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A new couple celebrates a wedding in a cultural site

A new couple celebrates a wedding in a cultural site

April 26, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 21, a Ryukyuan style wedding was held in Furusato En, a traditional Ryukyuan house registered as a Japanese cultural property located in the Okinawa Zoo and Museum in Okinawa City. The reception was then held at the World Heritage Site Nakagusuku Castle in Nakagusuku Town. The couple getting married was Yasushi and Hijiri Koyama from Yokohama. They commented, “It is marvelous to be able to have our wedding at such a cultural treasure site. We are...

 

Young Okinawan rugby player selected in top New Zealand high school team

Young Okinawan rugby player selected in top New Zealand high school team

May 6, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo original English article and photograph by Mark Ealey

Koza High School third year student Kenichiro Kuwae (17 years-old), of Awase, Okinawa City has been selected in one of New Zealand’s top secondary school teams.

Kuwae is studying at St. Bede’s College,...

Cyclist from Okinawa to go to the Olympics

May 2, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On May 1, the Japan Cycling Federation selected 27 year-old cyclist Yukiya Arashiro (from Ishigaki City, Team Europcar) as a male road bicycle race representative in the London Olympics. He is the first representative from Okinawa to be chosen for this year’s London...

U.S. and Japanese governments possibly padding the number of Marines in Okinawa

U.S. and Japanese governments possibly padding the number of Marines in Okinawa

May 3, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On May 2, in response to a question from the Okinawa Prefectural Government (OPG), a representative of the U.S. forces in Okinawa said that the actual number of U.S. Marines in Okinawa amounted to 15365 (the number recorded at the end of June 2011). Although the U.S....

American Women’s Welfare Association has donated 800 million yen to welfare facilities in local communities over the last 40 years

American Women's Welfare Association has donated 800 million yen to welfare facilities in local communities over the last 40 years

April 29, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 23, the American Women’s Welfare Association (AWWA), which has made contributions to welfare facilities in Okinawa, held a 40th anniversary ceremony at Kadena Air Base, inviting people who have accepted their donations. The total for donations from the...

Joint statement does not touch upon Futenma relocation issue

Joint statement does not touch upon Futenma relocation issue

May 1, 2012 Hideki Matsudo of Ryukyu Shimpo reports from Washington D.C.
At noon on April 30, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda met with U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House. The two leaders spoke of a dynamic defense force, in which the Japan Self-Defense Forces will gear up for surveillance...

Captain Yohena lands the big tuna in Kumejima

Captain Yohena lands the big tuna in Kumejima

April 25, 2012 Yoko Morinaga, Correspondent of the Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 24, a bluefin tuna 2.4 meters (7.9 feet) long and weighing 271 kilograms (597.5 pounds), was landed on Kume Island. Many people came to see it at Gima Port.

Tomoyoshi Yohena, the captain of the Tsune-maru, and...

Sailing Sabani Race held off Yambaru

Sailing <em>Sabani</em> Race held off <em>Yambaru </em>

April 25, 2012

On April 22, the 2nd Sailing Sabani Race off Yambaru, organized by the Fukaki Sabani, was held. The event is designed to continue on the tradition of the sabani, an Okinawan wooden sailboat, and to try to make it into a new feature to aid the revitalization...

Sekitoku Girl’s School students’ Battle of Okinawa experiences screened

Sekitoku Girl’s School students’ Battle of Okinawa experiences screened

April 22, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On the night of April 22 at the Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum in Naha the pre-screening of a short documentary Fuji Gakutotai, directed by Gakuya Nomura, was held. The film records the Battle of Okinawa experiences of Sekitoku Girl’s High...

Okinawa Education Office asks high schools to teach about the reversion of Okinawa

April 23, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

On April 22, to mark the 40th anniversary of Okinawa’s reversion to Japanese sovereignty, the Okinawa Education Office sent prefectural high schools a written request that students deepen their knowledge of Okinawa around the time of the reversion, and about...

Timetable of former Okinawa Light Rail found in diary of late songwriter Nakamoto

Timetable of former Okinawa Light Rail found in diary of late songwriter Nakamoto

April 21, 2012 Ryukyu Shimpo

A timetable published by the Okinawa Prefecture Light Rail Office in 1943 was found in Gushichan, Yaese. Kaoru Nakamoto found the timetable inside his late father Minoru Nakamoto’s diary when he was cleaning up his father’s belongings. In the diary, there was...