50 years after return to Japan, gap remains between Okinawa and rest of country

Naha – Almost a half century after its return to Japan in 1972, Okinawa Prefecture nonetheless lags behind the remainder of the nation by way of revenue, welfare and different areas whereas seeing substantial progress in infrastructure improvement.

The southernmost prefecture, the positioning of grueling floor battles within the closing days of World Conflict II, was occupied by the USA from 1945 to 1972. It is going to mark the fiftieth anniversary of its return to Japan on Might 15 this 12 months.

Because the particular regulation on improvement in Okinawa was enacted in 1972, the central authorities has taken numerous measures to appropriate disparities between the prefecture and the remainder of the nation.

On Thursday, parliament handed into regulation a invoice to increase the federal government’s Okinawa improvement program by one other 10 years, with emphasis on efforts to sort out youngster poverty and different points in Okinawa.

Earlier within the week, a ceremony was held to commemorate the second anniversary of the opening of the second runway at Naha Airport within the prefecture’s capital.

The airport is an “vital basis for measures beneath the Okinawa improvement program,” Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki burdened on the ceremony.

Because of the event of the airport, in addition to an increase within the variety of overseas guests to Japan, the variety of vacationers from exterior the prefecture grew from 440,000 in 1972 to over 10 million in 2019.

Underneath the event program, Okinawa shouldered solely round 5% of the price of the second runway challenge, a lot decrease than one-third for such initiatives elsewhere within the nation.

Moreover, the share of paved roads within the prefecture has exceeded the nationwide common, and the development of dams has considerably improved the water scenario within the prefecture, which steadily suffered diminished or suspended water provides. The prefecture’s foremost island has prevented water provide restrictions since 1994.

The event of Okinawa’s infrastructure is an “achievement” of the federal government’s improvement program, stated Shigeharu Miyahira, professor of economics at Meio College in Okinawa.

Nevertheless, there are nonetheless disparities to appropriate between the prefecture and the remainder of the nation in revenue, welfare and different fields.

Among the many nation’s 47 prefectures, Okinawa’s common revenue per capita has stayed on the backside since fiscal 1989 and the prefecture’s youngster poverty fee stands at 29.9%, greater than twice the nationwide common.

Kazuhiro Miyagi, professor of economics at Okinawa Worldwide College, identified that efforts have been centered on infrastructure and different initiatives coated by beneficiant subsidies. “As welfare and different measures have been left behind, poverty is rising as a problem,” he stated.

The emphasis on infrastructure and different bodily initiatives has been corrected since subsidies grew to become accessible for different points beneath a brand new system launched in fiscal 2012.

Such subsidies, nevertheless, have continued to be diminished since fiscal 2015, when a rift between the nationwide authorities and the prefecture got here to gentle over U.S. base points.

Miyagi pointed to the necessity for a system that provides the prefecture extra discretion in regards to the subsidies.