Ryukyu Shimpo - Okinawa, Japanese newspaper, local news

Bands perform in Henoko

komesu — Wed, 16 May 2012 06:00:55 +0000

May 9, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo To revitalize Henoko in Nago, the Henoko Light Music Club, an amateur music group of local musicians gave a lively performance. On April 28, four bands played folk songs at a restaurant in Henoko, with people enjoying the music in the hope that the performance will help in some way [...]

Giant crane ship lifts down a 140-meter long and 1300-ton box girder onto the Irabu-Ohashi Bridge

komesu — Wed, 16 May 2012 01:00:52 +0000

May 5, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On April 28, at Miyakojima City, bridging work commenced on the Irabu-Ohashi between Irabu Island and Miyako Island. On the Irabu Island side of the bridge, the second-largest crane ship in Japan, which is capable of lifting and installing offshore structures up to 4000 tons in weight and is 145 [...]

Ninety percent of people in Okinawa oppose Henoko relocation plan

komesu — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:00:26 +0000

May 9, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On May 5 and 6, ahead of May 15, the 40th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese sovereignty, the Ryukyu Shimpo and Mainichi newspapers jointly conducted a telephone opinion poll to ascertain how people in Okinawa and the main islands of Japan view the reversion and issues related to the [...]

People of Kunigami and Yoron reunited on the sea 43 years after commemorating Okinawa’s reversion to Japan

komesu — Tue, 15 May 2012 01:00:47 +0000

April 29, 2012 Ryota Nakamura of Ryukyu Shimpo On April 28, a meeting by people of Kunigami and Yoron took place on the sea at the northern latitude of 27 degrees. This used to be where the border was after the Amami Islands were returned to Japanese sovereignty in 1953. They reenacted the meeting demanding [...]

Facebook finds missing turtle

komesu — Mon, 14 May 2012 06:00:07 +0000

April 30, 2012 Yugo Okita of Ryukyu Shimpo Facebook, a social networking service, helped to solve a case in which a tortoise climbed through a fence and became lost. The tortoise that went missing was Tobio, a female African spurred tortoise belonging to Kyuma Yasui, who works for Seasah-story, a pottery studio on Miyako Island. [...]

Children release Ryukyu-ayu fry into the Genka River

komesu — Mon, 14 May 2012 01:00:19 +0000

May 2, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On April 29, at the Genka River in Nago, about 50 pupils of Genka Elementary School released approximately 1000 fry of the Ryukyu-ayu or Plecoglossus Altivelis Ryukyuensis (sweetfish). The pupils dropped the juvenile fish into the river from the bridge from their small buckets and hoped that they will become [...]

Popular Okinawa soba restaurant helps create a new pot noodle

komesu — Sun, 13 May 2012 01:00:30 +0000

May 2, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On May 1, the Okinawa branch of FamilyMart launched a pot noodle called “Ryukyu soba overseen by Ishigufu.” The Okinawa soba restaurant Ishigufu and FamilyMart, Japan’s third largest convenience store chain, cooperated with Nissin Foods to develop the product, which will be sold in a limited quantity at about 8900 [...]

A new couple celebrates a wedding in a cultural site

komesu — Sat, 12 May 2012 09:46:25 +0000

April 26, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On April 21, a Ryukyuan style wedding was held in Furusato En, a traditional Ryukyuan house registered as a Japanese cultural property located in the Okinawa Zoo and Museum in Okinawa City. The reception was then held at the World Heritage Site Nakagusuku Castle in Nakagusuku Town. The couple getting [...]

Young Okinawan rugby player selected in top New Zealand high school team

komesu — Fri, 11 May 2012 06:00:10 +0000

May 6, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo original English article and photograph by Mark Ealey Koza High School third year student Kenichiro Kuwae (17 years-old), of Awase, Okinawa City has been selected in one of New Zealand’s top secondary school teams. Kuwae is studying at St. Bede’s College, which is located in Christchurch in New Zealand’s South [...]

Cyclist from Okinawa to go to the Olympics

komesu — Fri, 11 May 2012 01:00:12 +0000

May 2, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On May 1, the Japan Cycling Federation selected 27 year-old cyclist Yukiya Arashiro (from Ishigaki City, Team Europcar) as a male road bicycle race representative in the London Olympics. He is the first representative from Okinawa to be chosen for this year’s London Olympics. Arashiro completed the world’s largest cycling [...]

U.S. and Japanese governments possibly padding the number of Marines in Okinawa

komesu — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:37:01 +0000

May 3, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On May 2, in response to a question from the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG), a representative of the U.S. forces in Okinawa said that the actual number of U.S. Marines in Okinawa amounted to 15365 (the number recorded at the end of June 2011). Although the U.S. and Japanese governments [...]

American Women’s Welfare Association has donated 800 million yen to welfare facilities in local communities over the last 40 years

komesu — Wed, 09 May 2012 06:00:39 +0000

April 29, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On April 23, the American Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA), which has made contributions to welfare facilities in Okinawa, held a 40th anniversary ceremony at Kadena Air Base, inviting people who have accepted their donations. The total for donations from the AWWA has reached over 800 million yen. At the ceremony, [...]

Joint statement does not touch upon Futenma relocation issue

komesu — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:00:14 +0000

May 1, 2012 Hideki Matsudo of Ryukyu Shimpo reports from Washington D.C. At noon on April 30, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. The two leaders spoke of a dynamic defense force, in which the Japan Self-Defense Forces will gear up for surveillance activities in the Nansei [...]

Captain Yohena lands the big tuna in Kumejima

komesu — Tue, 08 May 2012 06:00:00 +0000

April 25, 2012 Yoko Morinaga, Correspondent of the Ryukyu Shimpo On April 24, a bluefin tuna 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) long and weighing 271 kilograms (597.5 pounds), was landed on Kume Island. Many people came to see it at Gima Port. Tomoyoshi Yohena, the captain of the Tsune-maru, and a member of the Kume Island [...]

Sailing Sabani Race held off Yambaru

komesu — Mon, 07 May 2012 03:01:53 +0000

April 25, 2012 On April 22, the 2nd Sailing Sabani Race off Yambaru, organized by the Fukaki Sabani, was held. The event is designed to continue on the tradition of the sabani, an Okinawan wooden sailboat, and to try to make it into a new feature to aid the revitalization of the area. Eighteen sabani [...]

Sekitoku Girl’s School students’ Battle of Okinawa experiences screened

komesu — Mon, 07 May 2012 02:01:21 +0000

April 22, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On the night of April 22 at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum in Naha the pre-screening of a short documentary Fuji Gakutotai, directed by Gakuya Nomura, was held. The film records the Battle of Okinawa experiences of Sekitoku Girl’s High School students who joined nursing units in the [...]

Okinawa Education Office asks high schools to teach about the reversion of Okinawa

komesu — Sun, 06 May 2012 01:00:42 +0000

April 23, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo On April 22, to mark the 40th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese sovereignty, the Okinawa Education Office sent prefectural high schools a written request that students deepen their knowledge of Okinawa around the time of the reversion, and about issues relating to the future of Okinawa. It is unusual [...]

Timetable of former Okinawa Light Rail found in diary of late songwriter Nakamoto

komesu — Fri, 04 May 2012 01:00:13 +0000

April 21, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo A timetable published by the Okinawa Prefecture Light Rail Office in 1943 was found in Gushichan, Yaese. Kaoru Nakamoto found the timetable inside his late father Minoru Nakamoto’s diary when he was cleaning up his father’s belongings. In the diary, there was also a detailed description of the times, explaining [...]

Okinawan restaurant in Orange County

komesu — Thu, 03 May 2012 01:00:56 +0000

April 23, 2012 Sadao Tome, Correspondent of the Ryukyu Shimpo In December 2010, Mayumi Tomita Vargas, who is originally from Yonabaru, opened an Okinawan restaurant named Habuya in Orange County, California. She said, “My dream has finally come true after coming to the United States back in 1991.” The restaurant has a distinctly Okinawan atmosphere. [...]

Twenty-nine haiku stone tables placed on Izena Island

komesu — Wed, 02 May 2012 04:52:29 +0000

April 18, 2012 Correspondent Kyoko Agarie of the Ryukyu Shimpo Twenty-three first-year junior high school students placed 29 haiku stone tables at various locations around Izena Island. The haiku poems were written as part of a project with their homeroom teacher Ikuko Ueno when they were second-grade students at elementary school. Six years later, with [...]