Okinawa governor resists US viewpoint of withholding reversion even after the Futenma relocation. (20fe26)

Splendor of Okinawa: Stick Pea, roadside Uruma,14fe25.

Regarding the reversion of the US Military Futenma Airfield at Ginowan in Okinawa Prefecture, on 19 February, Governor Denny Tamaki opposed the expressed thinking of the US Defense Department  of keeping the airfield until the Japanese Government provides a replacement base with a suitably long runway.


During representative questioning in the Prefectural Assembly, the governor retorted, “They ought to have their minds on ridding us of the dangers of that base as quickly as possible." He further requested that the relocation of the Futenma Airfield to Henoko in Nago be scrapped.


The viewpoint of the US State Department came in response to the US General Accounting Office (GAO)’s noting of insufficiencies in the runway proposed at the relocation destination. It pointed out explicitly that there would be no runway of sufficient length at Henoko. So, “The Futenma facilities cannot be reverted to Japan”, until a replacement runway is chosen.


Original Japanese article: Kyodo communications, published Thursday 19 February 2026 at 18:16.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/0d72856fa6ddf500ff180b0b25435af0150c14da


Denny in the News: Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although 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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