At the ceremony in Okinawa mourning all the war dead, an angry roar of protest from citizens to Prime Minister Kishida, “Go home!” (24jn22)


Splendor of Okinawa: Tibouchina Urvilleana, along wall in Uruma, 6jn22


On 23 June, the ceremony was held at Itoman in Okinawa Prefecture for all the war dead. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s greeting, calling for, among other things, “We will work together with all our strength to lessen  the burden of the bases,” was met with cries of protest, such as, “Go home!” and “Listen to the voice of Okinawa!”, flying from citizens watching the progress of the ceremony from its perimeter. 


The US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan is scheduled to be relocated within the prefecture to Henoko in Nago. In a prefectural citizens referendum in February of 2019, over 70% voted against the essential landfill, but later the Japanese Government continued the landfill anyway,  in spite of the deep-rooted opposition.


This was the first time in 3 years that a prime minister has been invited to the ceremony. Prime Minister Kishida was attending for the first time since taking office. Along the rim of the ceremonial area, people were standing and holding up placards with slogans such as, “Kishida, go home!” and “Don’t make Okinawa a battlefield again!” When Prime Minister Kishida was offering his greeting, a continuous roar of anger, such as, “Don’t shove your bases down Okinawa’s throat” and “We want to see you at least try to listen!”, came flying at him.


In his greeting, Prime Minister Kishida covered economic development from the Okinawa Promotion Plan and a reduction in the burden of bases, but the relocation to Henoko was left untouched.


Original Japanese article: Mainichi Shimbun, published Thursday 23 June 2022 at 18:14. Byline: Yuya (=裕也?) Miyagi 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/eddf08720cd12c2b40d897a89a908f694096e75c


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. 

  2. Any suggestion on improving the 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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