Okinawa’s Governor Denny Tamaki, on the false news surrounding the Henoko capsize accident, suggests, “I’d strictly judge such as libel or worse.” (20my26)

Splendor of Okinawa: Spiral Ginger, roadside Uruma,16my26


Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki held a regular press conference on 19 May.


There had been an accident in which two people died, one of them a female student at Doshisha International High School in Kyoto Prefecture, on a peace studies excursion when two boats capsized in the offing of Henoko bay.


Asked whether the accident would have an impact on his own candidacy in the September  gubernatorial election, he expressed his awareness of such a possibility, noting, “I can’t  just let that go by saying, ‘None whatsoever’, considering the leanings of one part of public opinion.”


On the fake news spread on social media, the governor noted, “The judgment of the electorate ought not be based on fake news.”


At the press conference Governor Tamaki questioned, “In the vacuum of speech on social media, how is it that mistakes and untruths get mixed together?”


The governor pointed out two reports on social media that absolutely never occurred: (1) that Okinawa Prefecture participated in the Cooperative Committee Against Helicopter  Bases which managed the 2 boats and (2) that the Prefecture funded that Committee.


The governor further noted, “Even if something can’t  be verified at all, it gets printed out as if it were true.”. 


He stressed, regarding social media,  “Spreading misinformation can even lead to mistaken judgments that get spread about and promulgated ever more widely. There are methods of expression available that keep harsh judgments from being made, which can end up as libelous or disruptive of duties.”


When queried why, on 24 April, it was not at the U.S. Military Camp Schwab near the accident site at sea or at Henoko Fisheries Port, where the 2 boats had departed and the relatives had offered flowers for the female student, but at Sedake beach, about 4 kilometers from the accident site at sea, that he offered flowers, Governor Tamaki replied, “Apart from my sending off my feelings, my especially important point was to confirm the site where the accident occurred. It wasn’t a matter of whether I was near or far. I chose Sedake Beach after considering my desire to send off my feelings of consolation in a place overlooking the accident site.”


Original Japanese article: Sankei Shimbun, published Tuesday 19 May at 13:35. Byline: Naoki Ohtake.

https://www.sankei.com/article/20260519-4PCNJ4IQXZLF3J6EFC7LQXY3HI/


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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