Okinawa governor asserts a distinction between an accident and peace studies in the Henoko capsize incident. (30my26)

Splendor of Okinawa: Tropical Milkweed, roadside Uruma, 25my26

At a press conference on 29 May, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki spoke on the capsized boats accident in the offing at Henoko in Nago of his prefecture. The Ministry of Education and Science has ruled that Kyoto Prefecture‘s Doshisha International High School’s study program violated political neutrality. 


Governor Tamaki criticized that ruling, asserting, “An accident is an accident and ought to be impartially responded to as such. Peace studies are peace studies and ought to be carried on as such!” He  stressed, “It’s ridiculous to investigate education as the cause of an accident.”


On the Ministry’s ruling, the governor heaped criticism, asserting, “It is universally held that inappropriate interference by administrative authority is unacceptable.”


The accident in question happened on 16 March.


(Trans. note: It’s a bit ironic that the Education Ministry has ruled that the study of the impact of foreign bases in Okinawa violates political neutrality, while encouraging school study excursions to Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which are covered in textbooks, along with Pearl Harbor, from a viewpoint which will never be—albeit rightfully—politically neutral.)


Original Japanese article: Kyodo Communications, published Friday 29 May 2026 at 12:39.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/25fd265e5c006785a6c579e17bed66c54ae4a157


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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