Okinawa’s Vice-Governor claims the Agriculture Ministry’s compliance directive is illegal in the Prefecture’s final declaration on the new Henoko base to the National and Regional Dispute Resolution Committee. (20jn21)


Splendor of Okinawa: Philippine ground orchid, 24my 23


(TOKYO) on 16 June,  Okinawa Prefecture Vice-Governor Takekuni Ikeda presented his declaration of opinion on the new base construction at Henoko, associated with the relocation of the US Military Futenma Airfield, to the General Affairs Ministry designated 3rd party organization, the National and Regional Dispute Resolution Committee (Chairman Yoichi Kikuchi) at its 3rd meeting.


The Okinawa Defense Bureau had requested  special permission from the Prefecture to gather coral in connection with its new base construction. (Trans. Note: Permission was not given.) The Agricultural, Forestry, and Fisheries Ministry then issued a compliance directive to the Prefecture.


Vice-Governor Ikeda pointed out once again,  “As the directive deviates from the very essence of the Regional Autonomy Law, it’s illegal. That directive ought to be immediately rescinded!”


The Dispute Committee will issue its determination on the applicability of the Regional Autonomy Law at the end of July. Until that time, the governor’s  and the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry’s side both have a final chance to submit declarations of their opinions.


Vice-Governor Ikeda appeared before the committee as the representative of Governor Denny Tamaki along with  the Prefecture’s representative, Lawyer Yutaka Kato.


Touching on the point that the Prefecture had not received confirmation of the soft soil reinforcement work at the site of the various species of living coral, a precondition for the special coral collection,  Vice-Governor Ikeda pleaded, “The compliance directive, being outside the scope of the Agriculture Ministry’s discretionary authority, is an aberration, as well as an abuse of its power.”


On the other side, present as representative of the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry, an executive of the Fisheries Department pointed out the Prefecture’s disobedience,  in its administrative handling of a directive from the  Minister of Land, Infrastructure, and Transportation requesting approval of the Okinawa Defense  Bureau’s application for design changes, was illegal. He further claimed that the Agriculture Ministry’s directive was proper, since, in the preconditions and such for carrying out the project, “The ‘Okinawa Defense Bureau had suitable conditions to use its legal standing to be able to legally do the landfill.”


There were questions on the declarations to both sides. The Prefecture side confirmed the point that there were no prior examples of the Ministry of Agriculture going so far as a ‘compliance directive’.


At the press conference after the meeting, Vice-Governor Ikeda alluded to the point that the Agriculture and Fisheries Ministry took an unusual tack,  pointing out, “Their directive lacked any foundation!”


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Friday 16 June 2023 at 15:04.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/f2cddcb701a10ea4a75b3ce334af05b49522b817


Denny in the News: news about 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. 


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.


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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