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“Why do we need to get permission from U.S. marines to visit our ancestors’ graves?”

“Why do we need to get permission from U.S. marines to visit our ancestors' graves?”

April 18, Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 17, at graves within U.S. Marine Corp Air Station Futenma, Ginowan, residents held the Shimi Festival to celebrate their ancestral spirits.

After getting permission from the authorities, about 490 people visited their ancestors’ graves.

The Futenma airfield remains 20 years after the governments of Japan and the United States agreed to close it and return lands to the owners. For the annual Shimi Festival, residents have to get the permission...

 

Okinawan personnel interacting with foreign tourists note language barrier as greatest challenge

March 24, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

The Okinawa Prefectural Government and Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau concluded an investigative report on March 23 of personnel interacting with the tourist industry regarding their reception of foreign tourists during 2015. This is the first time the report...

This year’s first crop of tea leaves harvested in Nago

This year's first crop of tea leaves harvested in Nago

March 16, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo

On March 15, the earliest tea picking in Japan started at Kanigawa-seicha tea production company’s tea plantation in Isagawa, Nago.

Workers in groups of three carefully picked new tea leaves shining under the morning sun. The harvest of the first tea leaves...

Big bluefin tuna caught off Kume Island coast

Big bluefin tuna caught off Kume Island coast

March 11, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Yoko Morinaga

On March 4, the captain of the Daisan Ryutoku Maru, Norio Iju, caught the biggest Pacific bluefin tuna fish to be landed on Kume Island this fishing season. The fish weighed 214 kilograms and was 2.5 meters long. The captain’s family...

32 whales blow seawater – whale-watching season at peak in Zamami

32 whales blow seawater – whale-watching season at peak in Zamami

March 3, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Whale-watching tours in the sea around Zamami Island have reached their season peak. On March 2, thirty-two whales were confirmed near the island. And tourists enjoyed seeing whales lift their heads above the sea surface and blow seawater.

There were more...

Memorial monument of “Pigs from the Sea” conveys bond between Okinawa and Hawaii

Memorial monument of “Pigs from the Sea” conveys bond between Okinawa and Hawaii

March 3, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

A memorial monument was built in the property of the former Uruma Citizens’ Art Theatre in order to commemorate a historical event in which Okinawans in Hawaii sent 550 pigs to Okinawa, in an attempt to aid people suffering food shortages in the post-WWII period....

New Year for the dead: family members hold memorial service at Miegusuku

New Year for the dead: family members hold memorial service at Miegusuku

February 24, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On February 23, January 16 in the old lunar calendar, a new year memorial service for the dead, called “Juroku-nichi-sai”, was held in Okinawa.

Many families offered special meals and prayers to their family alters, in their homes or at graves, for...

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...

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’...

Lunar New Year celebration on Hamahiga Island

Lunar New Year celebration on Hamahiga Island

February 9, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On February 8, the date of the Lunar New Year, the first prayer of the year, “Hachi ugan”, was offered at a hallowed ground, “Shirumichu”, in Katsuren Higa in Uruma City. It is said that an ancestral god of Ryukyu, Amamichu, and Shirumichu are enshrined...

80,000 colorful tulips at Okinawa Expo Park

80,000 colorful tulips at Okinawa Expo Park

January 28, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On January 27, Okinawa’s historic cold weather eased away and a tulip fair started at the Tropical Dream Center in Okinawa Expo Park, Motobu. Visitors enjoyed about 80,000 tulips in 48 varieties.

Naoko Yashiki, who visited the park from Saitama with her...