Okinawa’s Governor Denny cites the apprehension of local residents due to the Defense Minister’s declaration, noting, “The sentiments and feelings of our prefecture’s people are different from those of other prefectures!” (21se25)

Splendor of Okinawa: Busy Lizzie, roadside Uruma, 31au25.

Defense Minister Gen Nakatani has made statements on the Self Defense Force (SDF) deployments in Okinawa, such as, “Excessive disruptive activities continue.”


In an on-the-record response to  press queries on 19 September, Governor Denny Tamaki expressed his understanding that protest activities, within the current limits of freedom, were acceptable.


Moreover, the governor stated, “Added to the excessive weight of the burden of US bases, from now on, we have to consider that the SDF deployments will strongly increase as well. The emotions and sensibilities, which all of our prefecture’s people will accept, are different from those of other prefectures!”


The governor further stated that he thought that the Ministry should pay attention to Okinawa, with its background of protests, 


Governor Tamaki also pointed out that the prefecture’s people continue to have a positive view of the SDF, but noted, “The forced advance of the Southwest Shift and plans, based without thought to their impact on the regional burden and such, for joint training with US Forces are moving forward. So, of course, our people’s feelings of acceptance are different.” 


The governor added a request for consideration of the sentiments of the prefecture’s people, stating,  “So, we’d hope that the Minister would earnestly declare his acceptance of these facts as well.”


Moreover, the governor stated, “When the Minister takes up the question of protest activities in his declarations, he just makes the problem bigger. As for declarations of the person with the highest duties in the Defense Ministry adding halos to different matters, what sort of feelings should we have?” He felt that the Minister’s Declaration left  an impact of apprehension on the lives of the prefecture’s people.


Original Japanese article: Ryukyu Shimpo, published Saturday 20 September 2025 at 14:01.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/51b5bbb6a1be728322e931476abedf9aaab41dbe


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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