From July, the Defense Ministry will set to work on an inspection for a weak seabed in the offing of Urasoe, the destination for the relocation of the US Military’ Naha Military Port. (21jn24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Philippine Ground Orchid, roadside Uruma, 4jn24


A substitute facility is to be constructed for the US Military Naha Port and Bay Facility (with an area of about 56 hectares) in Naha.


The Defense Ministry has firmed up its plan to start work in July with an inspection for a weak seabed at the destination site in the offing of Okinawa Prefecture’s Urasoe. The activity will proceed at full tilt offshore for the relocation.


Both the US and the Japanese Governments presumed the return of the Naha Military Port to Japan in the 1974 relocation agreement. 


In 1996, the offing at Urasoe was proposed as the destination for the relocation. In October of 2022, an agreement among the Prefecture, Naha City, and Urasoe was reached for the substitute facility to be constructed in Urasoe.


The scheduled construction site will be on 49 hectares offshore to be landfilled, and fitted out with a sea wall and warehouses.


According to sources, the Defense Ministry will begin the investigative survey at the offshore relocation site from the air around 10 July. At the end of July, getting  a boring survey  underway is planned.


This survey will confirm whether or not the seabed is weak, as a section was found to be at the site at Henoko in Nago for the relocation of Ginowan’s US Military Futenma Airfield. 


The environmental assessment for the Ginowan site has already begun. The first application “Document of Concerns”, required by environmental assessment regulations, is expected to be published around 10 July. The next stage will be the plan to  announce public bidding for business orders to create an action plan.


As for the Naha Military Port, it has been 28 years since the agreement between the US and Japan for its reversion. In April of this year,  the Government held its first gathering of a conference  to consider measures to promote Urasoe and such, as well as hasten activity toward the relocation. 


A portion of Governor Tamaki’s support base is basically opposed to the relocation. However, in the 16 June Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Election, the governor’s party took a drubbing, as the Liberal Democratic Party, Komeito, and others opposed to the governor's faction captured  the majority. So, there is a heightened possibility that the Defense Ministry’s project will progress according to plan.


(Trans. note: This article’s final paragraph seems to infer that the governor’s administration opposes the plan. However, far from it, there is a most unusual agreement among the governor, local mayors, his opposition, and the Defense Ministry on promoting this relocation. So, the 16 June election result will have little bearing on it.)


Original Japanese article: Yomiuri Shimbun, published Thursday 20 June 2024 at 15:45.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/89f1cb99c8e6052bf30b7d0ac49c95a9df6e1145


 news about Governor Denny Tamaki.

Denny in the News:

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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