Archive for October, 2012

Recent News

Ada in Kunigami proclaims itself to be providing habitat for the Okinawan rail

Ada in Kunigami proclaims itself to be providing habitat for the Okinawan rail

October 13, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On October 8, the Ada District of Kunigami was declared as an official habitat of the Okinawan rail. The community is striving to protect the natural habitat of this rare bird.

That same day at Ada Public Hall a ceremony was held during which Ward Mayor Tanji Kamiyama stated that they would work to protect the endangered Okinawan rail. Takashi Nagamine, the director of the non-profit organization (NPO) called Dobutsutachi-no-byoin-Okinawa (Animal Hospital...

 

Saving “Manhole Children” in Mongolia

Saving

October 12, 2012, Ryukyu Shimpo

It was when Tomoko Teruya went to an exhibition on the “Manhole children” that she was inspired to do what she does now. After seeing this exhibition, she set up a non-government organization (NGO) called “Yuimaru” to support and manage an orphanage...

Osprey aircraft flight paths continue to violate safety agreement

Osprey aircraft flight paths continue to violate safety agreement

October 16, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

For two and a half hours in the afternoon of October 15, two MV-22s flew a total of 12 times over densely populated areas such as Naha and Urasoe in the southern and central regions of Okinawa. By October 6, the U.S. Marine Corps completed the deployment to Futenma...

Traditional sabani manufacturing process replicated for future generations

Traditional <em>sabani</em> manufacturing process replicated for future generations

October 10, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

The non-profit organization called Hamasuuki, which is based in Nishizaki, Itoman, and runs the Itoman Uminchu Koubou Museum and Arts and Craft Center, was commissioned by the Ocean Expo Park to manufacture two traditional Okinawan sabani canoes. On October...

OPG to ask Ministry of Defense for a reassessment of the environmental impact of Osprey

October 11, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On October 10, Takeyoshi Shimoji, the deputy director general responsible for Environmental Planning in the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG), suggested that now that the Osprey have been deployed, the Ministry of Defense should carry out another environmental...

Okinawan sanshin to be designated as heritage craft

October 11, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On October 10, the design committee of the Okinawa Craft Industrial Promotion Council held its second meeting at the Okinawa Prefectural Government office. In the meeting, they decided that the sanshin is appropriate to be handled under the prefectural...

Chinese cruise to Okinawa unaffected by controversy over Senkaku Islands

Chinese cruise to Okinawa unaffected by controversy over Senkaku Islands

October 12, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

The ongoing territorial dispute over the Senkaku Islands or Diaoyutais, has caused an increase in cancellations of Chinese visitors to Japan. On October 10, the Legend of the Seas, a cruise ship from Shanghai, docked at Naha Port before departing for Amoy later...

Okinawa Governor protests to Defense Minister, saying “This is insane behavior”

October 17, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

In the morning of October 17, Okinawa Governor Hirokazu Nakaima met with Defense Minister Satoshi Morimoto to strongly protest about the case in which two U.S. sailors have been charged with rape. The governor asked the minister to make the U.S. military prevent...

Two U.S. sailors arrested on suspicion of assaulting woman

October 17, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On October 16, the Okinawa prefectural police arrested two U.S. Navy sailors who belong to Naval Air Station Fort Worth in Texas, on suspicion of a sexual assault on and injury to a woman. The police say that one of the sailors has admitted the acts of violence,...

Nakachi looks back on the landowners’ struggle against the U.S. military in the post-war period

Nakachi looks back on the landowners' struggle against the U.S. military in the post-war period

October 5, 2012, Ryukyu Shimpo

On September 20, at the exhibition at the Okinawa City Gallery Postwar Culture and History called “Histreet,” the Okinawa Municipal Historiographic Office held its regular monthly meeting of the Society for Postwar History. Meijo Nakachi, the editor...

Women solemnly dedicate traditional dance Chibana Usudeku

Women solemnly dedicate traditional dance <em>Chibana Usudeku</em>

October 4, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On September 30, which is August 15 in the lunar calendar, the dedicatory dance usudeku, which was first performed more than three centuries years ago, was performed in Chibana, Okinawa City. With a shishi (effigy of a lion-dog), which had been...