March 5, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On March 3, the Haebaru Municipal Office introduced publically accessible WiFi and, using what is called “augmented reality,” commenced a town guide app service for smart phones under the name Haebaru Sightseeing Navi. Following on from Nanjo, Haebaru is the second location in Okinawa to launch a town guide app service. It provides tourist information, GPS, a stamp rally, photographs with the town mascot character called “Haerun” and other frame functions,...
March 8, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
The Tokyo-based Marine Journalists Conference has decided to present the 2013 MJC Marine Award (Cultural and Dissemination Section) to Itoman traditional sabani boat-builder Kiyoshi Oshiro. For many years, 63 year-old Oshiro has made fishing boats known...
February 24, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
In the Yambaru areas of the northern part of Okinawa, local people are going on patrols to protect rare animals and plants. The main purpose of their activities is to prevent poaching and theft of plants, but they also enjoy roaming through the Yambaru forest...
February 22, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On February 21, at the Ukinju hainju in Hyakuna, Nanjo in Tamagusuku, the Ueda Ugan was held. It is a traditional ceremony in the Nakandakari district, in which people plant rice and pray for a good harvest. The place was known to be a center...
March 2, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On February 24, the 21st cattle festival was held at the multipurpose plaza on Kuroshima Island, Taketomi-cho, in Yaeyama. As many as 3000 people took part in the festival, enjoying events such as a lottery in which people win pregnant cows. At the stalls, they tasted...
March 4, 2012 Kumiko Hokama, Correspondent of Ryukyu Shimpo
From February 7 to 17, one of the world’s leading festivals of its kind, the Berlin International Film Festival, was held. For the first time, this year the Okinawa Prefectural Government and the Okinawa Film Office of the Okinawa...
March 3, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On March 2, at the Water and Green Square in the Okinawa Kodomo no Kuni, Zoo & Museum in Okinawa City, the zoo and the Ryukyu Shimpo held an event for Okinawan traditional horse racing known as uma-harase.
Many spectators cheered when the cute...
February 18, 2013 Yukito Toyama of the Ryukyu Shimpo
On February 6, volunteers set up the Oyama Taimo Fan Club to let people know about the potatoes produced in the Oyama district of Ginowan. Taimo is a tropical plant grown primarily as an edible root vegetable. It goes by...
February 11, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On January 30, at Gushikawa Commercial High School the “Gusho Department Store,” a simulated company set up for business training purposes, held its 19th general meeting for shareholders. The management, including its president, Yuya Komesu, announced financial...
February 9, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
On December 28, 2012, local residents found a postbox that had drifted from Minamisanriku-cho in Miyagi Prefecture to a spot near the mouth of the Yutsun River in Taketomi-cho, in the northeastern area of Iriomote Island. It must have been swept away by the tsunami...
February 15, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo
Hisako Kato, a Hosei University researcher who has studied Itoman uminchu (fishermen) culture, visited Okinawa to meet Hiroyasu Tamashiro, a local who is to open a fishermen’s style restaurant in Itoman. Tamashiro is from Itoman and is the grandson...
Webcam(Kokusai Street)