The 2016 Yoron Endangered Languages and Dialects Summit was held at the Yoron Community Gymnasium in Yoron, Kagoshima on October 13. It was hosted by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Kagoshima Prefecture, and the town of Yoron. Experts on the eight languages in Japan considered in danger of becoming extinct by the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported on and discussed efforts being taken to preserve and pass down the languages.
In the main address given in the Yoron dialect, Yunnu Futuba, the speaker noted that local vernacular contributes to the diversity of culture, saying, “We should live using both plain Japanese and our dialects.” The eight endangered languages are Ainu, Hachijo, Amami, Kunigami, Okinawan, Miyako, Yaeyama, and Yonaguni. Yunna Futuba is included as part of Kunigami.
Mitsuhiro Machioka, chair of the Yoron Board of Education, showcased the Yunnu Futuba education utilized in places such as integrated studies classes in elementary schools. Hidenori Kiku, head of the Yoron Minzokumura (Yoron Folk Village), commented, “Right now education is focused on elementary school students, and people from around age 45 and over can speak Yunnu Futuba. Educating those middle generations, our young adults, is vital.”
Tomigusuku Board of Education member Koji Shimabukuro reported on the reader created by the BoE and distributed to all the elementary and junior high schools in the city titled, Tomigusuku Island Slang. He noted, “The ideal would be for people to research their own community, and create a community-based dictionary in the interest of preservation.”
Professor Shigehisa Karimata from the University of the Ryukyus suggested, “Education that recognizes language as diverse, and that your words are just as important as the words in other regions, is essential. This can be done by teachers everywhere.”
On November 14, publishers from six regions in East Asia (namely Japan, South Korea, China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Okinawa) gathered together for a public symposium in Conference Building B of the Okinawa Convention Center (OCC) in Ginowan City. The symposium was held by the Okinawa Meeting of the East Asia Publishers Conference in order to discuss the topic of publication culture and to mutually promote the publication of translations by reviving an East Asian reading community.
After an opening statement from the head of the Okinawa Meeting and former chairman of Chikumashobo Toshiyuki Kumazawa, chairman of the Okinawa Meeting’s Action Committee and emeritus professor at the University of the Ryukyus Kurayoshi Takara delivered a keynote speech titled: “Publication culture in the Ryukyus and Okinawa as seen through history.”
Attendants of the Okinawa Meeting listening to a statement titled “The regionalism of publication and the universality of books” in Conference Building B of the OCC on the morning of November 14.
Takara brought up the historical fact that Tei Junsoku’s Six Courses in Morals and the Chinese poetry of Ryukyuans in Ryukyu Shika were, among other publications, printed and published in China at their respective times. Citing these examples, Takara expressed that the Ryukyus have been participating on the wide stage of East Asian publication culture.
Following the keynote speech each region gave a report, and a panel discussion was held.
The meeting ends on November 15. This was the first East Asia Publishers Conference to be held in Okinawa, and it commemorated the Conference’s 10th anniversary. Foreign attendees included 17 people from South Korea, 15 people from mainland China, 5 people from Hong Kong, and 6 people from Taiwan to make a total of 43 foreign participants. Domestically, 11 people from mainland Japan, 23 people from Okinawa who are involved with publication, and 20 general attendees from Okinawa participated.
The Ministry of the Environment’s Naha Office announced results from a survey on Sekisei shoko coral reef, one of the largest coral reef in Japan. The reef was being monitored for bleaching due to long-term high water temperatures this summer. The result was made public on November 9. The result shows that 97 percent of the coral reef is bleached, of which 56.7 percent is considered to be “a totally dead colony.” The ministry will conduct another survey in the same area by end of the year, warning “the result is anticipated to be extremely serious with more dead colonies.”
The survey was conducted over 35 points in the Sekisei shoko area between September 29 and October 4. The bleaching level was 89.6 percent during the first survey conducted between July 26 and August 17. The ministry concluded that most of the samples deemed “partially bleached/partially dead/totally faded” or “fully bleached” in late July faced worse damage due to the high-water temperature that lasted until early September. The ministry also conducted a similar survey over 36 points around the Keramashoto National park area between October 6 and 25. The average rate of bleaching is 15.2 percent, of which 1.9 percent is completely dead.
On November 14, a protest boat took to the sea for the first time in the protest movement against the U.S. military helipads being constructed in Takae. The protest boat was manned by fisherman Yoshikatsu Yamashiro, age 72. Yamashiro waited on the boat for his friends, who landed their kayaks at the mouth of the Ukagawa River and went to join the protests. Shortly past noon, several protesters could be seen from the boat climbing onto the cliffs aiming for the place where materials had been brought in by air. “The ocean is our father. The forest is our mother. If the forest is destroyed, red soil flows to the ocean, and both die,” says Yamashiro, furrowing his brown and looking up at his friends.
Yamashiro has been a fisherman for fifty years. In order to protect the forests, which he considers to be a pair together with the ocean, he is expressing unwavering opposition to the helipad construction.
In 1959, from the second floor of Ishikawa Junior High School, which he was attending, Yamashiro saw a jet plane rapidly approaching, spitting fire, as it crashed into Miyamori Elementary School. He also participated in the Koza Riot. It has now been fifty-seven years since the Miyamori Elementary School accident. “Okinawa has gotten worse since returning to Japan. Before, our enemy was the United States, but now we are facing discrimination from Japan as well,” Yamashiro said with a look of anguish on his face. Even so, he says, “I won’t give up until we win. I will never forget the pain we have suffered.” He turned his face to look straight at the forest. (Yo Kakazu)
First protest boat used to dissent against helicopters bringing in materials from the mouth of the Ukagawa River
On November 14, thirty-six protesters opposing the construction of new helicopter landing strips (helipads) in the U.S. military’s Northern Training Area, which spans Higashi Village and Kunigami Village, engaged in protest primarily around the mouth of the Ukagawa River, which is connected to the “G zone” by a training road. The protesters climbed up on the cliffs aiming for the location where private helicopters had carried in construction materials, and protested construction work being done to upgrade the training road. Three protesters landed at the mouth of the Ukagawa River by kayak.
At around 10:30 a.m. on the same day, roughly thirty protesters gathered at the mouth of the river. There is apparently a walking path that leads to the locations where the materials were brought in by helicopters, but protesters said that riot police were lined up on the path, blocking the way. Protesters climbed up the steep cliff and saw that materials had been dropped off at four locations.
The pedestrian training road that connects the “G zone” and the mouth of the Ukagawa River is 2,570 meters long, of which 820 meters are likely not to have received permission for development by the Forest Management Office. Observers say there is a possibility that materials were dropped off at spots located on this 820 meter stretch.
On November 9, Yoshiko Uema, the executive director of “Okinawa Han no kai” an organization that helps families of Korean victims of the Battle of Okinawa, and fukiko okimoto visited the Okinawa Prefectural Government Peace Support and Gender Equality Division. They handed in a petition signed by 442 people requesting Korean victims be inscribed on the Cornerstone of Peace at the Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni, Itoman.
Inscription of foreign war victims requires a document to prove their death in the Battle of Okinawa. Uema of “Okinawa Han no kai” has requested 1) inscription of all Korean victims who could not return from the battlefield in Okinawa; 2) flexible management of inscription rules for Koreans; 3) inscription of Kwon Woon-seon and Park Hee-tae as their family has requested; 4) research on Koreans who were mobilized for the Battle of Okinawa.
Office staff said they would respond to the Kwon and Park’s name inscription request in a respectful manner.
[Nago] On November 10, scientists found that the component in the leaves of chinaberry trees, native to
Okinawa, can induce autophagy in cancer cells, and can ultimately kill the cells. Experts in virus research, Director-General Kuniaki Nerome of the Institute of Biological Resources in Nago and Professor Tadashi Yamamoto, a molecular biologist who is a part of the Cell Single Unit at
the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST), made this discovery. Chinaberry has been proven effective on 70 types of human cancer. The anticancer activity of chinaberry was discovered in 2004 by Nerome, but had not been found to kill cancer cells at that point. Now, there is a higher likelihood of chinaberry being developed into a drug, which may greatly contribute to cancer treatment.
Chinaberry growing in Yambaru, the forested northern part of mainland Okinawa.
Autophagy is a “self-eating” process in which cells break down their own protein and recycle it. Tokyo Institute of Technology Emeritus Professor Yoshinori Ohsumi, age 71, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine on October 3 for uncovering this mechanism.
Nerome applied for a patent for chinaberry inducing autophagy in cancer cells on November 10. On November 11, he presented a special lecture at the 70th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of National Medical Services hosted at the Okinawa Convention Center. In the near future, Nerome and Yamamoto plan to co-author a paper in a U.S. medical journal.
After removing the toxins from the component extracted from the Okinawan chinaberry, Nerome
administered this to mice with cancer. He found that the chinaberry component killed colorectal, lung, and stomach cancer cells. With cultured cells, it killed 70 types of cancer. He also administered this to about 30 dogs with cancer and found that it eliminated tumors in 76 percent of the dogs and/or stopped the growth of cancer.
Nerome’s research found that the 11 types of chemicals found in the component extracted from chinaberry prevent the division of cancer cells and DNA synthesis. He requested Yamamoto’s assistance in 2014 when he could not determine the reason for the phenomena. They discovered that the chinaberry was responsible for inducing autophagy in cancer cells this past January.
Nerome says, “It works better than existing anticancer drugs and it is administered orally with no side effects. We hope to develop this into a drug and to start a new industry in Okinawa.” Yamamoto says, “There is no doubt that it kills cancer cells and prevents cancer from spreading. It’s good news and an effective method of treatment for cancer patients. This will also contribute to basic rese
arch on autophagy.”
(English translation by T&TC and Chelsea Ashimine)
The first oral proceedings and the second hearing of a case brought to the Naha District Court by 31 residents of Takae, Higashi Village, took place on November 10. The case concerns to the construction of helipads in the Northern Training Area that span Higashi and Kunigami Villages. During oral proceedings the 31 residents requested that the Japanese government halt construction, and during the hearing they motioned for a temporary injunction on the case.
The defense counsel for these residents says that in relation to the motion for a temporary injunction, the presiding judge Kenichi Mori expressed that he hopes to conclude hearings with the third hearing on November 24. It appears he will approve or disapprove a temporary injunction before construction is completed.
The Japanese government is requesting that the case be dismissed on the merits.
Reporters have learned that on November 9, Governor Takeshi Onaga sent a message of congratulations to U.S. president-elect Donald Trump. It is the first time a governor has sent a message of congratulations to a winning candidate in a U.S. presidential election.
Regarding the outcome of the U.S. presidential election, the Okinawa prefectural government was of the perspective that had Hillary Clinton, who promoted the Henoko relocation as Secretary of State, been elected, no significant change could be expected. Regarding the impact of Trump’s inauguration as president, a prefectural official expressed caution, saying that there are many unknowns, but added that “there is expectation that something will happen,” expressing an intention to reach out to Trump and those around him to try to find a resolution through direct dialogue.
Regarding the impact that the outcome of the U.S. presidential election will have on the Henoko relocation, Governor Onaga explained, “In the case of Clinton, she supported the same politics that have been practiced up until now. In a sense, I expected that the current deadlock would simply persist.” He added, “In the case of Trump, his win is unprecedented. I don’t know how the base issue will be impacted, but I doubt Trump will practice a politics of deadlock. I will express my perspective [to Trump] as soon as possible.”
According to prefectural officials, the congratulatory message was not a suggestion from administrators but an order from the governor himself. The message congratulated Trump on his victory, conveyed wishes for progress in the United States, and expressed a desire for an opportunity to talk about the relationship between the United States and Okinawa after Trump’s inauguration. An initial draft of the message referred to the Henoko new base construction and other base issues, but from the perspective of beginning with dialogue, specific issues were not touched on in the final version.
A performance was held to celebrate an 84 year-old national treasure in Ryukyu classical music, Choichi Terukina, on November 3 at the National Theater Okinawa. Titled “Fly!! Uta-sanshin 2016 Terukina Choichi celebration performance, makoto-hitotsu, bond of sanshin,” the concert was performed by over 200 students and performers from within the country and overseas who gathered to celebrate Terukina.
Students from Hawaii sung Terukina’s song in Hawaiian and English, demonstrating the regional influence of her music. Terukina also had a solo performance named “shukke-bushi” with original lyrics about the appreciation and joy of having a tushibii celebration, which is an Okinawan traditional practice for a person’s 85th birth year.
Terukina’s grandchildren, five year-old Ryuto and three year-old Asato also entertained the audience with a monkey dance in Kumiodori and a traditional dance performance called “saruhiki”.
From Special Correspondent Sakae Toiyama in Washington
The first ever overseas bingata exhibit titled, “Bingata! Only in Okinawa,” was unveiled at the George Washington University Museum’s Textile Museum in Washington D.C. on November 5.
Starting with bingata kimonos from the noble Sho and Fukuchi families, the collection comprises around 100 Japanese national treasures. Included in the collection, which is on display until January 20, 2017 are works by Yuko Tamanaha and bingata-style dresses designed by Kanna Yamauchi.
On the evening of November 4, an opening ceremony attended by around 220 museum-goers including Ambassador Kenichiro Sasae was held. Bruce P. Baganz, president of the Textile Museum’s board of trustees introduced the collection by saying, “Okinawa has a rich culture and tradition.” The Okinawa Culture, Tourism, and Sports Bureau Chief Mitsuyuki Maeda added, “I hope that through bingata, people will gain an interest in Okinawa.”
At 8:45 a.m. on November 3, Muneyoshi Kayo, who was a member of sit-in protest group “Inochi wo mamoru kai,” which protests the relocation of the Futenma Air Station to Henoko, Nago, passed away at a hospital in Ginoza Village at the age of 94 due to pneumonia. Kayo was from Henoko, Nago City. The memorial service has not yet been determined. The hearse left the house at 10:45 a.m. on November 5.
Since 1996 when the relocation plan of the Futenma Air Station to Henoko emerged, Kayo has expressed his opposition to military base construction at Henoko. Kayo, who was conscripted in the Pacific War, received physical punishment after standing up for his junior, who received unreasonable blame by a military superior. Having injured his leg at war and experienced the unreasonableness and cruelty of war, Kayo campaigned against war and for peace. His wife Yoshiko says “He had a strong sense of justice. He said war should not occur ever again. Right up until he passed away, he was worried about the base being built at Henoko. It might be his only regret.”
In 1998, Kayo set up a sub-group of elders “Dugong no kai” in “Inochi wo mamoru kai” and served as a leader. Despite his age and being in a wheelchair due to physical disability, Kayo visited the tent at Henoko beach many times. Mayor Susumu Inamine of Nago City said, “He was a symbol of the Henoko struggle. I will surely pass down his will.”
Hiroshi Ashitomi of the Helicopter Base Objection Association reflected, “He had a strong will not to let the base be built in Henoko. He was willing to fight until the end.”
Ikuo Nishikawa from Henoko, who has worked with Kayo in “Inochi wo mamoru kai” recalled, “I remember the time when we established the group 20 years ago. He worked so hard from the beginning until he passed. Thank you.”
Webcam(Kokusai Street)
