Heaping criticism on the Ministry of Education and Science’s ruling, Governor Tamaki deems it, an “unwarranted intervention into education!”

Splendor of Okinawa: Great Bougainvillea, roadside Uruma, 3my26

Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki heaped criticism on the Ministry of Education and Science’s ruling that Doshisha International High School’s (Kyoto Prefecture) study program, during which boats capsized in an accident in the offing at Nago’s Henoko in his prefecture, violated political neutrality.


At a gathering held in Okinawa City, on 24 May, the governor stated, “It’s not even an overstatement to say that Okinawa’s peace studies has been stood at the brink of collapse by this ruling. I can only call it an unwarranted intervention into education!”


The governor further argued, stressing the restraint of peace studies, “This cannot but become a situation where no opportunity can be made for the give and take of ideas among people, of truth and of witness.”


The governor added his plea regarding  the right or wrong of the Ministry of Education and Science’s ruling, “This ruling must be verified from each and every angle!”


(Trans. Note: I find it interesting that the Ministry is not concerned with the safety of the students—life jackets worn?—but with political neutrality, which seems to mean to the Ministry, “Don’t discuss the very policies that, as high school students, you’ll vote on in a year or two”. Is the ruling itself politically neutral?)


Original Japanese article: Kyodo Communications, published Sunday 24 May 2026 at 22:03.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/223d727ff40ee30fc32b143f38ba8f06262b9242


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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