Okinawa LDP Assembly Member Matayoshi’s pet theory on Covid-19, “Would dancing kacha-shi- (an Okinawan dance of joy) heighten immunity? Prejudice added with, “Because you’re a housewife.” (26se21)

 During interpolations at the 24 September session of the regular September Okinawa Prefectural Assembly, Okinawa LDP Assembly Member Seigi Matayoshi, in reference to the number of Covid-19 infections and deaths being more this year than last, offered his own opinion, totally unfounded in basic science, “Isn’t it because the efficacy of vaccination isn’t apparent?” He emphatically claimed, “The Covid Peril is a fabricated fear,” adding that in order to get rid of the virus, it’s necessary to heighten immunity by eating fermented food and encouraging active tongue washing at educational institutions. 


Assembly Member Matayoshi next asked Governor Denny Tamaki, “How high would the rate of immunity rise if people danced the kacha-shi-?” He then theorized on the importance of stress release in strengthening immunity. As a follow-up, he questioned Health and Medical Department Director Reiko Oshiro. He asserted, “Director, you being a housewife, makes me think you know more than me about cooking at home.” That statement, based on the assumption of fixed gender role division, raised claims of gender bias.


Governor Tamaki explained, “When Covid-19 strains mutate, their power to spread contagion strengthens. So, with the change to the current Delta strain, even if you’re fully vaccinated, contagion can occur in some situations. However, as for vaccine’s effectiveness against the Delta strain, we understand there is no sudden change in the vaccine’s effectiveness in preventing severe illness, as compared to future strains, where a weakening in effective defense against an outbreak is possible.”


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Saturday 25 September at 12:07

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/64a99e7c95b2bf2fe86558364dbbcd1bec94bfc9


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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