Fantastic Okinawa

Okinawa gubernatorial election

Tour de Okinawa 2014 starts wheels spinning on SaturdayBy Bill Charles

The island’s prestigiousTour de Okinawa is set torun this weekend withmore than 4,000 cyclists

competing in and around thenorthern Okinawa city of Nagoand surrounding areas..

International Road race eventofficials have invited the top racersnot only from Japan, but overseas,for the two days of eventsSaturday and Sunday. The eventsare designed to improve competi-tion power among racers fromacross Asia. Some two dozenraces, including more than a dozenelements of racing, eight cyclingsection events, and another couplefestival related events are promot-ing this, the biggest cycle sportingevent in Japan. There are interna-tional road races, citizen road racesand citizen tour races.

The citizen cycle sport eventbegins with Japan’s top road race,and citizen races of 210km,140km and 50km. The eventspromote spreading cycle sportsand improving competition powerof amateur racers. This 26thannual Tour de Okinawa 2014 isfree for spectators, starting at 7a.m. Saturday when races begin.At 8 a.m. there will be a unicycleevent, all leading up to the formalopening ceremonies Saturdayafternoon at 4 p.m.

There are various coursessuch as the long distance cyclingfor experienced racers and familyparticipatory course such as the70km Onna Village familycycling in order to promote par-ent-child bonding and sound nur-turing through the experience ofthe local culture and life inYanbaru. In addition, in order tocreate more chances for commu-

nication with disabled athletes,‘Barrier-free cycling’ will takeplace. There are also unicycleand three-wheeled cycle eventsfor children.

Sunday’s race action getsunder way at 6:45 with theChampion Road Race, followedwith an 8:30 a.m. start for theInternational Junior Road Race

covering 140km. The 10km KidsRoad Race begins at 9 a.m. andthe 100km International Women’sRoad Race rolls into action at9:30 a.m. The Awards Ceremonytakes place at 3 p.m., followed byclosing ceremonies and a friend-ship party at 4 p.m.

The first races were held inthe first year of the current

Emperor’s reign, that Japan calls“Heisei, 1” and this is the 24thyear of Tour de Okinawa. Theevent is held for the purpose ofpromoting the sightseeing in anorthern Okinawa areas, culture,and contributing to improvementof public benefits, such as a com-munity improvement or healthenhancement.

The two-day event is also usedto spread news and promotion of thecycling sport in Okinawa Prefecture,and international exchange andcooperation. Organizers have gainedcooperation of various organizationsof Okinawa Prefecture and also thewhole country. The races begin at8:20 a.m. both Saturday andSunday.

By Bill Charles

Will Okinawans endorse continuedeconomic development whileapproving relocation of the con-tentious Futenma Marine Corps

Air Station from downtown Ginowan Citywhen they go to the polls on November 16th,or will they cast their ballots to stop it in favorof continuing the challenge of removing U.S.military installations from the island?

That is the key issue in the cominggubernatorial election a week from Sunday,with four candidates –including the incum-bent governor Hirokazu Nakaima seeking anunprecedented third term to continue movingFutenma while expanding economic growth—vying for the prefectural leadership post. Hisprincipal opponent is former Naha CityMayor Takeshi Onaga, who opposes buildingthe new U.S. military airfield in northern

Okinawa and promises to stop Tokyo’s plan.Compounding the matter for voters are

two additional candidates who have some-what differing views on what Okinawa’sfuture military landscape should be. Formerlawmaker and minister who ran the programto privatize postal services in Japan, MikioShimoji, wants to be governor on a platformpromising a referendum by Okinawa’s citi-zens to decide what to do about Futenma.The fourth, a former House of Councilorsmember and professional musician, ShokichiKina, is promising to revoke all elements of

Continues on page 2

Nago's Tour de Okinawa has grown into the largest bicycling event in Japan with over 4,000 cyclists participating in its two dozen races.

Clock's ticking to Nov. 16th gubernatorial election

Incumbent Hirokazu Nakaima Challenger Takeshi Onaga

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Afestival designed to expand peoples’ support andunderstanding toward international cooperationand exchange is slated this weekend at JICAOkinawa International Center in Urasoe City.

The Okinawa International Cooperation and

Exchange Festival 2014 Saturday and Sunday is free to thepublic, as JICA seeks to enlighten people about activitiesof organizations working both in Okinawa and overseas.Of course, JICA wants many people to enjoy and appreci-ate the international environment.

More than 44 groups and organizations related tointernational cooperation or conducting internationalexchange programs will have workshops and exhibitionsduring the festival, which runs 10 a.m. ~ 6 p.m. Saturdayand 10 a.m. ~ 5 p.m. on Sunday at the JICA OkinawaInternational Center, 1143-1 Aza Maeda, Urasoe City.

JICA trainees from all over the world will hold funevents. There are unique ethnic stalls from many coun-tries, including Peru, Myanmar and Ghana. Other thanthat, there will be a multinational buffet and Fukushimacharity flea market.

Events begin at 11 a.m. Saturday with Aimoco, fol-lowed at 2:30 p.m. by a gamelan rendition of Bali Island.Popular Okinawan band Diamantes performs at 4 p.m. OnSunday, a special fun walk with foreign trainees starts at10 a.m., followed at 11:30 a.m. with Kumiodori,Okinawa’s traditional opera and dance Kimutaka noAmawari. An African drum session entertains at 2 p.m.and world songs and dance, as well as an Eisa perform-ance, fill the stage at 3 pm.

Governor electionContinued from page 1the Futenma relocation project and setOkinawa on a path of peace.

Interestingly, all four candidates haveroots in the ruling Liberal DemocraticParty, but two have shifted allegiancesthrough the years and the four th i sopposing the party’s guidelines.

Governor Hirokazu Nakaima has thesupport and formal endorsement of theLiberal Democratic Party Headquarters inTokyo, and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.He’s said to have 60% of the LDP backinghim, while Onaga has another 20%. Forthe two LDP mainstays, Onaga andNakaima, the run-up to the election nowpromises to be a head-butting ten days.

Both have flip flopped on positions onthe controversial Futenma relocation issue,with Governor Nakaima initially in favor,then reversing course to insist he wants thebase moved off Okinawa, then changingpositions again to support the move, callingit the only realistic option to remove dan-ger from Ginowan. Mayor Onaga was ini-tially an advocate of moving Futenma fromcentral Okinawa to the sparsely populatednorthern part of the island at Henoko,where it would be part of the Marines’Camp Schwab, with two V-shape runwaysextending into Oura Bay. Now, he’s “res-olutely opposed” to the base being moved

as planned.Shimoji thinks a prefecture-wide refer-

endum is the only way to know whatOkinawans really want. “The political cir-cumstances are confusing now,” he says,noting the LDP’s quagmire of having twoof its members running for governor, withdifferent interpretations of what the rulingparty thinks best for Okinawa. The 53-year-old Shimoji, the youngest of the fourcandidates, is also pitching a dream aboutbuilding a railroad on the island within adecade, while bringing internationaltourism opportunities such as UniversalStudios and a sports theme park toOkinawa. Kina, 66, wants to terminate thelandfill approval issued by the governor,withdrawing all support, while promising“I will make blooming flowers of peace.Let’s restore the Okinawan soul throughthe Okinawan traditional arts like Karateand Ryukyu dance, and show the existenceof Okinawa to the world.” He says he will“create a new life style.”

The 75-year-old governor, with abackground as a deputy governor in theMasahide Ota administration and a solidbusiness background –President ofOkinawa Electric Power Company andchief of the Okinawa Prefecture Chamberof Commerce and Industry—is now in hissecond term, and has promised, “I willsolve the Futenma relocation issue. This isthe immediate priority.” He is emphasiz-

ing on the campaign trail that he has PrimeMinister Abe’s promise that Futenma willbe closed by 2019, which will be good forGinowan City. Nakaima, who’s drawnhefty economic promises from the PrimeMinister to build the second runway atNaha International Airport, create a lightrail system, and expand Prefecture infra-structure projects worth billions of yeneach year for the next eight years.

He’s also been getting political pointschalked up thanks to the central govern-ment and the United States making changesin Futenma operations. More than a dozenKC-130 refueling tankers based at Futenmahave now been moved to Iwakuni MarineCorps Air Station on the mainland. Japansays more of the training exercises anddrills by the disliked MV-22 Ospreys basedat Futenma would take place on the main-land instead of Okinawa.

Onaga says that is not good enough. Hecontinuously criticizes the governor forapproving Henoko in the first place. SaysOnaga, “He’s the first person in the 70 yearsof the postwar era who has offered to pro-vide a base (on Okinawa).” Onaga promisesto “use every means possible to stop the con-struction.” Shimoji and Kina are not seen bypolitical observers to have any chance ofbeing elected, but they could siphon offvotes from the two strong candidates.

The LDP itself backs Nakaima, whilesome local LDP politicians are throwing

their support to Onaga. The JapaneseCommunist Party, the Social DemocraticParty and various local parties are leaningtoward Onaga. The Komeito, junior part-ner with the LDP, has refused to take astance on the election, telling its membersto make their own decisions.

For residents of Ginowan, it’s a bitter-sweet choice. They want Futenma MCASout of their city, but don’t want to appear tobe pro-bases either. For some, the moneyderived from their land being leased to thegovernment is a factor in supporting thegovernment. Yet others, fearful of an acci-dent such as happened in 2004 when aMarine Corps helicopter crashed ontoOkinawa International University inGinowan, see positive points in the gover-nor’s approval of Henoko on the northeastcoast, where there’s far less opportunity forloss of life or damage should a crash occur.

A telephonic poll of potential voters inthe November 16th election shows TakeshiOnaga with a slight lead, and GovernorHirokazu Nakaima in second place. TheNovember 1st and 2nd public opinion pollwas jointly conducted by local newspaperthe Ryukyu Shinpo and OkinawaTelevision Broadcasting Company. Thephone poll reflected 20% of the respon-dents to the questionnaire saying they’venot made up their minds yet. MikioShimoji and Shokichi Kina, the other twocandidates for governor, ranked well belowNakaima and Onaga.

Zanpa JAM 2014 stages season's ‘Last Summer Dance’

Zanpa JAM, a two-dayopen-air music festivalconnecting with localsand the world, is coming

to Zanpa Cape Park on Saturdayand Sunday.

For the two days in a row, avariety of popular artists from thestreet, clubs and the festivalsscene are scheduled at Zanpa, sur-rounded by nature of the oceanand green farms. Saturday’s pro-gram runs 10 a.m. ~ 9 p.m., fol-lowed by a 7:30 a.m. ~ 10 p.m.marathon slate of performers onSunday. A two-day advance tick-

et is ¥6,500 while a single-dayadvance pass is ¥5,000. Ticketsat the door are ¥7,500 for twodays and ¥6,000 for a one-dayticket. The Zampa JAM is free toindividuals under age 18.Advance tickets are available at e-plus from Family Marts acrossOkinawa, and at designated storeslisted on the festival websitehttp://zanpajam.org/pages/ticket.html.

Performers are not only fromOkinawa but from across Japan.All have a passion to be part of ahigh quality local-based music

festival related to rich nature andculture in the region. They start-ed Zanpa Jam in 2011 for the firsttime, making this the fourth in thefestival series. It is more popularamong people of mainland Japanthan Okinawa, and more than halfof the attendees are coming fromoutside of Okinawa. Artists, per-formers and fes-people will gath-er together at Zanpa for thisweekend, the last of the festivalseason. At the same time, this fes-tival is the starting point of thenew festival of collaboration withart, music and local culture.

There are a various showsplanned, including musical per-formances by more than 10artists, and additional DJ perform-ances by more than 10 disc jock-eys from all over Japan, add tothe excitement. From the UnitedKingdom, Jamaican DUB musi-cian, Jah Shaka will come andplay as a special guest. FromOkinawa, MURASAKI, anOkinawan legendary rock band,will perform. There will also belive painting events by severalartists, and skate and BMX showsby professionals.

A detailed timetable andperformers information can bechecked on the websitehttp://zanpajam.org/pages/timetab

le.html. People can also enjoymany food stalls, includingOkinawa Soba, ethnic foods,vegan food, a bakery and smooth-ies. Many sundries store acces-sories, candles and t-shirts willalso be there. Unique for a musicfestival, various kinds of massageand chiropractic stores will open.

There’ s a pre-event onNovember 7th at two venues;Remy’s in Koza Okinawa Cityand at Zanpa Misaki Royal Hotel.Some groups from Zanpa JAMwill perform. Admission to

Zanpa Misaki Royal Hotel pool-side hall opens at 7 p.m.Admission is ¥2,000.

Saturday’s program opens at10 a.m. with DJ MKY, followedby Birdhelms at 11 a.m. Keycoand Ritto perform at 3:50 p.m.and Murasaki rounds out the pro-gram at 6:10 p.m. On Sunday,Mayumi and Mocchin Yoga kickthings off at 7:30 a.m., DJ Kim isat 9 a.m., Akatsuchi and Madoverat noon, Jah Shaka at 6:10 p.m.and Zakimi Eisa closing the showat 9:32 p.m.

Festival features 44 organizations for international exchange

Participating organizations stage an exhibition to edu-cate public about their activities.

Every nation has it's dance, and the JICA festival show-cases a few of them on Sunday.

Zanpa Jam offers two days of non-stop entertainment.

Zampa Jam does not forget he youngest visitors - they are, after all,the future audience of any festival.