April 24, 2022 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Takuya Kayou
On April16, the prefectural council for promoting and disseminating the Okinawan language held its board meeting at the civic collaboration plaza in Naha City and decided on its activities for the fiscal year 2022. Its plan focuses on succession...
January 18, 2021 Ryukyu Shimpo
Misako Oshiro, a leading Okinawan folk singer, passed away on January 18. She was 84 years old. A private memorial service will be held for her surviving family.
According to sources, Oshiro was found lying down in her Naha City...
October 28, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
Tatsuhiro Oshiro, Okinawa’s first Akutagawa Prize-winning author and leader in Okinawan literature, died of old age at 11:10 a.m. on October 27 at a hospital in Kitanakagusuku Village. He was 95 years old. The Nakagusuku-native examined Okinawan identity throughout...
September 16, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
Derek Fujio, president of the classical Okinawan koto school Ryukyu Sokyoku Koyo Kai Hawaii Shibu (branch), made a guest appearance on Hawaii United Okinawa Association’s YouTube channel “HUOA Yuntaku Live!” Fujio performed three solo songs on the...
August 11, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
JICA Okinawa (Japan International Cooperation Agency Okinawa Center) recently uploaded a rendition of Shokichi Kina’s hit song “Hana” sung in 14 languages and in the Okinawan language to YouTube. The music video is meant to spread hope to those...
March 19, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
On March 19, Japan’s Council for Cultural Affairs made a recommendation to Koichi Hagiuda, the minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, to designate the official history books of the Ryukyu Kingdom—the Chuzan Seikan (six volumes), Chuzan...
February 16, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
The event Ryukyu Buyo and Kumiodori was held on February 15 at Shurijo Castle Park in Naha City to celebrate the 300th anniversary of kumiodori (traditional Okinawan dance) and to offer prayers for the reconstruction of Shuri Castle.
The event was organized...
January 6, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
A charity concert was held on Jan. 5 by actress Sayuri Yoshinaga and musician Ryuichi Sakamoto at the Okinawa Convention Center Theater in Ginowan City.
Sakamoto’s sophisticated piano performance and Yoshinaga’s poetry reading, which spoke to the preciousness...
December 26, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
The play Gungwachi Kungwachi (Okinawan for May and September) by the Ryukyu Art Embassy was awarded Grand Prize in the Popular Entertainment category of the 2019 74th annual ACA National Arts Festival, organized by the Japanese government Agency for...
August 5, 2019 The Ryukyu Shimpo
Sanemichi Kinjo
Two fourth-generation Okinawan-American performers from the Los Angeles branch of the Afuso School of Classical Ryukyu Music Association (Koten Afuso-ryu Ongaku Kenkyuu Choichi Kai USA), Ryan Yasuaki Nakamatsu, 35, and his apprentice, Yuko...
June 3, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
The Photographic Society of Japan held an awards ceremony on Jun 3, at the Sasakawa Hall in Tokyo, where Mao Ishikawa was awarded the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award. Ishikawa was presented a certificate and a trophy. She pledged to “Continue to create ‘made in...
Webcam(Kokusai Street)