Archive for February, 2016

Recent News

Pantu in Miyako to be Nominated for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

Pantu in Miyako to be Nominated for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage

February 18, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

The Japanese government decided to nominate seven prefectures’ cultural events, including Miyako island’s Pantu, for intangible cultural heritage designated by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In Miyako’s Pantu, local residents disguised as gods’ messengers go around communities putting mud around in order to remove bad luck. Pantu, the national significant intangible folk cultural asset, will be added to the existing...

 

Friendly humpback whales greet Zamami visitors

Friendly humpback whales greet Zamami visitors

February 23, 2016 Hirokazu Otsubo, Correspondent of Ryukyu Shimpo

Whale watching season has taken off at Zamami Bay. Two large humpback whales were spotted from a whale watching boat on February 18. They occasionally peeked their heads above the water and swam together playfully.

In...

Ueda ugan held to pray for good harvest

Ueda ugan held to pray for good harvest

February 19, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

February 19 is called Usui or rainwater, which is one of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendars, and the time the coldness eases and farming starts.

Ueda ugan is an annual event held on February 18 at Ukinjuhainju,Tamagusuku...

Business leader says 2,000 people will be given opportunity to work in Henoko if hotels are built instead of US base

Business leader says 2,000 people will be given opportunity to work in Henoko if hotels are built instead of US base

February 21, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Chokei Taira, the president of the Okinawa Convention & Visitors‘ Bureau (OCVB), delivered a lecture titled “Rethink about the future of Okinawa and the tourism industry” held on February 20 at Okinawa International University.

Taira...

Editorial: Diet encirclement against new US base represents departure from indifferent attitude toward Okinawa

February 23, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

More than seventy years have passed since the Battle of Okinawa, yet heavy-handed political forces still aim to fill the bountiful ocean with concrete in order to build a new military base. However, popular will is spreading in resistance to this authoritarian...

28,000 people surround National Diet Building in protest of building new base at Henoko

28,000 people surround National Diet Building in protest of building new base at Henoko

February 22, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On the afternoon of February 21, according to the organizers , 28,000 people gathered and made a human chain encircling the National Diet Building to protest construction of a replacement facility for Futenma Air Station in Henoko, Nago. Participants wore blue...

14,000 couples with resort weddings bring huge economic effects to Okinawa in 2015

February 19, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On February 18, the Okinawa Prefecture Culture, Tourism and Sports Division announced 14,175 couples had Okinawa resort weddings in 2015, a rise of 17.5 percent for the same period last year and the highest number ever. Among the weddings, the number of couples...

161 college students from outside of Okinawa engaged in collecting remains of war dead

161 college students from outside of Okinawa engaged in collecting remains of war dead

February 19, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On February 18, 161 college students belonging to a non-profit organization, International Volunteer University Student Association (IVUSA), collected remains from the Battle of Okinawa in the Kuniyoshi district of Itoman. Skulls and thigh bones that seemed to...

In court ruling, Okinawan first foreign victim acknowledged in Taiwan’s February 28 Incident

February 18, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

In 1947, the Kuomintang administration in Taiwan massacred civilians in what is known as the February 28 Incident. One of the victims of this incident was the father of 72-year-old Keishou Aoyama of Urasoe City, who was a Japanese fisherman in Taiwan at the...

Deaths from Kadena Air Base aircraft noise estimated at 4 people annually

February 19, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On February 18 at Naha District Court, the oral proceedings of the third Kadena noise pollution lawsuit took place, presided over by Judge Tetuya Fujikura. Professor of environmental health at Hokkaido University Toshihito Matsui, called to the stand as an expert...

Okinawan children excited for snow from Hokkaido

Okinawan children excited for snow from Hokkaido

February 9, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Parents at the Tabaru Aiji Preschool in Tabaru, Naha City, held a snow-play party for the children on February 6. Three-hundred children and their parents attended the event to play with white snow sent from Hokkaido.

The event was held by the parents’...