September 22, 2020 Ryukyu Shimpo
In a normal year, summer and fall are busy with traditional events held in each part of Okinawa. These include Honensai, harvest festivals to give thanks for that year’s harvest and pray for a bumper crop the next year; Usudeku, a dance to pray for peace and safety; and Great Tug-of-War events. However, this year, one after another the festivals were scaled down or canceled due to the spread of the novel coronavirus. The citizens of Okinawa pray for an...
September 7, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
(Taketomi Island, Taketomi) September 1 marked the start of a new system in which tourists visiting Taketomi Island of Taketomi Town are asked to voluntarily pay 300 yen as an island entrance fee, and tourists on their way to Taketomi Island could be seen purchasing...
August 7, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Shinugu is the traditional Okinawan harvest ritual, but the shinugu ritual of Ada, Kunigami-son, is designated an “Important Intangible Cultural Property” by the Japanese government. On Aug 6, several of Ada’s local men played the part of the “harvest gods”...
June 17, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Hideki Matsudo
June 13 marked 72 years since Rear Admiral Minoru Ota, the final commander of the Japanese naval forces defending Okinawa, committed suicide in the underground headquarters. His great-grandson Dougul Sutherland, 23, of Australian nationality,...
May 6, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo
Tarama Island’s traditional event “Stuupunaka festival” was held on May 5 and 6, with locals gathering to give thanks for the year of good harvest and pray for community prosperity.
The dawn prayer began from the night of May 5, when elders sang...
January 1, 2017 Ryukyu Shimpo
2017 is the year of the Rooster. Sixty-four-year-old Rinkichi Teruya, who lives at Mizugama, Kadena, raises chan chickens, which are native to Okinawa. The chickens were showing off their beautiful high voices and their typical three-syllable sound at his house.
Chans...
December 26, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Yoshikazu Miyazato
On December 25, it was confirmed that a humpback whale visited the northern sea of Zamami Island. It is the first whale sighting of the season.
Kiyoshi Miyagi, 57, a member of the Zamami Whale Watching Association, managed...
Webcam(Kokusai Street)