At the site of an accident where a security guard had died, another security guard is injured. A protester claims, “The guard was strange”. (17ap 25)

Splendor of Okinawa: Great Bougainvillea, roadside Futenma. 7ap25

 

(OPINION) The US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan is to be relocated  to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture. A security guard (47 at the time), while controlling a woman protesting the move, accidentally was hit by a dump truck and died.


On 16 April, through our reporting, we discovered from a related source that recently in March, near the same accident site, a 70 year old male, active protester, while trying to climb over a safety net, toppled and a male security guard in his fifties was injured.


The Prefectural Police, aware of the incident, are in the process of determining the facts. The police claim, “A pedestrian crossing was being obstructed.” But voices are being raised questioning the Prefecture’s management responsibility in continuously refusing to set up a guard rail at the site. 


According to related sources, on the morning of 17 March at about 11:35, at the entrance to Nago City’s Awa Wharf, where sand is loaded for use in construction for the the Henoko relocation site, as  the male protester was straddling a safety net to get over it, the leg of the security guard, who was holding the net, got tangled in it, and he toppled to the ground. The security guard suffered an injury. The spot was about 120 meters from the site of the accident in June of last year. The net was there to keep protesters from getting in front of the trucks.


The security guard, whose hip and other parts hit the ground, was taken to a hospital and his injuries were diagnosed to heal in about a week. For Sankei Shimbun’s coverage, the male protester made statements such as, “I toppled over, too. Both of us fell. The security guard had the net for preventing crossings but his way of deploying the net was weird.”


The contractor using the wharf and the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau have requested that the Prefecture, which manages the road, set up guard rails to prevent accidents to protesters. However, the Prefecture will not accept the placement of guard rails.


In January of this year, the Prefecture set up soft rubber poles. But the Defense Ministry strongly objected, claiming, “Obstructive activity can’t be prevented with rubber poles! The Prefecture is ignoring the background and the conditions causing these accidents.”

 

Assembly Member Dai Shimabukuro of the Liberal Democratic Progressive Party faction, broaching the situation of the Prefecture’s safety management at the Prefectural Assembly, made the criticism, “This situation brings to mind the fatal accident of 9 months ago. The Prefecture has absolutely not given it any reflection.” He firmly placed the blame, “The responsibility lies with Governor Denny Tamaki!”


Original Japanese article: Sankei Shimbun, published, Wednesday 16 April 2025 at 21:10. Byline: Naoki Ohtake.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/6ed89209628b7a6b53dcbbbdeba71e8adb4a8ae9


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 the 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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