Archive for December, 2011

Recent News

5th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival attracts a record 7363 participants from outside Okinawa, including 5317 from abroad

December 6, 2011 Tsuyoshi Arakaki of Ryukyu Shimpo

The 5th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival Executive Committee announced that the official number of participants from outside Okinawa who attended the festival in October was 7363, an increase of more than 2400 people, or 1.5 times the number who attended the previous festival in 2006. The number includes 5317 people from abroad, an increase of 924 people over 2006. Both of these numbers were the highest to date. Although many people of Okinawan...

 

Peace Studies Association of Okinawa established to promote the restructuring of peace education

December 5, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

On December 4, the inaugural meeting of the Peace Studies Association of Japan, Okinawa Research Council, otherwise known as the Peace Studies Association of Okinawa, was held at Okinawa University. The Association was established to restructure peace education...

Okinawa defense official’s injudicious remark:Defense Minister apologizes to Okinawa Governor, saying, “This has offended the people of Okinawa”

Okinawa defense official’s injudicious remark:Defense Minister apologizes to Okinawa Governor, saying,

December 3, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
In the evening of December 2, at the Okinawa Prefectural Office, Defense Minister Yasuo Ichikawa met with Governor Hirokazu Nakaima to discuss the injudicious remark by Satoshi Tanaka, the director-general of the Okinawa Defense Bureau on November 28, about the...

CEO of Baidu Japan Inc. visits Okinawa

CEO of Baidu Japan Inc. visits Okinawa

December 4, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

Haiteng Chen, Chief Executive Officer of Baidu Japan Inc. visited Okinawa from December 1 to 3, for meetings with leaders of the prefectural government and representatives of local companies. Baidu Inc. (President Alan Zhang) is a Chinese web-services company...

Tanadui Festival held in Taketomi Island with various performing arts

<em>Tanadui</em> Festival held in Taketomi Island with various performing arts

December 2, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

On December 1, a traditional performing art for the dedication of the Tanadui Festival, which has been designated as an important intangible cultural property by the Japanese government, commenced at Yomochi-utaki on Taketomi Island. The island was crowded...

Cocco’s performance praised as KOTOKO wins prize for expression

December 2, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

In the main competition of the Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, an international film festival held from November 16 to 30 in Estonia, Cocco, an artist from Okinawa, has won the first Jury Prize For Outstanding Performance and Cinematic Language in the movie...

Seventy people gather to discuss the establishment of an Okinawan Language Immersion School

Seventy people gather to discuss the establishment of an Okinawan Language Immersion School

November 29, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

On November 20, “An emergency meeting to discuss the establishment of an Okinawan Language immersion school” was held at Makishiekimae Hoshizora Community Center in Naha. The organizers were Okinawan Studies 107 (Okisuta 107), a group of the local people...

Novel “The Tempest” turned into a 3D movie

Novel

November 29, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

On November 28, a press conference was held at nicofarre in Roppongi, Tokyo regarding the production of the 3D movie, “The Tempest 3D” which is based on a novel set in the Ryukyu Kingdom in the 19th century and stars Okinawan actress Yukie Nakama.

Nakama,...

World’s Longest Ishigaki Kebab created to mark New Ishigaki Airport

World’s Longest Ishigaki Kebab created to mark New Ishigaki Airport

November 28, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

On November 27, at the site of the planned construction of the New Ishigaki Airport in Shiraho, Ishigaki, the city held the “Ishigaki Beef BBQ Festival” and set a new Guinness World Record for the longest kebab-style BBQ. The kebab was measured at 107.6...

Prefectural Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports sets up an information site on the islands off Okinawa

Prefectural Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports sets up an information site on the islands off Okinawa

December 1, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo
From December 1, Prefectural Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports commences a service called “DOR39,” a participatory Internet site that offers photographs, movies and comments for people who plan to visit one of the 39 inhabited islands off Okinawa....

Yamakawa Shuzo Co. LTD. sells awamori aged 40 years. Only 100 bottles will be sold

Yamakawa Shuzo Co. LTD. sells awamori aged 40 years. Only 100 bottles will be sold

December 1, 2011 Ryukyu Shimpo

From this December, the Yamakawa Shuzo Co. LTD., which is based in Motobu Town, will sell a variety of amamori called “Awamori Kaneyama 40 year-old.” Only 100 bottles of this product, that has been stored and aged for 40 years, will be sold. It comes in 720...