Voices of protest fly up in the midst of the Prime Minister's speech, “Promise us that you won’t make us a battleground!”, at Okinawa’s service for all the war dead. (25jn25)

Splendor of Okinawa: Peregrina, roadside Uruma, 22jn25


Organized fighting ended in the Okinawa Campaign on 23 June 1945. So, on that day yearly, “Souls Day” services are held for all the war dead of the Okinawa Campaign at Peace Memorial Park at Mabuni in Itoman. About 4,000 people attended this year to hear addresses by Governor Denny Tamaki and Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.


Right in the middle of the Prime Minister’s speech, cries sprang out from the audience shouting slogans such as, “Promise us you won’t make Okinawa a battleground! Let’s raise the voices of Uchina-nchu (Ryukyuan: the Okinawan People)!”, momentarily leaving the site in an uproar.


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Tuesday 24 June 2025 at 14:51.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/0b710084c7eb443bc34f5e0dd6c6863a09fda359


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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