In the month since its release on YouTube, the music video “Yonaguni,” titled after Japan’s westernmost island, as gained over 200 million views (as of July 13 in Japan). The song is the new release of the Puerto Rican reggaeton and Latin trap rapper Bad Bunny. However, he is not well known in Okinawa, and representatives from Yonaguni City Hall have given comments like, “I don’t know much more about it than I’ve heard in the news,” and wondered “I don’t know why, but it is titled ‘Yonaguni.”
Bad Bunny’s characteristic lethargy is representative of Latin trap music. The music videos he releases on hi YouTube channel regularly surpass 100 million views. A video he released in October, 2018 featured Canadian rapper Drake titled “MÍA” has over 1.2 billion views.
“Yonaguni was released on June 4. In the song, he sings in Spanish about a girl he has broken up with saying, “tell me where you are, and I’ll get on a flight for you. And I’ll go to Yonaguni. The “Yonaguni” in the song is figurative, signifying a distant separation.
In the music video, Bad Bunny starts the video on a set that resembles an izakaya or ramen shop, and it includes a scene where he gets a Pokémon go tattoo on his thigh. The video also ends with some Japanese lyrics while he walks through some cherry blossoms in an anime-style animated scene. The video also features images of karate and a beach that is similar to Yonaguni. Town officials say that it does not appear to actually be a beach on Yonaguni.
Contrary to the thought that the sheer magnitude of views would lead to a rush of inquiries, Yonaguni financial planning office department head Naganori Komine says, “As of now, there has been about on inquiry. Since we are working on establishing a high-speed ferry service between Yonaguni and Taiwan, it would be great if the name leads to some additional international recognition.”
On July 12, an endangered hawksbill sea turtle was seen laying her eggs on the coast of Itoman. Koki Tokumura, a resident known by locals and on the radio as a lover of turtles discovered the nest and took a video. “It’s the first time in my life that I’ve seen a hawksbill nest!” he says.
At around 1:00 p.m. on that day, Tokumura was in the area to catch shrimp and found sea turtle tracks on the beach. “I’ve come across green sea turtle and red sea turtles laying their eggs, but this time I was struck by how small the prints were.” Following the tracks, he discovered a single hawksbill sea turtle busy burying her newly-laid eggs in the sand. The hawksbill sea turtle is recognizable by the characteristic jagged back end of its shell.
The waves were quiet and calm that night. Tokumura stayed nearby, watching over the turtle until she returned safely to sea.
The hawksbill sea turtle is designated as endangered, the IB category on the Ministry of the Environment’s Red List. In comparison to green and red sea turtles, hawksbill sea turtles are rarely seen laying their eggs in Okinawa.
The final regular meeting of the June session of the Okinawa prefectural assembly was held on July 12. In June there was an outflow accident on the U.S. Army Oil Storage Facility in Uruma City involving contaminated water containing organic fluorine compounds such as PFOS, which is known to be harmful. The prefectual assembly unanimously passed a written opinion and protest resolution requesting an official announcement concerning thorough safety management and recurrence prevention measures. The written opinion and protest resolution stated: “This accidental outflow is truly regrettable and absolutely unacceptable.” The recipients of the opinion and resolution include the prime minister, the foreign minister, the defense minister, and the commander of the U.S. Forces, Japan.
The opinion and resolution point out that in 2019 and 2020 there were accidents in which foam fire extinguishing agents containing PFOS and the like leaked out from Futenma Air Station. The opinion and resolution additionally stated: “The anger and distrust of the prefectural citizens are rising due to repeated U.S. military contaminated water outflow accidents.”
The stoppage of using, storing, and depositing organic fluorine compounds such as PFOS, as well as the removal of the storage facility are requested. Also requested are an investigation into the cause of the contamination, strict adherence to the order of communication in the event of an accident, and the swift provision of information.
(Ie) With the aim of teaching about the tragedy of battle on Iejima and instilling a wish for peace, Ie Elementary School (principal: Kyoko Kohatsu) has established a curriculum for first-grade to sixth-grade students, adapted to each grade, and is carrying out peace study in which the students visit war sites on the island and hear from people who experienced the war.
On June 24, third-grade students from Ie Elementary School visited the “Niiban Gazimaaru” and listened to Nishiemae resident Takao Miyagi speak about the war. Niiban in “Niiban Gazimaaru” is the name of the Miyagi family home where the Gazimaaru tree is located. Two Japanese soldiers, Shujun Sashida of Uruma City and Shizuo Yamaguchi of Miyazaki Prefecture, lived in this tree, hiding away from U.S. soldiers, for two years from 1945 to 1947, not knowing that Japan had already lost the war.
Miyagi told the students of how the two lived in the tree for two years, and introduced them to Kazuko Manabe’s book “Nuchi du takara: ki no ue de kurashita ninenkan (life is a treasure: two years spent living up in a tree)” and the stage play “Ki no ue no guntai (military troops up in a tree),” which were written based on the story of the two.
“Nuchi du Takara: ki no une de kurashita ninenkan” describes the harsh living conditions in the tree. “Ki no ue no guntai” was drafted by Hisashi Inoue, written by Ryuta Horai, and performed by Tamiya Kuriyama.
“It is wonderful that now, in Japan, there is no war and we can live in peace and peace of mind. I hope you take today as an opportunity to think about the Battle of Okinawa and about peace,” Miyagi told the students. The students expressed their impressions, saying, “We shouldn’t make war,” “War is scary,” and “In a time of war I wouldn’t be able to go to school, and I wouldn’t like that.”
The “Niiban Gazimaaru” has been selected as one of the 100 notable trees in Okinawa. There are now many students and general tourists from other parts of Okinawa and elsewhere who stay and visit the tree as part of peace study activities.
Urasoe – A special project to raise sea urchins on land using leaves from the shimaguwa, an island mulberry tree specially raised in the city, is underway at Makiminato Fishing Port in Urasoe. On July 5, some of these were opened as a test, and there were some gonads harvested that weighed over 25 grams. Those involved in the raising of the sea urchins including people from the Urasoe Ginowan Fishery Cooperative and from Urasoe and Ginowan cities are confident that the project is, “the first step towards commercialization.” Sea urchin, a delicacy, may be close to being established as a new seafood product for Urasoe and Ginowan.
The sea urchin farming project is part of the “fishery revitalization projects,” a tag team effort started in July, 2020 by Urasoe and Ginowan cities. Both have received grant money from Japan’s Fisheries Agency, and are undertaking the sea urchin farming project under the guidance of Urasoe Ginowan Fishery Cooperative member Koji Muto, 60.
The sea urchins that were raised are and Okinawan breed called shirahigeuni, and the project purchased around 500 baby sea urchins from the Okinawa Fishery Center in Motobu. The food for the sea urchins were leaves from the shimaguwa tree, a specialty from Urasoe, and sea grapes raised in the harbor. Usually, sea urchins are fed seaweeds like konbu and wakame, however according to Urasoe, an experiment conducted by Okinawa Prefecture showed that giving them plants grown on land such as the mulberry leaves caused the sea urchins to grow larger than normal. With that, they decided to feed the sea urchins leaves from the shimaguwa collected from all over the city.
At first, the baby sea urchins purchased from Okinawa Prefecture were around one centimeter in size, but in around nine months they had grown to around eight centimeters.
Muto, who works on growing the sea grapes, commented, “They grow fast when you feed them the mulberry leaves. At first, we fed them sugarcane, but here was no change. I want to keep working to turn this trial into an industry.”
Muto is planning on having a test sale of the sea urchins for the Urasoe City Hall employees on July 16.
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)
Koji Muto with fishery cooperative members and representatives from Urasoe and Ginowan showing off the sea urchins raised using island mulberry leaves – July 5, at Makiminato Fishing Port in Urasoe
July 7 was Tanabata, or the Star Festival. This year, a high-pressure system hung over the Okinawa region, allowing observers to see the Milky Way spread out in the evening sky like a sparkling ribbon.
According to a myth cherished throughout East Asia, Princess Orihime and Hikoboshi (celestial deities represented by the star Vega and Altair, respectively) angered the Celestial Emperor, who wedged the Milky Way between the two to separate them. The two lovers are allowed to reunite once every year on July 7.
The best time to stargaze is when there is little moonlight. During the early morning hours on July 7 in the fields of Gesashi, Higashi Village, the Milky Way was visible by the naked eye; Low-hanging clouds drifted by the band of stars extending south to north.
On July 6 the Third Petty Bench of the Supreme Court (Presiding Judge Michiharu Hayashi) dismissed the final appeal of the Henoko coral lawsuit filed by the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG). The lawsuit was in response to the Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries issuing a directive telling the OPG to authorize the special collection (transplantation) of coral by the Okinawa Defense Bureau (ODB) for the sake of the transplantation of some varieties of coral in Oura Bay due to the construction of the Futenma Replacement Facility (FRF) in Henoko, Nago City. In the lawsuit, the OPG requested that the directive be declared illegal and revoked. The Third Petty Bench upheld the ruling by the Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court that the Minister’s directive is legal, confirming the OPG’s loss of the case. Two of the five judges dissented.
In a press conference after the ruling, Governor Denny Tamaki said, “Although the final appeal ended in dismissal, an unprecedented dissenting opinion was held, accepting the OPG’s claim.”
In 2019, the ODB petitioned for authorization from the OPG to transplant approximately 400,000 coral colonies. When it became clear that there is soft seafloor in the site planned for land reclamation, the OPG held off on making a decision. In February last year, the Agriculture Minister directed the OPG to authorize transplantation as petitioned by the ODB, as requested. The OPG requested that the third-party organization Committee for Settling National-Local Disputes investigate, but the request was turned down, and the OPG presented its case to the Naha Branch of the Fukuoka High Court in July last year.
When the soft seafloor issue arose, the OPG had an opportunity to petition for changes to the outline of the plan and asserted that it is uncertain whether land reclamation will be completed. Although the Third Petty Bench was not able to decide whether transplantation should be authorized, it did decide that there are sites outside the areas of the soft seafloor where the ODB can carry out seawall construction. Given the concern that the coral will go extinct due to construction, the Third Petty Bench decided that transplantation is necessary to protect the coral.
The decision acknowledged that the OPG’s request could result in effectively stopping seawall construction thereby encroaching on the ODB’s position, and is a deviation from or misuse of discretionary power.
The dissenting opinion was held by Judge Katsuya Uga, whose background is in administrative law, and Judge Yuko Miyazaki, whose background is as an attorney. The opinion pointed out that seawall construction will be meaningless if the petition to change the outline of the plan is not approved while the coral, to which the petition pertains, exists outside the areas of soft seafloor. The dissenting opinion also concluded that it was not illegal for the OPG to have not authorized the transplantation, because as long as changes are not petitioned, it would not be possible to attain sufficient information about whether transplantation of coral should be authorized.
(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)
On the evening of July 6 at the Prefectural Office, Governor Denny Tamaki answers reporters’ questions after the Supreme Court handed down its decision against the OPG in the Henoko coral lawsuit (photograph taken by John Matsumoto)
On July 7, the Naha District Court announced their decision in the case brought by 12 Japanese staff working on U.S. military bases who claimed they had received undue punishment, including suspension, without factual basis. The plaintiffs sought confirmation from their employer country that the punishment was void. The court ruled that the punishment received by the 12 individuals was void, and ordered that any reduction in compensation or bonuses as a result of that punishment should be paid.
The 11 Kadena Air Base staff members among the plaintiffs had received a seven-day suspension after being accused of being involved in an incident in which air conditioner parts were stolen on the base. In the rationale for the decision, Judge Kazuhiro Yamaguchi indicated that coworkers’ statements that the 11 had been involved in the robbery were unreliable. The opinion of the court was that there was no acceptable evidence that the plaintiffs were involved, and that the case “lacked factual basis for punishment.”
Shuji Ishikawa of Ginowan worked at Camp Zukeran. He attempted to stop an American subordinate from going home, which was taken as disorderly conduct and resulted in a three-day suspension. Judge Yamaguchi explained, “Even if there was a small degree of physical contact, it was unavoidable in order to stop a subordinate from returning home without reason.”
According to the ruling, the case of an air conditioner belonging to the U.S. military being removed from Kadena Air Base and sold was discovered in 2017. The 11 staff members denied any involvement during the military police investigation, but received suspensions in 2019.
In response to inquiries by the Ryukyu Shimpo, a representative of the Okinawa Defense Bureau stated, “We accept that the court did not agree with the state’s argument. We are carefully considering the details of the ruling and will work with related institutions to take appropriate action.”
At around 1:00 p.m. on July 8, the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) alerted Naha city that “Unexploded ordinance has been found” at a construction site next to a residential building in Hantagawa. The ordinance was a five-inch-long U.S. naval artillery shell. The round was discovered by a construction worker who was digging in the ground using heavy machinery. For safety, Naha City enclosed the round in some protective plating. The plan to dispose of the shell includes adjusting the construction schedule and evacuating any residents in the area of the round.
The ordinance was found in an area surrounded by civilians. A construction worker was digging with heavy machinery, and found it while opening up a space in the ground.
In 2021, Okinawa again saw a trend of schools postponing or changing the destination of their school trips.
According to the Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB), the number of schools planning to travel to Okinawa for school trips decreased by 34.7% compared to 2019, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, with total number of visitors similarly decreasing by 25.3% to 305,634 people. These figures were calculated as of June 8, and are highly likely to change along with the situation surrounding the pandemic, with a representative from the OCVB commenting that it is a “very fluid” situation.
The school numbers were collected by inquiring to 10 of the 15 companies that handle school trips to Okinawa.
According to preliminary figures released by Okinawa Prefecture in May, the number of schools to make trips to Okinawa in 2020 was only 149, for a total number of 31,583 people. In July of last year, there were 2,144 schools with 409,755 visitors planning on making trips to Okinawa, however due to cancellations and destination changes that number fell off by over 90%.
The Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education notified Tokyo schools in March that until “Go to Travel” reopened school trips would be either cancelled or postponed. The total number of schools to visit Okinawa in 2019 before COVID-19 was 2,398 schools, totaling 409,011 visitors. By prefecture, Tokyo was responsible for the most of these trips.
On July 2, the Okinawa Meteorological Agency announced that rainy season is ending in Okinawa. The end this year comes 11 days later than an average year (June 21), and 20 days later than last year (June 12). The start of rainy season was May 5 this year, making the rainy season a total of 58 days, 16 days longer than an average year.
According to the meteorological agency, the reason that the rainy season dragged on this year is that the North Pacific High’s extension to the west was weak due to the westerlies meandering into the southern part of Honshu. As a result, the baiu front was stagnant, pushing back the end of the rainy season. From July 2, the North Pacific High will extend west, and the baiu front will move north, which will result in consecutive sunny days in Okinawa. With this forecast, the meteorological agency announced the end of the rainy season in Okinawa.
This year’s rainy season was especially rainy on the main island of Okinawa. In Naha, 1058.0 milliliters (206% the precipitation of an average year) of rain fell, while in Kume Island, 945.0 milliliters (171% the precipitation of an average year) of rain were recorded. Even toward the end of the season, rain continued to fall. On June 29, weather information pertaining to especially heavy rainfall, a type of announcement that the agency started issuing on June 17, was announced on the main island. Sunshine hours in Nago were 73% that of an average year at 203.8 hours, while in Kume Island, sunshine hours were 78% that of an average year, at 223.4 hours.
For the next week, Okinawa will be covered by the North Pacific High, and can expect to see many days of sun.
On July 2, when the end of rainy season was announced, people could be seen working up a sweat by walking or exercising on Araha Beach in Chatan, under the first blue sky in some time. When rays of sunlight shone through breaks in the clouds, visitors at the beach could be seen taking pictures with their phones, inhaling deep breaths through their masks, and savoring the arrival of summer in the pleasant breeze.
A woman walking her dog said, “Recently it’s been raining so hard that there have been days I haven’t even been able to go for a walk. It feels great to breathe the fresh air outside today.” A man lounging in his beach chair turned his face to the sun and said, “I’ve been waiting for suntanning season to arrive. It’s too bad that the beaches are closed with the state of emergency, but I can’t wait to enjoy summer to the fullest once the coronavirus is under control.”
Webcam(Kokusai Street)
