Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki to declare his run for a third term, confronting the LDP faction with his tout, “Prevent Henoko!” (21mr26).

Splendor of Okinawa: Peruvian Zinnia, roadside Uruma, 15mr26.

Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki (66), facing the end of his tenure in September, has firmed up his intention to run with his eye on a third term. Thus, he will hold a press conference on 28 March in Naha to formally declare his direction.


The governor will run on the speedy reversion of the US Military Futenma Airfield (in Ginowan) and the prevention of its relocation to Henoko in Nago City, both sites in Okinawa Prefecture. A bevy of related sources have confirmed those facts as of 17 March.


Governor Tamaki ran as a candidate in the 2018 gubernatorial election as successor to the prior Governor Takeshi Onaga, who had died in office. Governor Tamaki won the election and was re-elected in 2022.


This time as well, Governor Tamaki will receive the support of the forces of All Okinawa, who raise the flag of opposition to the Henoko relocation.


However those very forces against relocation suffered defeat in this January’s Nago City Mayoral Election. Moreover, in the February House of Representatives Election, they lost all 4 of the prefecture’s seats to LDP (Liberal Democratic Party) candidates in a humiliating defeat. Whether they can recover their strength has become an open question.


On the other side, after a 12 year hiatus with its former general affairs bureaucrats out of administrative power, the LDP is standing former Naha Deputy Mayor Genta Koja (42) to run as its  candidate against Governor Tamaki. Candidate Koja plans to make the formal announcement of his run at a conference on 23 March.


Original Japanese article: JIJI. COM, published Tuesday 17 March 2026 at 05:11. 

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/e3ef5046ae2cba4644ce648215d80313bdd85552


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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