People of Okinawa have chosen Denny Tamaki as the new governor. They say he is a kind of symbol of Okinawa. Why?
Denny’s mother is a woman from Okinawa and his father is an American soldier who had stationed in Okinawa. The soldiers go back home after their service leaving the women and their children. The women can’t make their lives with babies, so the children are raised by other people. Denny was raised by a foster mother. One of the stories we hear in Okinawa very often. A blind tenor singer Tsutomu Aragaki, whose father is also an American soldier, was raised by his grandmother, He hated his father who abandoned him and his mother and had determined to find out and kill him, I read in his book.
Denny says when he was bullied because of his appearance, his foster mother said, ”The fingers are all different but every finger has its role and value.” I don’t know the detail of his life, but he must have had some hard days. He says “ Let’s make a society that never leave anyone behind.”
Foreign army troops always cause the same tragedy. Soldiers of the strong countries may think they have rights to do anything to the people of inferior countries they station. Probably the American soldiers think Okinawa and its women are their possessions. Of cause the soldiers go back home leaving the women behind, and marry other women of their countries and make families in their homeland not feeling guilty at all.
Okinawa has endured such a situation for a long time, without any help from its own government. The government and America is building one more huge army base in Okinawa. The people of Okinawa said,”NO!!!” again. Which has reason?