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Governor Onaga to visit Hawaii in May, calling for participation in Uchinanchu Festival

March 23, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga plans to visit Hawaii and the mainland of the United States of America and Canada in May, leading a caravan to promote the 6th World Uchinanchu Festival.
The festival will be held in October in Okinawa. The caravan will also visit Los Angeles, Washington D.C. and Vancouver.

Onaga revealed his plan when Ken Yamamoto, the new president of the Hawaii United Okinawa Association, paid a courtesy call on him on March 22.

The...

 

Sky lit by red moon, possible impact from air pollution

Sky lit by red moon, possible impact from air pollution

March 28, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On the night of March 27, Ryukyu Shimpo received information from several readers that the moon was glowing red in the sky. It was four days after the full moon, and the slightly waning moon hung low in the sky, fantastically lighting up the night.

According...

Impassioned call for repeal of security legislation bridges multiple generations

Impassioned call for repeal of security legislation bridges multiple generations

March 29, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

In the early afternoon on March 29, about 250 participants of a gathering organized by the Okinawa Peace Movement Center called Abolish the War-Fighting Law! Don’t Let the Abe Administration Go Out of Control! raised their voices in opposition to the security...

Japan’s Self-Defense Force opens radar station in Yonaguni

Japan’s Self-Defense Force opens radar station in Yonaguni

March 29, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

 

On March 28, the Ministry of Defense opened a new military base and radar station for Japan’s Ground Self-Defense Force on Yonaguni Island. About 160 personnel, who will be stationed at the base, arrived and an opening ceremony was held. With China’s...

Okinawan personnel interacting with foreign tourists note language barrier as greatest challenge

March 24, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

The Okinawa Prefectural Government and Okinawa Convention and Visitors Bureau concluded an investigative report on March 23 of personnel interacting with the tourist industry regarding their reception of foreign tourists during 2015. This is the first time the report...

Law passed to promote collection of war victim remains

March 24, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

A law to promote collecting the remains of war victims was passed in the Lower House plenary session on March 24. The ordinance sees the collection of the remains of victims in the war, including the Battle of Okinawa, as the “responsibility of the nation.”...

High school textbooks avoid mentioning Japanese military’s involvement in forced mass suicides of Okinawans

High school textbooks avoid mentioning Japanese military's involvement in forced mass suicides of Okinawans

March 18, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On March 18, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology announced the screening results for high school textbooks to be used from the 2017 academic year. With regard to the description of “group suicide (forced mass suicide) of Okinawans”...

Environmental groups say plan for Yambaru National Park conservation area falls short

March 24, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

On March 23, Okinawan environmental conservation groups released a statement responding to the Ministry of the Environment’s proposal to designate the northern Yambaru area of Okinawa a national park. The groups urged the Ministry of the Environment to reconsider...

Partial out-of-court bargaining offered for US military-related damage to fishing

March 17, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo

Tuna fishermen in Okinawa experienced several incidents in which their long-line fishing nets were repeatedly cut by unknown causes in 2014. The US military’s ocean surveillance ship Impeccable was called into question. It became known that a Danish private maritime...

Shiroma honors Okinawan parents through community service

Shiroma honors Okinawan parents through community service

March 21, 2016 Ryukyu Shimpo
By Chikako Nago

Dorothy Shiroma Hoe is an 87-year old Okinawan Nisei (second-generation immigrant), born in Kahakuloa, Maui. She is the third daughter of Taro Shiroma from Kaneku, Nishihara City and Kamechia Ogusuku from Uchima, Nishihara City. Her father...

This year’s first crop of tea leaves harvested in Nago

This year's first crop of tea leaves harvested in Nago

March 16, 2015 Ryukyu Shimpo

On March 15, the earliest tea picking in Japan started at Kanigawa-seicha tea production company’s tea plantation in Isagawa, Nago.

Workers in groups of three carefully picked new tea leaves shining under the morning sun. The harvest of the first tea leaves...