Okinawa Assembly Passes Rare Censure Motion Against Governor Tamaki

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The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly passed a censure motion against Governor Denny Tamaki on July 13 by a majority vote, following a string of revelations about mismanagement at the prefecture's Washington office.

Okinawa Prefecture opened the Washington office in 2015 to lobby the US government directly on base-related issues, particularly its opposition to relocating the US Marine Corps' Futenma Air Station to Henoko in Nago. It was shut down in June last year after an investigative panel found serious flaws in how it was set up and run.

The motion was submitted by the opposition Liberal Democratic Party bloc, and the officially neutral Komeito bloc also voted in favor.

According to the assembly secretariat, this marks the first time a censure motion against a sitting governor has passed. A similar motion against Tamaki was deliberated in 2023 but was voted down at the time.

Komeito Breaks Ranks

During deliberations, Komeito assembly member Makoto Takahashi said, "This is a serious matter that would normally call the position of the person at the top into question. It is no longer possible to place any trust in the governor."

Communist Party assembly member Mizuki Higa spoke against the motion. He argued that "what Governor Tamaki should be held responsible for is resolving Okinawa's disproportionate burden of hosting US bases." That meant working to "bring about the immediate suspension, closure and removal of the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station" and doing "everything in his power to stop construction of the new base at Henoko."

How the Office Unraveled

The Washington office was established at the initiative of the late Governor Takeshi Onaga, who had opposed relocating the US Marine Corps Futenma Air Station to Henoko in Nago.

It later came to light that stock acquired in setting up the office had not been registered as prefectural public property. It also emerged that positions were misrepresented in obtaining US visas for office staff—for example, listing employees as company "president" despite their status as prefectural government workers. False documents were submitted to US immigration authorities stating they would not be directly employed by the prefecture.

A verification committee of lawyers appointed by the prefecture released a final report in March last year concluding that "it is clear there were serious flaws" in how the office was established.

The Okinawa Prefectural Assembly set up a special investigative committee in 2024, which has spent roughly a year and a half examining the facts of the case, including sworn testimony from Tamaki and the office's first director.