An official from the Transportation Division at the Miyakojima Station, Okinawa Prefectural Police, has suggested that Chinese and Korean visitors to the island should not be allowed to rent automobiles due to lack of personnel able to speak the languages. Speaking at an exchange meeting with staff members from rental car businesses, the individual in question stressed that cars should not be made available to customers if an interpreter cannot be present at the scene of an accident. The remarks came after it was reported that there was nobody on hand to communicate with a Korean driver who had an accident on the island. The same person did encourage companies to lend to tourists from English-speaking countries as interpreters are available. The comments were described as backward-looking by the owner of a rental car company, specifically given the amount of inbound tourism that the city receives. The head of a human rights association has stated that the contents of what was said was not discriminatory, but did represent a lack of awareness amongst police officials. Source: Ryukyu Shimpo, 8/30/2017
Photo for image purpose only. Source: MASA.
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