Okinawa Prefecture’s US Office has been shut down. But Governor Denny Tamaki notes his intention, “As soon as possible, we’ll start it up again!” 20jn25.

Splendor of Okinawa: Mexican Petunia, roadside Uruma, 1jn25.

Okinawa Prefecture’s US Washington Office was shut down this month over the discovery of the continuing reality of sloppy administrative management.

At his regular press briefing on 19 June, Governor Denny Tamaki offered his thoughts on the Office, noting, “To the extent possible, we are going to set in place a system to restart the Office as soon as possible.” Without elucidating on a series of suspicions, he noted that investigations are continuing in the Prefectural Assembly’s Special Investigative Committee (Investigative Committee).

The reporters inquired also, “Will the Office reopen before the end of the Investigative Committee’s review?” However, the governor offered no comment on the reopening.

At the press briefing, Governor Tamaki stressed, “We are gathering information that the US possesses and considering the necessity of continually passing along such information. The governor further noted, “We are proceeding to collect information for the sake of our next transactions, including such matters as how to ensure transparency to get the understanding from our Prefecture’s people.”

In April of 2015, in an effort to solve the US Military base problems, Futenma Airfield in Ginowan was slated for relocation to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture. The concept of the Washington Office was born from the gathering of  All Okinawa’s opposition to the relocation. The point of setting up the Office, under the sponsorship of the late former Governor Takeshi Onaga, was to lobby in the US against that relocation.

When applying for the visa for the resident office staff in DC, the Prefecture applied using titles such as “president”. Moreover, in materials submitted to US Immigration, the Prefecture assured, “This person is not employed directly by Okinawa Prefecture.” However, in reality, the person was himself hired by Okinawa Prefecture as a certified public employee. It was further judged that no financial statements were filed for the Office, nor was it recorded as a public asset.

On 28 March, the Prefectural Investigative Verification Committee noted that there were extremely important flaws in the paperwork for setting up the Office’s corporate structure. In its final report to Governor Tamaki, the Validation Committee claimed, “It is difficult to operate the Office under current circumstances.”

Original Japanese article: Sankei Shimbun, published Thursday 19 June 2025 at 12:58.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/da135d83b7878b6452eb0a3b4f3b7a3a40820112

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.