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

Naha – Nearly a half century after its return to Japan in 1972, Okinawa Prefecture still lags behind the rest of the country in terms of income, welfare and other areas while seeing substantial progress in infrastructure development.

The southernmost prefecture, the site of grueling ground battles in the closing days of World War II, was occupied by the United States from 1945 to 1972. It will mark the 50th anniversary of its return to Japan on May 15 this year.

Since the special law on development in Okinawa was enacted in 1972, the central government has taken various measures to correct disparities between the prefecture and the rest of the country.

On Thursday, parliament passed into law a bill to extend the government’s Okinawa development program by another 10 years, with emphasis on efforts to tackle child poverty and other issues in Okinawa.

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

The airport is an “important foundation for measures under the Okinawa development program,” Okinawa Gov. Denny Tamaki stressed at the ceremony.

Thanks to the development of the airport, as well as a rise in the number of foreign visitors to Japan, the number of tourists from outside the prefecture grew from 440,000 in 1972 to over 10 million in 2019.

Under the development program, Okinawa shouldered only around 5% of the cost of the second runway project, much lower than one-third for such projects elsewhere in the country.

Furthermore, the share of paved roads in the prefecture has exceeded the national average, and the construction of dams has substantially improved the water situation in the prefecture, which frequently suffered reduced or suspended water supplies. The prefecture’s main island has avoided water supply restrictions since 1994.

The development of Okinawa’s infrastructure is an “achievement” of the government’s development program, said Shigeharu Miyahira, professor of economics at Meio University in Okinawa.

However, there are still disparities to correct between the prefecture and the rest of the country in income, welfare and other fields.

Among the country’s 47 prefectures, Okinawa’s average income per capita has stayed at the bottom since fiscal 1989 and the prefecture’s child poverty rate stands at 29.9%, more than twice the national average.

Kazuhiro Miyagi, professor of economics at Okinawa International University, pointed out that efforts have been focused on infrastructure and other projects covered by generous subsidies. “As welfare and other measures have been left behind, poverty is emerging as a challenge,” he said.

The emphasis on infrastructure and other physical projects has been corrected since subsidies became available for other issues under a new system introduced in fiscal 2012.

Such subsidies, however, have continued to be reduced since fiscal 2015, when a rift between the national government and the prefecture came to light over U.S. base issues.

Miyagi pointed to the need for a system that gives the prefecture more discretion about the subsidies.