a glance: how successful has he been? (24se21)

 During representative interpellations at the Prefectural Assembly on 21 September, looking forward to 3 years into his term on 4 October, Governor Denny Tamaki clarified that although he had worked on all 291 election promises, so far he has only gotten 5 done. That is a success rate of about 1.7%. He explained that stuff wasn’t finished, but some pledges, like the opposition to the new base construction at Henoko are advancing with aggressive determination, 6 have been launched at the request level, and 280 are under examination or  consideration. 

To a question from Sueko Yamauchi of the Ti-da Peace Net Party,  he responded: “My fulfilled pledges are: the extension of the second runway at Naha Airport  ahead of schedule,  opposition to the casino attraction, the enrichment of pre-school education, the quick realization of getting Northern Okinawa and Iriomote Island recorded as Natural World Heritage sites, and the establishment of Ryukyu Historical Culture Day.


Some of those in the launching stage are: the preservation of the prefectural high schools with strong support from localities, effective action on the World Uchinanchu Network,  conclusion of personal interaction and sister-city relationships with the Philippines, Tinian, and Saipan, introduction of helicopters for firefighting and disaster prevention, the establishment of public night middle schools, refusal to permit SDF deployments without local residents’ approval.”


In his responses to Assembly questions on 21 September, Governor Tamaki stressed his work to realize his pledges, “We’re also putting together important things such as free bus passes to get junior high students from low income families to school, advancing the establishment of an optical fiber undersea cable to connect Okinawa Island with North Daito Island, together with a Declaration of Respect for Sexual Diversity, based on sustainable development goals (SDGs).” The governor expects to judge the degree of progress in his pledges with each department  of the Prefectural Office according to its jurisdiction. 


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimbun, published Wednesday 22 September at 10:24.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/d920c8f5cc4e6354b28e390c1b05cb0a5fee2092


Translator’s note:

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.

  2. 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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