Fourth-generation Okinawan descendant from New Caledonia meets her Okinawan relatives

Fourth-generation Okinawan descendant from New Caledonia meets her Okinawan relatives

Emilie Thosei Miyasato who smiles as she talks with her relatives Miyoko Uema (left) and Sadako Majikina for the first time, taken on July 25 in Futenma, Ginowan.


July 26, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo

On July 25, fourth-generation Okinawan descendant Emilie Thosei Miyasato, 17, met with her relatives Miyoko Uema, 78, and Sadako Majikina, 72, who live in Futenma, Ginowan. Emilie is visiting from New Caledonia to trace her roots.

Tears welled up in her eyes as she received words of welcome, such as “We finally meet” and “There’s no such day as wonderful as this.

” She enjoyed meeting with her “family that lives in a foreign land.”

Emilie’s great-grandfather is Chosei Miyazato, who emigrated to New Caledonia as an immigrant in 1910. Other than that, she did not have much information on her roots.

Following her arrival in Okinawa, she sought information via Ryukyu Shimpo, which was when Uema and Majikina came forward. Emilie plans to stay in Okinawa until August 7.

She said, “I want to learn as much as possible about my family and Okinawa.”

Uema and Majikina wanted Emilie to enjoy home cooked Okinawan food, so they entertained her with somen chanpuru and Hirayachi, or Okinawan pancake.

They also entertained Emilie with family stories as they showed Emilie the Miyasato family tree and photographs of when Emilie’s grandfather and others visited Okinawa.

While it was Emilie’s first visiting Okinawa, she said she “started to feel oddly nostalgic.”

She was moved by the warm reception, which “reinforced her desire to cherish her Okinawan roots.”

(English translation by T&CT and Chelsea Ashimine)

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