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University presidents in Okinawa denounce military aircraft flying over campus grounds

University presidents in Okinawa denounce military aircraft flying over campus grounds

September 13, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

On September 12, the presidents of nine universities in Okinawa issued a statement in response to the U.S. military’s helicopter (HH-60) crash. The statement called for the U.S. military to stop flight training over and around the property of the universities.

On the same day, President of University of the Ryukyus Hajime Oshiro, President of Okinawa Christian University and Junior College Toshiaki Nakahara and Vice President of Meio University...

 

OIST to set up venture capital company

September 13, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

Within the next fiscal year, the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST) plans to set up a venture capital company that provides protein substance information to pharmaceutical companies. This information is important for companies when creating medicines....

Uchinaguchi grammar guidebook

<em>Uchinaguchi</em> grammar guidebook

September 12, 2013 Yoshiya Hokama of the Ryukyu Shimpo

Professor Emeritus of the University of the Ryukyus Shinsho Miyara, who does research and works to help spread Uchinaguchi (Okinawan dialect), has been working to create a book provisionally titled Uchinaguchi Grammar...

Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting makes documentary film The Target Village

Ryukyu Asahi Broadcasting makes documentary film <em>The Target Village</em>

September 5, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

A documentary film titled The Target Village will be in theaters in Okinawa from September 7. The film covers residents of Takae Village, Higashi-son, who are opposed to the construction of U.S. military helipads and deployment of MV-22 Osprey there....

OIST sets up equipment to observe coral reefs in the sea off Motobu Peninsula

September 7, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

Tetsuji Mitarai, associate professor at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology (OIST), and others, held a press conference at Okinawa Ocean Expo Park in Motobu in northern Okinawa on September 6. They said that researchers have set up equipment to constantly...

Ryukyu Shimpo and Sanin Chuo win 2013 Japan Newspaper Association Prize for joint project

Ryukyu Shimpo and Sanin Chuo win 2013 Japan Newspaper Association Prize for joint project

September 5, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

On September 4, the Japan Newspaper Publishers & Editors Association decided to award its 2013 editing and planning department prize to the Ryukyu Shimpo and Sanin Chuo Shimpo for their joint project “Meguri no Umi” (People around the Ocean rim).

Ryukyu...

Memorial service held for victims of Tsushima-Maru tragedy

Memorial service held for victims of Tsushima-Maru tragedy

August 23, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

August 22 marked 69 years since the evacuation ship Tsushima-Maru carrying many schoolchildren was sunk by a U.S. submarine. At a memorial service was held at the Kozakura-no-To monument in Wakasa, Naha, about 350 people, including survivors, bereaved families,...

High level PCBs found in mongooses near Futenma Air Station

August 20, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

A study group from Ehime University and Meio University has discovered high levels of toxic polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in mongooses caught near U.S. military bases such as Futenma Air Station in Ginowan. Levels of PCBs in these mongooses were up to 8.9 times...

British missionary Bettelheim court-martialed during American Civil War

British missionary Bettelheim court-martialed during American Civil War

August 24, 2013 Ryukyu Shimpo

British missionary and physician Dr. Bernard Bettelheim stayed in the Ryukyu Kingdom for eight years from 1846 before leaving Okinawa with Commodore Perry’s fleet. It is now known that he served as a surgeon during the American Civil War (1861-1865) after...

Coral bleaching confirmed at Kunigami for the first time since 1998

Coral bleaching confirmed at Kunigami for the first time since 1998

August 18, 2013 Mifuyu Hattori, correspondent of Ryukyu Shimpo

Nature guides have confirmed coral bleaching in the whole area of reefs in Kunigami. Some experts say that rising sea temperatures caused by record-breaking heat and strong sunlight have affected the condition of the coral reefs....

Okinawa plans to increase Shimakutuba users 30% in 10 years

Okinawa plans to increase Shimakutuba users 30% in 10 years

August 21, 2013 Naoki Isa of the Ryukyu Shimpo

The Culture Promotion Division of the Okinawa Prefectural Government published the Shimakutuba Promotion Plan Proposal on their website on August 20. The division aims to pass on the endangered Shimakutuba or the Okinawan language, to the next...