Okinawa’s governor requests, “Rid us of the perils (of Futenma Airfield) without a day’s delay!”

Splendor of Okinawa: Pink Wood Sorrel, roadside Uruma. 16fe25.

The US Defense Department has expressed its consideration of keeping the US Military Futenma Airfield, which is scheduled for relocation,  in use until the Japanese Government provides a replacement site with a suitably “long runway”.

In response, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki retorted, “They ought to get on with ridding us of Futenma’s perils without a day’s delay!”

(Trans note: This article is desperately in need of background. The U.S. Military Futenma Airfield has been used by the US Marines since the end of World War II. Its location is elevated and its runway long enough for modern military aircraft. So the Marines love it. Unfortunately, the base is smack in the middle of a city, where its noise, pollution, and frequent accidents are acknowledged as dangerous. Thus, at the beginning of this century an agreement was reached between the US and Japanese governments to return the base’s land to Japan and relocate the base elsewhere. 

Unfortunately, the site chosen for the relocation was a bit of shore surrounded by coral reef at the foot of a high steep (90 degree) cliff, directly facing the Pacific Ocean, prone to raging typhoons, enormous tidal waves, and always earthquakes. 

The site will  need many years of construction and from the start was accepted as “the only alternative” by the Marines, and never accepted by the people of Okinawa, since it was one more base on a tiny island inundated with bases. 

However, as the construction involves extensive landfilling (perhaps unending due to the sea depth and its weak bed) and certain Tokyo economic powers are alleged to own the Okinawan gravel pits and related cement factories needed for it, the plan has plodded on. 

Now the Marines have been backed by the GAO, on the issue of the insufficient length of the proposed runway at Henoko. Unless Governor Tamaki accepts a plan to lengthen the runway (He won’t!), the Henoko relocation plan falls apart and another site must be found. Thus the governor is concentrating on the removal of the universally acknowledged dangerous Futenma base, rather than kicking the dead horse at Henoko.

Of course, a great deal of cash can be expected to be put into denying Tamaki a third term in the gubernatorial election in September, easing the way for a lengthened runway at Henoko. But the nature of the cliffs, typhoons, earthquakes, and tsunami remains unaffected by elections.

Sorry for the editorial. But quislings in Tokyo and DC are gambling with the lives of marines and their families to be stationed at the perilous base under those cliffs.)

Original Japanese article: Kyodo Communications, published Thursday 19 February 2026 at 17:38.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/06882c6e3bfcccda8f0eb8fe49e417bc568090d7

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.