On a total of 8 routes, Ryukyu Air Commuter will raise air fares from November. Okinawa Prefecture will essentially pick up the burden for the residents of the medium and small remote islands. (22oc23)


Splendor of Okinawa: Autumn Zephyrlily, Gushikawa RC Church, 8oc23


Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki held his scheduled press conference on 20 October. He spoke on the Ryukyu Air Commuter (RAC) fare hike from November. In line with his policy of reducing the air fare burden for the residents of small and medium remote islands, the governor announced that the Prefecture will take on the total burden of the increase in fare amount. 


Thus, the burden of the airplane ticket prices for residents will not increase due to the fare hike. Moreover, discounted fares will be maintained. Governor Tamaki explained, “We will grapple with continually reducing the burden on the residents of our remote islands.”


The areas affected will be the 4 lines from Naha to Kume, Minami Daito, Kita Daito, and Yonaguni Islands,  the 2 lines connecting the islands of Miyako, Ishigaki, and Tarama Islands, plus the 1 for Ishigaki to Yonaguni, and 1 connecting Minami and Kita Daito Islands, altogether 8 lines.


RAC, impacted by a rise in fuel prices and a drop in the value of the yen, initiated a 9% price hike in April of this year. For the same reasons, this time it has scheduled another 9% hike.


For the April fare hike, the Prefecture and the municipalities had been splitting the burden of the amount hiked at a ratio of 2 to 3.


However, from 18 October, National Government subsidies to the municipalities in the remote islands were eliminated. So, to reduce their burden, the Prefecture has taken on the full amount of the hike in fares. Thus, during this year, the Prefecture’s burden is projected to amount to 66 million yen.


Soft grants are being set aside for the expense.


Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published 22 October 2023 at 06;03. Byline: Tokiura Nakamura 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/c280786a6fa247a31178cb2c54cf158a835b1ef1


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 my 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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