The 12 municipalities of the Amami Islands donate 20 million yen toward the rebuilding of Shuri Castle from the “Nansei Island Brotherhood”. (25oc21)

The 12 municipalities of the Amami Island in Kagoshima Prefecture donated 20 million yen to Okinawa Prefecture  for the reconstruction of Shuri Castle. On 21 October, Hideki Takaoka, mayor of the Tokunoshima District and chair of the Amami Islands Municipalities Mayors’  Committee, and  Tsuyoshi Asayama, mayor of Amami City and manager of the Amami Islands Overall Administrative Cooperative, met Governor Tamaki at the Prefectural Office. They greeted the governor with, “We’re from the Nansei Island Brotherhood. For the people of our islands, too, your disaster was a great sorrow. We’ve come together to support you.”


District Mayor Takaoka, touching on the history of the Ryukyu Kingdom’s roughly 200 years of governance of the Amami Islands, elaborated, “While under the influence of Ryukyu, our livelihood and culture flourished. Let’s help to hand down the inheritance our ancestors left us intact for future generations."


Governor Tamaki thanked them with, “I have sensed the emotional linkage with history and its deep ties to humanity. I intend to use the donation we’ve received from you on the tiles and frames of the reconstruction.”


After the disaster of 2019, the 12 municipalities decided on a donation of 20 million yen for the reconstruction of Shuri Castle. In January of this year, having allocated the amount according to population, the donation was given to the Prefecture through the Overall Administrative Cooperative. (Trans. note: The donation was given in January, but the ceremony was delayed until October due to Covid-19.) Regarding the large size of the donation, Amami City Mayor Asayama responded to the Okinawa Times, “It shows the strength of our feeling for Okinawa. There were even those who asked if 20 million weren’t too little.”


The 12 municipalities (1 city, 9 districts, 2 villages) that make up the Amami Island group are as follows: Amami City in Amami Oshima, Yamato Village, Uken Village, Setouchi District (including Kakeromajima, Ukejima, and Yoroshima), Tatsugo District, Kikai District on Kikai Island, Tokunoshima District on Tokuno Island, Amagi District, Isen District, Wadomari district on Okinoerabu Island, China District, Yoron District on Yoron Island.


Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published, Sunday 24 October at 14:51

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/f24f1e6ca870821d1f92a4f21ff3cd6a047403f7


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 

  2. translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.

  3. 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 gratefully appreciated.

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