Okinawa defense chief sacked for his injudicious remark

Okinawa defense chief sacked for his injudicious remark


November 29, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

In the evening of November 29, the government announced that it would dismiss 50 year-old Satoshi Tanaka, the director general of the Okinawa Defense Bureau after he had made a remark the previous evening (November 28) in which he compared the delayed submission of an environment assessment report on the planned relocation of the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma to Henoko in Nago to warning a woman about being raped, saying, “Would you say, ‘I am going to commit an act against you,’ before you commit an act against someone?”
The comment was made in the context of his being asked why the government has not made a clear statement with regards to the schedule for the submission date of an assessment report.
The government decided to immediately dismiss Tanaka on the basis that his remark that shows a contempt for human rights and because it could draw fire from Okinawa Prefecture and the Okinawan people, thereby hindering the Futenma relocation issue.
It is the first time that a director general of the Okinawa Defense Bureau (formerly head of the Facility Planning Section of the Facilities Department of the Naha Defense Facilities Administration Bureau) who is the head of the local agency of Bureau of Defense Policy for Okinawa Prefecture, in which the U.S. military bases are concentrated, has been dismissed because of such an injudicious remark.

(English Translation by T&CT, Mark Ealey)

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