Denny in the News

Splendor of Okinawa: Carruthers’ Falseface, beachside Mihama, 23au24 The US Marine Corps is soon to deploy MQ9 surveillance drones to Kadena Air base. In response to queries for press corps coverage on 26 August, Governor Denny Tamaki criticized the plan, while the burden of the Kadena base is continually increasing, lamenting, “This situation is becoming the exact opposite of the reduction of the burden of bases that our Prefecture has been requesting.” The governor further expressed his intention of requesting the Government to reconsider the planned deployment. Governor Tamaki has been keeping watch over the piece by piece increase in the prefecture’s burden, such as the repeated parachute drop exercises at Kadena Airbase, the use of its former Papa Loop aircraft parking tarmac, the increase of outside flights taking off and landing, and now the addition of surveillance drones. Governor Tamaki traveled to Tokyo in March over the increased burden at Kadena Airbase and directly compla...

Splendor of Okinawa: Hibiscus, beachside Mihama, 23au24 In its budget proposal for 2025, the Cabinet Office settled on its plan for a budgetary request of 282 billion yen for Okinawa Promotion, as explained on 27 August by the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) Okinawa Promotion Research Committee. This budgetary request was 10 billion less than the 2024 budget request. Thus, the Prefecture's budget request in the range of 300 billion yen was turned down for the 4th consecutive year. In order to get the Prefecture’s understanding on the relocation of the US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture, during the nine years since 2013, the Cabinet Office has calculated the cost of the Okinawa Promotion to be in the range of 300 billion yen. However, the Cabinet Office has cut back its budget proposal drastically since 2022, in the midst of Governor Denny Tamaki’s opposition to the Henoko relocation. Original Japanese article: JIJI. Com, published T...

Splendor of Okinawa: Templetree, beachside Mihama, 9au24  Sea-bed boring for the Naha Port relocation has begun. In response, Governor Denny Tamaki noted, “I realize there are various opinions on this research”, while  expressing his intention to approve it, nonetheless.   Okinawa Governor Denny Tamaki explained, “The Prefecture is quite aware of the various  opinions on the relocation. Among them especially is whether if some aspects are unclear, or others are  doubtful, should I approve the boring investigation?” In his 23 August scheduled press conference, the governor showed his thinking, noting, “I would still like to keep gathering arguments henceforth on whether or not there are any obstacles in the relocation plan to the overall design for the use of the port and bay at Naha Port.” Moreover, the US Military gave notice that it would carry out parachute jump exercises at Kadena Airbase on the afternoon of 23 August. In response, Governor Tamaki criti...

Splendor of Okinawa: Raintree, beachside Mihama, 19au24 In August of 1944 during Word War 2, the Tsushima Maru, an evacuation ship for school children, set out from Okinawa, but was attacked and sunk by a US submarine. It has been 80 years since more than 1,400, including children, perished on 22 August 1944. At the Little Cherry Blossom Memorial Monument in Naha, a memorial ceremony was held. About 410 relatives and others participated to offer prayers of mourning. Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki and Cabinet Minister for Okinawa and the Northern Territories Hanako Jimi participated, as the whistle sounded for all to offer a moment of silence. Chairman of the Tsushima Maru Memorial Association Public Interest Corporation Masakatsu Takara (84), who survived, but lost a total 9 family members, including parents and siblings in the sinking, pleaded in his address of mourning, “It is unpardonable for such a tragic event to occur again. I beg that the chain of retribution be expung...

Splendor of Okinawa: Crown Daisy, beachside Miyama, 19au24 A dump truck traffic accident resulting in death occurred at Awa Jetty in Nago City in Okinawa Prefecture, where a new base is under construction. The Okinawa Defense Bureau had temporarily halted the  work of loading soil onto the trucks from the jetty, but will resume the task on 22 August.  In response to Prefectural Office press squad questions on the resumption, on the evening of 21 August, Governor Denny Tamaki lamented, “No consultation at all has taken place on an investigation into the cause of the accident or measures to prevent a recurrence. It’s absolutely deplorable to restart work anyway.” The accident occurred at the exit of the jetty workyard on 28 June. During a protest activity, a woman got into an altercation with a security guard and a dump truck hit them both, killing the guard and badly injuring the woman, leaving her with a broken leg.  On 15 August the Defense Bureau asked the Prefecture to...

Splendor of Okinawa: Golden Crownbeard, beachside Mihama, 16au24 　 The Okinawa Defense Bureau has begun actual work in Oura Bay on the construction of the new base at Henoko in Nago in Okinawa. In response, on the afternoon  of 20 August, Governor Denny Tamaki issued a documented comment criticizing the one-sided start of construction, while consultations on permission for the very matter under consideration on the landfill are ongoing, calling the act, “Truly deplorable!” The Prefecture is expected to request from the Defense Bureau a halt in the construction while talks are continuing and until they are settled. Until then, in the prior consultations, detailed points about insufficient responses and measures for environmental safety must be confirmed. Moreover, the consultations ought to continue, without restraints of time. The Prefecture further requested, “The Defense Bureau must sincerely respond to the Prefecture’s directives.”  Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times...

Splendor of Okinawa: Indian Blanket, beachside Mihama, 9au24 On 14 August, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced that he would not run in the Liberal Democratic Party election. In response to questions on the decision from the press squad for their coverage, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki answered briefly, “I feel that because of various and sundry personal circumstances, the Prime Minister judged to not run for re-election. However, I also feel it was probably his judgment as a politician.” However, in returning to the topic of the Kishida Administration, the governor claimed, “As was seen in his exercise of proxy in our lawsuits and such, while we were working earnestly toward a solution by dialog, I had hoped we could have had him lend us more of a constructive hand.” On his efforts on Okinawa Promotion, the governor  assessed the prime minister, noting,  “He was consistent in planning the Promotion program, according to a solid plan, a basic plan for  admin...

Splendor of Okinawa: Madagascar Periwinkle, beachside Mihama, 9au24 Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki attended a mass rally held in Ginowan on 10 August. Touching on his loss in the court battles over construction for the relocation of the U.S. Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, Governor Tamaki stated, “The courts issued their conclusions. In fact it may even be a unified conclusion.” Then, again laying bare his confrontational stance toward the National Government, the governor added, “But that’s no reason for us to be deprived of our means of resistance.” The rally was just prior to the twentieth anniversary, on 13 August, of the crash at Okinawa International University in Ginowan of a U.S. Military helicopter based in Okinawa. The rally was sponsored by All Okinawa and other groups supporting Governor Tamaki. According to the report of the sponsors, nearly 2,500 people attended. Included among those present were members of the Diet, Communist Party Secre...

Splendor of Okinawa: Raintree, beachside Mihama, 9au24 With the ongoing sexual assaults by US troops in Okinawa Prefecture coming to light, citizen groups and others requesting a reduction in Okinawa’s base burden, held a protest rally on 10 August at an athletic field in Ginowan City. According to the organizers, over 2,000 citizens attended. The rally adopted a letter of appeal to the Japanese Government requesting control and reduction of bases and a radical revision of the US-Japan Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA), pointing out its barriers in crime investigations. The participants raised placards bearing the slogan, “Don’t forgive US troop sexual assaults!”, as Governor Denny Tamaki took the stage to greet the crowd with, “Let’s get on with it, dauntless, and never giving up!” Chiemi Yonaha (52), a mother still raising 2 children, touching on the US Military aircraft crash accidents and sexual assault crimes that have occurred up to now, emphasized, “Schools and parks, that ought...

Splendor of Okinawa: Beach Spider Lily, beachside Mihama, 9au24 Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on 14 August that he would not enter the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) presidential election. On 15 August, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki spoke to the press squad for their coverage of this news. He stated only, “I think he decided not to run for the presidency again because of a variety of personal considerations. However, I consider this  just my judgment as a politician.” Moreover, on looking back over the Kishida Administration, the governor claimed, “In cases such as the exercise of proxy in the Henoko litigation, I would have preferred to have had him make more of a hands on effort to solve our differences through dialogue.” The governor settled his evaluation of Prime Minister Kishida’s efforts to put together the Okinawa Promotion package as consistent, noting, “The Promotion package was solidly planned, as is usual for a government administration’s basic plans...

Splendor of Okinawa: Hellenia, Gushikawa RC Church 11au24 A security guard died while restraining a woman protesting the relocation of the US Military Futenma Airfield in Ginowan to Henoko in Nago, both in Okinawa Prefecture. On 15 August, the Defense Ministry’s Okinawa Defense Bureau issued a letter of request addressed to Governor Denny Tamaki asking him to carry out cautions and notifications to “obstructionists” and to take safety measures such as the installation of a guardrail. Such a request by the Defense Bureau is extremely unusual. Nearby the port, where soil is unloaded, members of citizen groups carrying placards continue their protest activity of walking ever so slowly across the crosswalk in front of the dump trucks, in their “cow walk” strategy to delay the delivery of the soil. The letter of request about the accident claimed, “Heedless of restraints by the security guards, protestors went out into the road in front of trucks in the process of trying to make a left turn...

Splendor of Okinawa: Lantana, beachside Mihama, 9au24. 13 August was the twentieth anniversary of the crash at Okinawa International University in Ginowan of a helicopter attached to the U.S. Military Futenma Airfield  To the press squad at the Prefectural Office, in addition to the crash of the CH53E helicopter in 2004, Okinawa Prefecture Governor Denny Tamaki took up the Osprey aircraft currently deployed at the U.S. Military Futenma Airfield, whose structural defects have been pointed out after accidents, noting, “Both Ospreys and helicopters are jointly in use. We cannot help but say that unease among our prefecture’s people is on the rise.” A US Military Osprey crashed offshore Yaku Island in Kagoshima Prefecture last November, resulting in the death of its crew of 8. Governor Tamaki lamented, “The Osprey’s structural defects have become apparent. Considering this situation where accidents  just continue due to the use of Ospreys and helicopters, Okinawa’s situation will ...