Governor Tamaki visits the elderly welcoming In their hundredth birthday on Elderly Respect Day and celebrates their longevity. (25oc24)

Splendor of Okinawa: Coral Swirl, Gushikawa RC Church, 6oc24


It’s Elderly Respect Day! Governor Tamaki visited some seniors to welcome in their 100th birthday this year and celebrate their longevity.


Shizuko Asato called out in anticipation, “Yes, we’ve welcomed Denny Tamaki, but her family calmed her with, “He’s not here yet, he’s not here yet!”


But Shizuko Asato of Kita Nakagusuku, who will have her 100th birthday in November of this year was right on in her preparations to welcome Governor Tamaki. Just then the governor showed up and called out, “Hello!”


Shizuko Asato gushed, using an alternate reading of his family name, “Oh, Denny Tamashiro! It’s great you’ve come! Here I am, alive till 100, and, busy as you are, you’ve come all the way out to the country for me!”


Ecstatically, Ms. Asato attributed the secret of her longevity to her standing in the kitchen to ply her skill in cooking even now and to the fact that she can eat food, regardless of whether soft or hard.


When asked of her impression of Governor Tamaki’s congratulatory words, she exuded, “I really thought I was rising to heaven.” She added, “I pray for the health of us all. In fact, I pray that Okinawa Prefecture will be wonderful, so that, under God’s umbrella, we all will find peace.” 


In Kita Nakagusuku Village, healthy seniors over 80 are chosen as representatives to carry out its PR program, “Beautiful Longevity Kita Nakagusuku”. Yoshi Ota, who was involved in the program, turned 100 in August of this year. 



When Yoshi heard that Nakagusuku Village Mayor Higa, who had accompanied Governor Tamaki on his visit, was born in her home   hamlet Kishaba, she joked, “What! From Kishaba? Great with the gab then, aren’t you? We Kishaba people are all bright.”


The mayor replied, “So, Kishaba, of the elite school Chunjyun!”, and Governor Tamaki chimed in with, “Then I’d like to become a man of Kishaba, too!”


Seniors are on the rise in Okinawa Prefecture. In 2024, new 100-year olds will be 420 women and 51 men, for a total of 471. That will bring the total prefectural residents over 100 to 1184.


Original Japanese article: Okinawa TV Broadcasting (OTV), published Monday 16 September 2024 at 20:13.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/c08e48f0296262ec690a4165c95c84d154d38043


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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