Okinawa Fair at Taiwan’s Heping Island brings awamori and brown sugar to locals

Okinawa Fair at Taiwan’s Heping Island brings awamori and brown sugar to locals

Visitors shopping at the Gòng Dǎo Ji Okinawa Fair in January at Heping Island Park. The fair promotes cultural and economic exchange between Okinawa and Taiwan (photo credit: Keelung City, Taiwan).


January 29, 2022 Ryukyu Shimpo

By Wu Li Jun

 

The Okinawa Industry Promotion Public Corporation’s Taipei office and the Heping Island Park in Keelung City, Taiwan, jointly organized the Gòng Dǎo Ji Okinawa Fair to promote cultural and economic exchange between Okinawa and Taiwan. The event, which is ongoing at Heping Island Park, promotes Okinawa tourism, and visitors may shop local products such as brown sugar and limited edition awamori.

 

The fair opened on December 25 last year and will run through February 28. Over 2,000 visitors, mostly locals, have visited the park as of January 28.

 

Previously known as Sheliao Island, Heping Island was home to a community of Okinawans pre-WWII, many of whom were fishermen from Miyako Island. Keelung and Miyako hold a sister city agreement based on this shared piece of history.

 

Chen Bao-You, director of the Taiwan office for a federation of Okinawan trading companies, commented, “We planned [this fair] to commemorate the Okinawans who lived on Heping Island. Through this event, we hope to promote cultural and economic exchange between the two regions.”

 

(English translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)

 

 

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