Archive for April, 2012

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Disposal of unexploded ordnance at Shuri High School forces more than 2000 people to evacuate

Disposal of unexploded ordnance at Shuri High School forces more than 2000 people to evacuate

April 16, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

Just before 11:00am on April 15 in the grounds of Shuri High School in the Mawashi area of Shuri, Naha, Ground Self-Defense Force personnel disposed of an unexploded WWII U.S. 250 kilogram shell (120 centimeters long and 36 centimeters in diameter). The shell had been found when the reconstruction of a school building was carried out in February. About 2350 people were evacuated from about 845 households and 95 business premises within 288 meters of the site...

 

Sakatas close their domestic study program the Warabiya and move to Ogimi

Sakatas close their domestic study program the Warabiya and move to Ogimi

April 8, 2012 by Hideaki Yoneda, correspondent of Ryukyu Shimpo

Ryuji and Akiko Sakata, a couple who moved to Tokashiki from Kudaka in 2007, ran the Warabiya juku as the first domestic study program in Tokashiki, finished accepting students in 2011. They then moved to Ogimi in northern Okinawa...

Students complete a course in Okinawan traditional dress-fitting and hair-arrangement

Students complete a course in Okinawan traditional dress-fitting and hair-arrangement

April 12, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 9, at the Shikinaen garden in Naha, the Toshiko Chinen Ryubu-dojo and Ryusogakuin Institute held a graduation ceremony for students who had completed the course in ryuso and karajiyui or Okinawan traditional dress and hair-arrangement. At the course,...

History book on human rights in Okinawa published

History book on human rights in Okinawa published

April 9, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

To mark the 50th anniversary of its establishment, the Okinawa Human Rights Association, which was established when Okinawa was under U.S. military administration and has since been involved in the protection of human rights for the people of Okinawa, has published...

Okinawa rail photographed eating its lunch

Okinawa rail photographed eating its lunch

April 6, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

In the afternoon of April 5, photographs were taken of an Okinawa rail, a national natural treasure, looking for food on an old road in the Yambaru forest in the northern part of Okinawa. Wild birds in the Yambaru forest are now entering their mating season. The...

Oura Ward erects a monument to commemorate the Chile Tsunami

Oura Ward erects a monument to commemorate the Chile Tsunami

April 11, 2012

In order to commemorate the tsunami in Chile in 1960, Oura Ward in Nago set up a monument at Asagi-Mae Park. The Great East Japan Earthquake made 82 year-old Jun Higa think that it is important to pass down the experience of the Chile tsunami to future generations. A group of...

Induction courses held in Tokashiki

Induction courses held in Tokashiki

April 13, 2012 Hideaki Yoneda, correspondent of the Ryukyu Shimpo

With the beginning of a new academic year, on April 5, high schools, colleges, technical schools and companies in Okinawa commenced induction courses at the National Okinawa Youth Friendship Center in Tokashiki.

A total...

Couple from Macao hold underwater marriage ceremony in the sea off Okinawa

Couple from Macao hold underwater marriage ceremony in the sea off Okinawa

April 10, 2012

On April 5, at Seragaki in Onna, a couple from Macao held an underwater marriage ceremony in Okinawa, a place they love dearly. The bride and groom, Wong Si Wai and Leong Lap Chong both said, “It was just fantastic!”

Wearing a wedding dress and tuxedo over their wet...

Kin Municipal Office erects a huge sign announcing it as the “Town of Taco Rice”

Kin Municipal Office erects a huge sign announcing it as the “Town of Taco Rice”

April 11, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 6, a huge sign stating, “The town with the biggest Taco Rice in the world” was placed in Kin, with mayor Tsuyoshi Gibu declaring the town to be the “town of taco rice.” Taco rice was thought up in Parlor Senri in the restaurant area called Shinkaichi...

During the Shimi Festival people visit tombs to pray for their family’s health

During the <em>Shimi</em> Festival people visit tombs to pray for their family’s health

April 9, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

April 8 was the first Sunday of the Shimi Festival season, when the people of Okinawa celebrate ancestral spirits on the lunar calendar. The Shikina Cemetery in Naha was crowded with families offering foods, including tempura and rice cakes. Participants...

U.S. military aircraft noise halts enrollment ceremonies at elementary schools

U.S. military aircraft noise halts enrollment ceremonies at elementary schools

April 11, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

In the morning on April 10, a number of Boeing F/A-18 Hornet aircraft, the type that crashed in Virginia on April 6, flew to U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in Ginowan. Among the 12 aircraft that flew to the base, four are based at Iwakuni Air Station (Iwakuni,...