Government committee to plan 50th anniversary celebration of Okinawa Reversion at Tokyo hotel

Government committee to plan 50th anniversary celebration of Okinawa Reversion at Tokyo hotel

The Prime Minister's Official Residence


March 3, 2022 Ryukyu Shimpo

By Yosuke Anri

 

Tokyo and Okinawa Prefecture are co-hosting the 50th-anniversary ceremony of the Reversion of Okinawa to Japan. During an interview conducted before March 2, an official revealed some details of the May 15 celebration, including the key attendees—Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, heads of the judicial, legislative, and administrative branches of government, former Ministers of State for Okinawa, and the U.S. ambassador to Japan. The Tokyo government set up a planning committee for the ceremony and appointed Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno to take the reins. The event will utilize two venues and arrangements are being finalized for the banquet hall of the Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa in Minato-ku, Tokyo, and the Okinawa Convention Center in Ginowan City, Okinawa. The two venues will connect virtually.

 

Organizers will implement measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19, extending invites to only local elected officials and former Diet members from Okinawa to prevent high numbers of travelers from visiting the Okinawa venue. The Cabinet will officially approve the affair on August 8.

 

The event will be the first to be held simultaneously in both Okinawa and Tokyo since the May 15, 1972 celebration, according to the Cabinet Office. The dual-venue ceremony in 1972 was hosted by the central government, held at the Nippon Budokan in Tokyo and the Naha Civic Hall in Okinawa, with approximately 10,000 people attending in Tokyo and 1,500 in Okinawa.

 

The 10th- and 20th-anniversary ceremonies of the Okinawa Reversion were held in Tokyo, and the 25th-, 30th-, and 40th-anniversary ceremonies were held in Okinawa. The events in Okinawa attracted around 700 to 1,000 attendees.

 

This year will be the first time the anniversary ceremony in Tokyo will be held at a hotel. The Grand Prince Hotel New Takanawa has been the venue for the “Okinawa Night in Tokyo” event, an evening of celebrating Okinawan tourism, attended by about 1,000 people including the Chief Cabinet Secretary and the Minister of State for Okinawa.

 

(English translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)

 

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