Denny Tamaki

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Denny Tamaki (2018)

Denny Tamaki ( Japanese 玉 城 デ ニ ー , Tamaki Denī , officially: Yasuhiro Tamaki ( 玉 城 康裕 , Tamaki Yasuhiro ); born October 13, 1959 in Yonashiro (today: Uruma ), Okinawa Prefecture ) is a Japanese politician (independent → DPJ → LF → Mirai → Seikatsu → LP → independent) and since 2018 Governor of Okinawa Prefecture in southern Japan . Before that, he was a member of the Shūgiin , the lower house of the national parliament , for the 3rd constituency of Okinawa from 2009 until his candidacy for governor and from 2002 to 2005 a member of the city parliament of Okinawa .

Life

Career

Tamaki was born on October 13, 1959 as the son of a soldier of the United States Marine Corps stationed in Okinawa and a Japanese woman in Yonashiro as "Dennis Tamaki". The name comes from the fact that his parents had initially planned to move to the United States after he was born , but the American father left Okinawa early and his mother decided to stay in Japan; he never got to know his father. His mother officially called him "Yasuhiro Tamaki" in 4th grade, although he later preferred his nickname "Denny". He studied at the "Technical School for Social Welfare of the Sophia University " ( 上智 社会 福祉 専 門 学校 , Jōchi Shakai Fukushi Senmon Gakkō ; eng. Sophia School for Social Welfare ) and then worked in various areas as a salesman , before becoming a DJ and Radio presenter made independent and moderated in Okinawa at the regional Ryūkyū Broadcasting Corporation ( 琉球 放送 Ryūkyū Hōsō ) . It was particularly popular with older generations.

In December 2001, people around him suggested that he run in the upcoming Mayor election of Okinawa City in April 2002. He finally decided instead to run as an independent in the September 2002 election of Okinawa City Council and entered parliament with the most votes among all candidates and with the highest percentage of votes from any single candidate in all previous elections.

MP

In August 2005 he resigned as a member of the city parliament in order to run for the Democratic Party (DPJ) in the 2005 general election in the 3rd constituency of Okinawa , but incumbent Chiken Kakazu had to admit defeat by the Liberal Democratic Party and the Social Democrat Mitsuko Tōmon and landed on the third place (Kakazu 48.7%; Tōmon 30.0%; Tamaki 24.0%), whereby Tōmon also missed an entry via the proportional representation  . Only in the subsequent general election in 2009 , which ended very successfully for the DPJ nationwide and brought it a government majority, Tamaki managed to win the constituency (Tamaki 48.7%; Kakazu 23.7%). In June 2012, he voted in the House of Commons in a vote on the passing of a  law tabled by then Prime Minister and DPJ Chairman Yoshihiko Noda to double the value added tax, together with 56 other government politicians against the bill. In the 2009 election campaign, the Democratic Party promised not to increase VAT in the coming legislative period.  

In July 2012, he left the DPJ with Ichirō Ozawa and others and joined Ozawa's new party, Kokumin no Seikatsu ga Daiichi ( 国民 の 生活 が 第一 , dt. About "Citizens' life [comes] first"). In the general election in December 2012 , he stood as a candidate for the Nippon Mirai no Tō ( 日本 未来 の 党 , dt. "Future Party of Japan") by Yukiko Kada , to which Kokumin no Seikatsu ga Daiichi and other parties had merged a month earlier, and after his new challenger Natsumi Higa (LDP) was elected to the lower house in second place in the 3rd constituency of Okinawa via the proportional constituency (Higa 43.6%; Tamaki 36.1%; Tamaki won with a margin of 122 votes against the Kōmeitō candidate Aiko Shinpuku ( 新 福 愛 子 , Shinpuku Aiko ) get the last seat of the Kyūshū proportional representation ). After the split of the Nippon Mirai no Tō shortly after the election, he joined the Seikatsu no Tō ( 生活 の 党 , dt. About "Party of Life") by Yūko Mori , whose chair was Ozawa in January 2013 and who she took over in October Renamed the “ Liberal Party ” in 2016 . Tamaki was appointed general secretary of the party in January 2015. In the 2014 general election , he was a candidate for the  "All-Okinawa" movement proclaimed by Okinawa's then governor Takeshi Onaga, consisting of opponents of the US bases on Okinawa (explicitly supported by the Communist Party , Social Democratic Party, Okinawa Mass Socialist Party in addition to Seikatsu no Tō , Green Party and without opposing candidates from the bourgeois opposition) win the constituency against Higa, the latter moving in via the proportional representation block (Tamaki 60.0%; Higa 40.0%).

In the 2017 general election , he ran as an independent (but remained a party member), as the Liberal Party had decided not to put up its own candidates and, unlike other candidates, he did not switch to Kibō no Tō due to differences of opinion regarding the US bases on Okinawa . He won again against Higa and this time was the only one from his constituency to be elected to the lower house (Tamaki 57.9%; Higa 40.3%).

governor

Tamaki (right) with US soldiers stationed in Okinawa (2019)

On August 29, 2018, he announced that he would run for the gubernatorial election in Okinawa in September 2018 . Shortly before his death, Governor Onaga, who died on August 3, named Tamaki and the entrepreneur Morimasa Goya ( 呉 屋 守将 , Goya Morimasa ) as preferred candidates for his successor. Since Goya had rejected a candidacy, Tamaki agreed and thus entered as an "All-Okinawa" candidate with the support of most of the opposition parties against the LDP-Kōmeitō- Ishin - Kibō candidate Atsushi Sakima ( 佐 喜 眞 淳 , Sakima Atsushi ) on. Tamaki won the election with 55.1% of the vote (Sakima 43.9%) and was elected As Onaga's successor with the most votes (396,632) of all previous gubernatorial elections in Japan. On October 4th, he was officially named governor of Okinawa. The by-election in constituency 3 for Tamaki's vacated seat in Shūgiin did not take place until April 28, 2019, as a ruling by the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of the 2017 election due to the criticized equality of the election was still pending. The constituency finally won the "All-Okinawa" candidate Tomohiro Yara , who prevailed with 56.5% against the former upper house member Aiko Shimajiri supported by LDP, Kōmeitō and Nippon Ishin no Kai .

At the referendum initiated by Tamaki in Okinawa in February 2019 , 72.15% of the participants and 37.65% of all voters spoke out against the construction of a new US base in Nago . The clear result should serve as a further basis of legitimation in the negotiations regarding the construction with the central government, but Prime Minister Shinzō Abe stayed with the continuation of the construction work.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d miwachannel.com - 自由 党 玉 城 デ ニ ー 衆議院 議員 (Japanese), accessed August 26, 2018
  2. ↑ boston.com - Identity issues permeate in Okinawa , accessed August 26, 2018
  3. ↑ a b c d d21tamaki.com - プ ロ フ ィ ー ル (Japanese), accessed August 26, 2018
  4. ↑ shiminrengo.com - 自由 党 が 目 指 す も の と そ れ ぞ れ の 決意 (Japanese), accessed August 26, 2018
  5. ↑ Mainichi Shimbun - ＜ 消費 増 税法 案 ＞ 民主 ５７ 人 反 対 事 実 上 の 分裂 状態 に ( Memento from June 29, 2012 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ 【衆院 選 速 報】 比例 で 玉 城 氏 滑 り 込 み 選 挙 区 は 自 民 ３ 、 社 民 １ . In: Ryūkyū Shimpō . December 17, 2012, Retrieved August 26, 2018 (Japanese).
  7. ↑ sankei.com - 生活 、 共同 代表 に 山 本 氏 幹事 長 は 玉 城 氏 ( Memento from January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ 自由 党 の 小 沢 共同 代表 、 無 所属 で 衆院 選 立 候補 へ . In: Yomiuri Shimbun . October 3, 2017. Retrieved August 26, 2018 (Japanese).
  9. ^ Denny Tamaki, successor-designate of late anti-base governor, declares candidacy in Okinawa race. In: The Japan Times . August 29, 2018, accessed August 29, 2018 .
  10. ↑ 玉 城 デ ニ ー 氏 が 立 候補 表明 オ ー ル 沖 縄 が 支援 の 見 通 し . In: Asahi Shimbun . August 29, 2018. Retrieved August 29, 2018 (Japanese).
  11. ↑ nhk.or.jp - 選 挙 デ ー タ ベ ー ス 沖 縄 県 知事 選 (Japanese), accessed October 4, 2018
  12. ↑ 玉 城 デ ニ ー 知事 が 初登 庁 「地 に 足 を つ け て 頑 張 張 る」 沖 縄 . In: Asahi Shimbun . October 4, 2018. Retrieved October 4, 2018 (Japanese).
  13. ↑ 沖 縄 ３ 区 補選 は 行 わ ず 「１ 票 の 格 差」 訴訟 に よ り . In: Mainichi Shimbun . September 13, 2018. Retrieved September 22, 2018 (Japanese).
  14. ↑ nhk.or.jp - 衆院 補選 沖 縄 3 区 (Japanese), accessed June 10, 2019
  15. ↑ pref.okinawa.jp - 開票 結果 速 報 ( Memento from February 25, 2019 in the Internet Archive )
  16. ↑ After strong 'no' vote, Okinawan's look to highlight case against Henoko base plan in Tokyo and Washington. In: The Japan Times . February 25, 2019, accessed June 10, 2019 .
personal data
SURNAME Tamaki, Denny
ALTERNATIVE NAMES 玉 城 デ ニ ー (Japanese, Kanji, and katakana); た ま き で に ー (Japanese, Hiragana)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Japanese politician
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Yonashiro