Archive for April, 2017

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Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau introduces new mascot to boost Okinawa tourism

Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau introduces new mascot to boost Okinawa tourism

April 11, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 10, the Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau (OCVB) unveiled Maharo-kun as a new mascot. Serving as a promotional ambassador for Okinawa together with Hanagasa Mahae-chan and the three Miss Okinawa beauty queens, he will work to draw domestic and foreign attention to the local charm of Okinawa as a tourist destination.

Maharo-kun’s backstory starts on Oahu Island in Hawaii. He is a third-generation Okinawan as his grandmother is from Okinawa,...

 

Editorial: The Marines must withdraw to the continental U.S. after stray bullets found at Onna construction site

April 16, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

An accident which should never happen has happened in Onna. At the Afuso Dam construction site in the Camp Hansen Marine Corps base, damage that appears to have come from stray bullets was found in water tanks and the cars of dam workers.

When the stray bullets...

Okinawa Prefecture to send a request for cooperation on the Henoko issue to environmental protection organizations

Okinawa Prefecture to send a request for cooperation on the Henoko issue to environmental protection organizations

April 11, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

Okinawa Prefecture will send a written statement to request that the International Conservation Union for Nature Conservation (IUCN) and the other main environmental protection organizations in Japan reach out to the Japanese government to take measures to avoid...

Residents decorate Nakagusuku castle ruins with fourteen shisa

Residents decorate Nakagusuku castle ruins with fourteen shisa

April 6, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

The association of landscaping with shisa placed fourteen shisa in front of the Nakagusuku castle ruins on March 29. This is the fourth project in which they have placed shisa statues after the Adaniya intersection, the Ogido old bus stop, and the Nakagusuku Kitanakagusuku...

Citizen protesting against new base construction saves baby turtle in Oura Bay

Citizen protesting against new base construction saves baby turtle in Oura Bay

April 17, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 14, in Oura Bay, Nago City, Tadashi Shimabukuro, 56, a member of the canoe team staging a protest against the construction of a new U.S. base, saved a sick green turtle.

According to Shimabukuro, the green turtle floated on the surface of the sea...

Dangers of MCAS Futenma remain unresolved 21 years after base return agreement

Dangers of MCAS Futenma remain unresolved 21 years after base return agreement

April 12, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

April 12 marked 21 years since the U.S. and Japanese governments agreed on the whole return of Futenma Air Station to Okinawa. Since the Futenma Air Station return plan set forth construction of a replacement facility in Henoko and therefore within Okinawa, Okinawans...

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder of The Art of Living Foundation, speaks of inner peace in Nagagusuku

April 13, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,...

Discovery of new orchid in Yambaru reported in international journal

Discovery of new orchid in Yambaru reported in international journal

April 7, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

Lecturer at the Kobe University graduate school of science Kenji Suetsugu has discovered two new orchid species in the forest of northern Okinawa. The species were named “yambaru yatsushiro ran” and “tsutsuzaki yatsushiro ran.” Suetsugu discovered the orchids...

Editorial: Liberal Democratic Party of Okinawa should show the pride of Okinawan conservatives

April 11, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

The Liberal Democratic Party of Okinawa (Okinawa LDP) held its 48th annual convention and solidified its policy of “accepting” the relocation of U.S. Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Futenma to Henoko, Nago City. This represents a shift away from its previous...

Sumiko Kitajima, who spread a message of peace with her one-woman play, dies at 85

Sumiko Kitajima, who spread a message of peace with her one-woman play, dies at 85

April 10, 2017 by Ryukyu Shimpo

Sumiko Kitajima (born Sumiko Machida), the actress who was famous for her one-woman play that spread the message of the importance of peace using the Battle of Okinawa and post-war history as material, passed away from renal cell cancer at a hospital in Naha...

Establishment of Web Histreet: search postwar Okinawa history articles via a website

Establishment of Web Histreet: search postwar Okinawa history articles via a website

April 12, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo

[Okinawa] This past March, the City History Editorial Officers of Okinawa City established “Web Histreet,” the Okinawa City Postwar Data Digital Archive, a website that promotes various resources regarding the city’s postwar history. The site enables people...