(Close-up coverage) Governor Denny Tamaki, dripping with the sweat of exertion, presses on with his first of the year karate training, his face tense. (20ja25)

Splendor of Okinawa: Purple Allamanda, roadside Futenma, 1no24



Uechiryu School of Karate  Kenyu Club, chaired by Kiyohide Shinjo, held its first of the year training session at Matsuzaki Dojo (Martial Arts Hall) in Naha on 16 January.

　

With a conspicuously earnest stance, Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki (65) faced his new year’s first training. While confirming the karate moves one by one, he spoke energetically about the first practice of the New Year.


Eyes aglisten, the governor intimated, “While in training, my idle thoughts clear. I can hone in on my soul. It’s especially meaningful to study karate here in its birthplace, Okinawa, where karate has come to support us, body and soul.”


In 2018, on taking office, Governor Tamaki was appointed chair of the Okinawa Traditional Karate School Promotion Committee. In May of 2019, he began actually practicing karate on the side at the Uechi School of Karate Kenyu Club at Miyazaki Dojo.


Weaving his efforts in training into his hectic public duties, the governor achieved his first belt in karate in 2020. In November of 2024, he rose to the second degree.


Mixed with high-schoolers on taking this advancement test, the governor, holding the black belt he had achieved, noted with his bright grin, “With my quest for karate begun before 60, I have a feeling of fulfillment. Because of my business trips and assembly meetings, I haven’t  been able to fully participate in training. But, bringing my training mirror to my official home and finding spare time, I worked hard on training on my own.”


This first of the year training was filled with a feeling of tension. The governor showed his skill in lunges and kicks, as well as other basic defensive moves, a three-way match (Ryukuan: san chin), and the 13 basic moves (Ryukyuan: se-san).


In the cool of the dojo, Governor Tamaki glistened with bright sweat, lifting his voice with his stern gaze, a far cry from his official facial expressions.


The master of the Kenyu Club, Chairman of the Board Yoshimitsu Miyazaki, evaluated the governor’s performance, noting, “His uncompromising stance in doing his very best is wonderful. You might say our governor is the busiest man in Okinawa. But the way he puts his all into practice spurs on those around him. He’s a great motivator for the rest of us.”


Governor Tamaki spoke of his joy in receiving the profound living knowledge and insight of karate from his karate masters and fellow practitioners in the intimacy of the dojo and breaks in training.  


The governor gushed, “From the standpoint of child education also, karate is quite suitable. As a lifetime martial art that’s wide-ranging, long term, and continuing, I would like to promote it to the world. Karate proudly links Okinawa’s culture, history, and traditions with the future.”


Togged out in his karate uniform, as the chief of Okinawa Prefecture, the governor is total embodiment Okinawa PR.


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Sunday 19 January 2024 at 11:37

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/f2e5bd43c6f3c2b01a2ebad22d0e26a68e27cc50


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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

In the suit over exercise of proxy in the case of the weak seabed at the new Henoko base, judgment to be handed down on 20 December. (4de23)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Shrubby Bush Clover, roadside Uruma, 30no23 The seabed at the new base construction site at Henoko in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, is weak and needs reinforcement. So, the Okinawa Defense Bureau requested permission for the necessary design changes, but Governor Denny Tamaki refused. In response, the Government intends to exercise proxy to give itself permission in place of the governor. The Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court announced on 29 November that it will hand down its judgment in the lawsuit filed over the case at 2 pm on 20 December. At the trial on 30 October, Governor Denny Tamaki emphasized in the first oral arguments, “We can in no way accept this exercise of proxy, which violates the autonomy and independence of Okinawa.”  He further stressed the will of the prefecture’s people in opposition to the new base construction as the ‘Public will’. In addition, he requested to show that the  path to resolution lay in dialogue. The trial was conclud...
Read more

Governor Denny receives the report on JUNGLIA at the 4 month mark after its opening. (7de25)

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Temple Tree, Mihama Beach, 1de25 CEO Takeshi Kato of Japan Entertainment (JE), which manages JUNGLIA Okinawa, visited Governor Denny Tamaki at the Prefectural Office on 28 November.  　 The CEO reported on the 4 months since the attraction’s opening. He repeatedly brought up dealing with operational improvements and such based on the voices of visitors to the park.  　 The CEO specifically mentioned the evening concerts in the park’s garden and, starting from December, the free entry of one child with each adult, targeting the prefecture’s people. CEO Kato stated, “We’d like to be contributing to Okinawa’s tourism as well.” Governor Tamaki, alluding to his speech the same day, entitled “Declaration on Sustainable Tourism”, stated, “For the people, employees, and tourists of our prefecture, this is an important win-win format. We’d like to have JE’s cooperation in many, many more initiatives.” Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Sunday 30 Nov...
Read more

In Okinawa, Candidate Takara takes hold of the Henoko opposition parties as their new face, urging,”Let’s earnestly come to grips with these issues together.” (21jy25).

Image
Splendor of Okinawa: Mexican Petunia, Gushikawa RC Church, 13jy25. In the House of Councilors Election for the Okinawa Election District, independent candidate Sachika Takara (46), endorsed by All Okinawa, which opposes the relocation of the US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, scored a victory. She defeated the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Party’s new candidate Ryo Okuma (38) in the election campaign.  Candidate Takara pledged before her supporters, “The Henoko problem is something our prefecture’s people have taken into our hearts. We’re going to earnestly come to grips with it together.”  With their eyes on a victory in next year’s gubernatorial election, her victory was a bitter blow to the LDP. Governor Denny Tamaki, who held the job of Candidate Takara’s campaign headquarters chief, stressed, “The will of the people in opposition to the relocation remains unshaken.” In recent mayoral elections, All Okinawa’s fortunes ha...
Read more