Former Mayor Atsushi Sakima announces his run in the Ginowan Mayoral Election in Okinawa. (9au24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Angelwing Jasmine, roadside Uruma, 8mr24


Mayor Masanori Matsukawa of Ginowan, which holds the US Military Futenma Airfield, died in office. The election to replace him will be publicly announced on 1 September  with ballot opening on 8 September.


On 7 August, former Mayor Atsushi Sakima (59) formally declared his candidacy. Matsukawa had served as Sakima’s Vice-mayor while Sakima was mayor. Sakima stressed at his press conference, “Various and sundry inherited projects remain to be carried to fruition, and, along with their burden and joy, it’s mine alone to get them done.” The Liberal Democratic Party Prefectural Federation  decided to nominate Sakima as its candidate on 7 August.


After first being  elected to the Ginowan City Assembly and Prefectural Assembly, Sakima was elected mayor in 2012. Halfway through his second term as mayor, he stepped down to run as a candidate in the 2018 gubernatorial election. However, he lost the race to Governor Denny Tamaki. In the 2022 gubernatorial election, he again lost to Tamaki.


Also on the topic of this mayoral election, Isao Tobaru (65), a Ginowan City Assembly member from the All Okinawa camp, which opposes the relocation of Futenma Airfield to Henoko in Nago, has expressed  his intention to run as its candidate.

　

Original Japanese article: Mainichi Shimbun, published Wednesday 7 August 2024 at 18:24. Byline; Shinnosuke Kyan.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/a5b052a1e5e039ff057c635ea58934fca8aefe15


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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