照屋寛徳氏死去、７６歳　元社民衆院議員、沖縄問題に注力

　社民党の論客として知られ、地元・沖縄県の基地問題などに取り組んだ元衆院議員の照屋寛徳（てるや・かんとく）氏が１５日午後１時２０分ごろ、がんのため沖縄県西原町の病院で死去した。７６歳だった。葬儀の日取りは未定。
　サイパンで出生。琉球大法文学部を卒業し、１９７２年に弁護士登録。米軍基地の集中する沖縄で、基地関連のさまざまな問題に向き合った。同県の米軍嘉手納基地（嘉手納町など）の騒音被害をめぐる爆音訴訟では原告にも名を連ねた。基地負担軽減や日米地位協定の改定を訴え、「沖縄問題の第一人者」として知られた。
　県議などを経て、１９９５年参院選の沖縄選挙区に無所属で出馬し、初当選。１期務めた後に落選したが、２００３年衆院選の沖縄２区に社民党からくら替え出馬し、連続６回当選した。副党首や国対委員長などを歴任。昨年の衆院選に出馬せず、政界を引退した。（2022/04/15-20:28）

Kantoku Teruya, a former House of Representatives lawmaker from Okinawa Prefecture active in tackling issues associated with U.S. military bases in the southernmost Japan prefecture, died of cancer at a hospital in the Okinawa town of Nishihara on Friday. He was 76.
   Born on the Pacific island of Saipan, Teruya became a lawyer in Okinawa in 1972 and dealt with problems arising from U.S. bases, which are concentrated in the prefecture. In a lawsuit over noise damage from the U.S. Kadena Air Base, he joined a group of plaintiffs.
   Teruya's restless efforts to reduce Okinawa's burden of hosting a number of U.S. bases and revise the Japan-U.S. Status of Forces Agreement, which governs U.S. troops stationed in Japan, made him known as a leading expert in Okinawa issues.
   After serving as a prefectural assembly member, he ran in the 1995 House of Councillors election as an independent and won a seat in the upper chamber of the Diet, Japan's parliament.
   Teruya failed to return to the Upper House in the next election. But he switched to the Lower House in the 2003 election, running on the ticket of the Social Democratic Party from Okinawa's No. 2 district, and was elected six times in a row.