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The Star Festival in Okinawa

The Star Festival in Okinawa

July 7, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

July 7 is Tanabata, a Japanese star festival. The day belongs to Shosho or “minor heat”, one of 24 solar terms in the traditional East Asian lunisolar calendars. According to the calendar, summer officially begins on this day.

The star festival was held at the first avenue of the Chuo district in Okinawa City. The participants wrote wishes on tanzaku, small pieces of paper, and hanged them on bamboo.

Under colorful streamers,...

 

South American students visit Okinawa for cultural exchange with the elderly

South American students visit Okinawa for cultural exchange with the elderly

July 7, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

South American students of Okinawan descent took part in an extra-curricular course about Okinawa’s emigration history and South American cultures and lifestyles at the Okinawa Cultural Center in Okinawa City on July 3. About 40 elderly people from Peare Paradise...

Salt company Nuchi-masu wins Monde Selection Grand Gold Medal for five consecutive years

Salt company Nuchi-masu wins Monde Selection Grand Gold Medal for five consecutive years

July 6, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

Uruma City based salt company Nuchi-masu has won the the Grand Gold Medal for five consecutive years at the 2014 Monde Selection, an international food and alcoholic beverage fair. The company also received the International High Quality Trophy, an award given to...

Nago mayor criticizes government for starting demolition work to build new air base

Nago mayor criticizes government for starting demolition work to build new air base

July 3, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

At a regular press conference on July 2, Nago Mayor Susumu Inamine criticized the Okinawa Defense Bureau for starting demolition of existing facilities in the U.S. military base Camp Schwab in Henoko, Nago, to build an alternative facility for U.S. Marine Corps Air...

Trainees from the Philippines help elderly rice farmers in Tokashiki

Trainees from the Philippines help elderly rice farmers in Tokashiki

July 3, 2014 Hideaki Yoneda, correspondent of Ryukyu Shimpo

On June 29 in Tokashiki Village, rice harvesting began. Rice farmers have been busy gathering golden-colored paddy rice such as Milky Queen and Hitomebore. As farmers face a labor shortage due to the ageing population, three agriculture...

Volunteer group Gamafuya asks the OPG to stop cremating remains of the Battle of Okinawa

July 1, 2014 Ryukyu SHimpo

Takamatsu Gushiken, the president of the Gamafuya, a volunteer group dedicated to the recovery of remains of the Battle of Okinawa, and the Okinawa Prefectural Assembly member Hiroshi Goya visited the Okinawa Prefectural Government Office on June 30.

They asked...

Okinawa Prefecture Fishery Cooperative to claim damages from the U.S. military over fishing boat line-cutting

July 1, 2014 Takumi Takimoto of Ryukyu Shimpo

Seven tuna fishing boats had their lines cut off one after another in waters near the main Island of Okinawa in May. On June 30, the Okinawa Prefecture Fishery Cooperative decided to make a claim to the U.S. government via the Navy’s Office...

Aerial refuelling aircraft to train in Okinawa after redeployment to Iwakuni

26 June, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

The United States Marine Corps in Okinawa will move 15 KC-130 aerial refuelling tankers to the Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni in Yamaguchi prefecture from Futenma Air Station. The U.S. military stated that they would continue to carry out training exercises of...

Memorial held for 55th anniversary of U.S. military jet crash into Miyamori Elementary School

Memorial held for 55th anniversary of U.S. military jet crash into Miyamori Elementary School

June 30, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

Fifty-five years have passed since June 30, 1959, when a U.S. F-100 fighter from Kadena Air Base crashed into Miyamori Elementary School in Ishikawa City, currently Uruma City. The 55th anniversary memorial ceremony was held on June 30 at the school. Participants...

Defense bureau starts removing buildings within Camp Schwab in Henoko to build a new air base

Defense bureau starts removing buildings within Camp Schwab in Henoko to build a new air base

July 2, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

On July 1, the Okinawa Defense Bureau began bulldozing buildings within Camp Schwab in Henoko, Nago, to construct an alternative facility for the U.S. Marine Corps Air Station Futenma. Prior to demolition work commencing, the defense bureau submitted a notification...

Symposium about relationship between Okinawa, China and Japan held at Okinawa University

Symposium about relationship between Okinawa, China and Japan held at Okinawa University

June 30, 2014 Ryukyu Shimpo

Tokyo based think tank the New Diplomacy Initiative and Okinawa University Regional Research Institute held a symposium on the theme of the relationship between Okinawa, China and Japan at Okinawa University in Naha on June 29.

Nanjing University professor...