Aug 06 (Japan Today) - The government may review how money allocated for developing Okinawa is spent, after some of this year's money was used to pay for an event by the all-girl idol group AKB48.
To boost tourism, 28 million yen was allocated to holding the pop group's annual popularity vote in Okinawa in June.
The Okinawa prefectural government submitted a plan to use the money for the event, which was expected to draw 8,000 tourists to the southern island prefecture in the off-season. The Cabinet Office approved the amount to cover such costs as setting up the venue.
The funding came from the fiscal 2017 national government grant totaling 135.8 billion yen which the prefecture can use for any purpose. That money is part of the 315 billion yen provided this year for economic development of Okinawa.
