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October 21, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On October 20 in front of the Naha City Office, about 20 people, including Buddhist monks of Nipponzan Myohonji and former U.S. military servicemen, held a departing ceremony for the “2014 Okinawa Peace Memorial March”. The march around the island is an appeal for a peaceful, military base-free Okinawa. This is the event’s 28th year. After the departing ceremony, the group marched through Kokusai Street and rallied for the cessation of plans for the construction of a new base in Henoko, Nago City and helipads in Takae, Higashi Vilage.
On October 21, the group started marching from Cape Hedo in Kunigami Village and arrived at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Park in Mabuni, Itoman City. At 3 p.m. on October 22, the group held a religious gathering at the gate of Camp Schwab in Henoko.
Two members from Veterans for Peace, a U.S. peace organization made up of veterans, also took part. Seventy-six-year-old Jul Awkin from New Jersey served in the U.S. Army from 1958 to 1961. After taking part in a meeting to protest military bases on Korea’s Jeju Island, he visited Okinawa for the first time. Awkin, who opposes the construction of drone bases in the United States, said he would like to continue to appeal to the public about the importance of peace while working with people in Okinawa and Korea.
(English translation by T&CT and Megumi Chibana)
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October 24, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
Twenty-one-year-old student Keiko Tsuji, who is from Nago and was chosen to represent Japan at the Miss Universe 2014 pageant, visited the Ryukyu Shimpo Office on October 23. Tsuji expressed her goals for the contest which will be held in Miami, Florida next January. She said, “As I study dietetics at university, I would like to convey the charms of Japanese food, which is known to be healthy.”
Tsuji moved to Nagasaki prefecture for her studies. She has been a karate practitioner since elementary school, competing in inter-high school championships and national athletic meets. She claimed victory in the Kyushu Karate tournament in 2012. Members of a support organization for Tsuji, Kiyono Tamaki and Hideo Higa, accompanied Tsuji to the Ryukyu Shimpo Office. At the beginning of December, they plan to hold a peprally for Tsuji before the Miss Universe 2014 pageant.
(English translation by T&CT)
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October 21, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On September 20, the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG) announced a new monthly record for tourist visitation numbers in Okinawa. A total of 658,700 people visited Okinawa in September. This is the 24th consecutive month in which the previous year’s figures have been exceeded. The number of tourists who came to Okinawa in the first half of fiscal 2014, that is, from April to September, was up by 10.3 percent to 3,728,100 over the same period the previous year. A spokesperson from the OPG said, “If the trend continues, the number will exceed our target of 6.9 million tourists in the 2014 fiscal year, reaching 7 million.”
The OPG set a target of 6.9 million tourists in the 2014 fiscal year, which required a 319,700 increase from the number in the 2013 fiscal year. If the number of tourists visiting Okinawa in the last half of fiscal 2014 increases over the same period the previous year, the figure will not only exceed the target but also reach 7 million.
The OPG predicts that expansion of airline routes, increase in the number of cruise ships visiting Okinawa and the cheap yen will contribute to steady growth in the number of tourists visiting Okinawa. Despite Super Typhoon Phanfone and typhoon Vongfong, which are likely to have slowed tourist numbers in October, the figure is expected to remain on par with the previous fiscal year owing to the increase in group tours such as school trips.
The number of foreign tourists visiting Okinawa is increasing significantly. The monthly number of tourists visiting increased by 63.2 percent this September, setting a new record. The number of foreign tourists coming to Okinawa in the first half of fiscal 2014 was up by 49.9 percent to 537,500 over the same period the previous year. The OPG predicts that a scheduled increase in the number of cruise ships visiting Okinawa and an increased exemption for consumption tax on various products, which started on October 1, will have boosted the number of foreign tourists visiting Okinawa in October.
At first, the OPG set an annual target of 6.7 to 6.8 million tourists for the 2014 fiscal year, which would have brought the growth rate up to 4.9 percent from 3.4 percent in the 2013 fiscal year, which was initially forecast to have 6.48 million visitors. After it was confirmed that 6.58 million tourists visited Okinawa in the 2013 fiscal year, the OPG revised up the target to 6.9 million.
(English translation by T&CT)
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October 17, 2014 Ryuyu Shimpo
October 17 is Okinawa Soba Day. On October 16, at Okinawa Soba restaurant Kenpa No Subaya in the Omoromachi district of Naha, many businessmen and tourists came to taste the hot noodle with a broth made from bonito flakes.
Mikio Teruya who came with his family, said, “Every time our family goes out, we take time to decide which Okinawa Soba restaurant we should go to.”
The owner of the restaurant Kentetsu Asato said, “Okinawa Soba is now a fast food but was traditionally served in Okinawa. The noodle’s charms are that it is convenient to eat and it makes you full.” On October 17, the restaurant also served jucie, Okinawan cooked rice, as a side with the noodles.
Until October 17, 1978, the Japan Fair Trade Commission had not allowed traders selling Okinawa Soba to use the word “soba.” It was not considered to be real soba, because the noodle does not contain buckwheat flour, as it does in the mainland of Japan. However on that date, the Okinawa Fresh Noodles Cooperative and other organizations managed to get the commission to allow them to use the name Okinawa soba. To mark this day, the cooperative set up Okinawa Soba Day on October 17 in 1997. The organization is working to promote the day.
(English translation by T&CT)
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October 9, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On October 8, a total lunar eclipse was observed in various locations around Okinawa. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth is aligned with and comes in between the moon and the sun. The red light from the sun is deflected through the earth’s atmosphere, illuminating the moon’s surface. This phenomenon makes the moon look reddish brown. It was the first lunar eclipse in about three years, since December 10, 2010. The next time it will appear will be on April 4, 2015.
When the eclipse started at 6:15 p.m., the Okinawa region was cloudy. The total lunar eclipse was observed around 7:30 p.m. in the clouds in Naha. It was hard to observe because of the cloudy weather but the moon became a pale red and created a mysterious aura.
(English translation by T&CT, Hitomi Shinzato)
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October 20, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On October 19, the 2nd Futenmagu shrine pilgrimage parade (Usanchii), one of the King’s annual events during the Ryukyu Dynasty, was held in Ginowan City and at Shurijo Castle in Naha. Along with the King and Queen, 115 citizens who dressed up as sanshikan, state ministers and subordinates, marched through the shopping district and along national highway route 330 in Futenma.
During the Ryukyu Dynasty, as an annual event, the King and his subordinates visited the shrine in September of the lunar calendar. At the Shurijo Castle, a welcome ceremony for the King and Queen was held.
(English translation by T&CT)
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October 17, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On October 16, a fund-raising campaign for 12-year-old Rai Matsushima, who is suffering from cardiomyopathy after myocarditis, exceeded its goal of 215 million yen. Rai was told he could only receive heart transplant surgery at a hospital in the United States. Volunteer group the Raikun-sukuu-kai has achieved the goal after a 24-day campaign. Depending on the judgment of his doctors, he will visit the United States in early December.
Miyuki Toyama, a co-representative of the group said, “Thankfully really, so many people have donated money for him.” According to the group, as of October 16, the fund-raising reached 218,129,473 yen. On October 17, at a news conference, representatives of the group expressed words of thanks to many donators.
The fund-raising campaign started on September 23. With donations pouring in from inside and outside Okinawa, the group was able to gather enough money to help fund the boy’s surgery.
On October 15, the volunteer group donated a surplus of 125 million yen to Miyu Kaname, who it helped received heart transplant surgery in the United States in 2011. This donation helped the group gather support to reach the goal of the fund-raising campaign for Rai.
The group has stopped its street fund-raising campaign. However, it will continue to accept donations from organizers who have planned to hold events to raise money for charity in order to spend preliminary medical expenses for Rai in the United States.
(English translation by T&CT)
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October 16, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On October 15, President Chris Mamoru Shimabukuro of the Hawaii United Okinawa Association (HUOA), which has been visiting Okinawa from October 7 for an ancestral home study tour, visited the Ryukyu Shimpo building. The HUOA carries out tours every year. This year, 41 people, from first to fourth generation Okinawan-Hawaiian, stayed in Okinawa for ten days. The group took a tour of the Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum and castle ruin sites and also touched base with their relatives in Okinawa. Shimabukuro called for donations for the construction of a “Hawaii Okinawa Plaza”.
A third-generation Okinawan, Shimabukuro visited the Ryukyu Shimpo office with Choko Takayama, President of the Okinawa Hawaii Association and Asami Ginoza Secretary-General of Hawaii Okinawa Plaza Construction Fund-raising Promotion Committee. He said, “We would like to ask for support for the construction of Hawaii Okinawa Plaza to pass down Okinawan culture in Hawaii to the fourth and fifth generations.”
The HUOA has been planning to build a commercial facility called “Hawaii Okinawa Plaza,” to be completed in 2015, to subsidize the management expenses of their operating base Hawaii Okinawa Center. One hundred million yen out of a total construction cost of five hundred million yen will be covered by donations from Okinawa. The Promotion Committee is the contact point in Okinawa. As a memoir to the history of sending pigs from Hawaii to Okinawa during the severe food shortage after the war, a toy pig will be presented for donators.
For further details, call the Promotion Committee at 098(897) 0116.
(English translation by T&CT and Megumi Chibana)
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October 17, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
The U.S. and Japanese governments are building a new base in the Henoko district of Nago for replacement of U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station, for which they began marine boring investigations in August. A majority of the Nago City Assembly members resolved to ask the governments to stop the investigations immediately and give up the relocation plan with 15 in favor and 11 opposed. They filed a written opinion regarding the issue.
In the statement, they highlighted Susumu Inamine’s re-election as mayor of Nago this January, and a petition to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe filed by the mayors of the municipalities in Okinawa requesting the easing of the base-hosting burden.
They criticized the Japanese government for denying democracy and squashing the morale of Okinawan people by forcing through the construction. They said that they could not tolerate such treatment.
The assembly members pointed out that although the government of Japan (GOJ) claims to have sought the understanding of Okinawan people, it is nonetheless carrying out construction despite the environmental impact assessment for the plan being deemed unsatisfactory. They also accused the GOJ of trying to invalidate the jurisdiction of the Nago Mayor by attempting to force through modifications to part of the construction methods for reclaiming the sea at Henoko . The written opinion stated, “A sense of distrust and anger among Okinawan people has hit a peak.” This is the first time the city assembly members have asked to stop the construction of the new base since the last city council election in September.
(English translation by T&CT)
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October 15, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On October 14, the Okinawa Prefectural Government announced that the damages to the agricultural and fishery industries from typhoon No.19 Vongfong reached 864,840,000 yen. Twenty-six people were injured, including three serious cases.
There were ten residential damages such as flood above and below floor level, and three nonresidential damages, including warehouse collapses. Landslides occurred in 12 locations, leading to 11 roads being blocked, mostly in the northern area of Okinawa’s main island.
(English translation by T&CT)
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October 4, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo
On the morning of October 2, a titanium alloy panel fell off an F-15 fighter jet stationed at United States Air Force Kadena Air Base. The panel was from the frame of the plane on the rear of the cockpit and weighed about 2.5 kilograms, with a diameter of about 55 by 32 centimeters. According to communication from Kadena Air Base to the Okinawa Defense Bureau, the site of impact was pinpointed off the coast to the north east of the base. The abnormality was discovered during aerial refueling, and after returning to base the loss was confirmed during an inspection at 6pm on the same day.
The Military Base Affairs Division of the Okinawa Prefectural Government has since sought improvements in safety management procedures from the Defense Bureau in order that incidents such as this will not happen again. A spokesman from the division said, “A small difference in position and a major accident could have happened. It is regretful that despite making so many appeals for stricter checks to prevent such incidents after they have occurred in succession, such incidents still occur.”
The fallen object was a removable part from the top side of the plane behind the cockpit. According to the U.S. military, it was a “covering for the avionics equipment inside the fuselage.” As of 7 p.m. on October 3, the panel has yet to be found. After the incident, the U.S. military inspected the other F-15s but found no abnormalities, and is conducting an investigation into the servicing routines related to the missing part.
A covering for the cockpit of the same F15 fell off into the sea in March. An engine covering fell off in May as well, but the plane continued to be flown despite the cause of that accident being unclear.
The F15 took off at about 9 a.m. on October 2, took part in an aerial refueling exercise in the sea northeast of the base, and returned on the afternoon of the same day.
The Defense Bureau received the news from Kadena Air Base before 9 p.m. on October 2, and informed the prefecture and related municipalities.
(English translation by T&CT and Lima Tokumori)
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