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September 10, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
The championship round for each event was held September 8 at Karate1 Premier League Tokyo 29 at the Nippon Budokan, and Ryo Kiyuna (Ryuei Ryu Ryuho-kai), who has won three-straight world championships, took the top finish for the men’s individual kata, his fifth championship this season in the Premier League.
Combined with his wins from last season, it is his eighth straight championship.
He also took the title in the group competition with teammates Arata Kinjo and Takuya Uemura, their second title.
Competitions in the Premier League assess points needed for appearing in the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)
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September 8, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
A Taiwanese dialysis patient who was forced to spend the night in Okinawa after flights were grounded with Typhoon No. 13 approaching was able to avoid an emergency when doctors and pharmaceutical companies in Okinawa teamed up to secure his dialysis fluid. Guan-Ren Cheng, 50, who was travelling in Okinawa with his family, had used the reminder of the extra dialysis fluid that he had brought with him the day before. On the evening of September 6, the dialysis fluid he had ordered from a company in Tokyo arrived, for which he gave thanks, “I had stopped eating. I was very happy.”
Artificial dialysis is a treatment method for people whose kidneys cannot dispose of unwanted particles from their bloodstream due to decreased kidney function. Cheng undergoes peritoneal dialysis, where dialysis fluid is injected through the peritoneal cavity in the abdomen around the intestines in order to remove pollutants from the blood stream. It is necessary to perform the exchange four-to-five times per day, and was treatment was being continued while travelling. If treatment is stopped, toxins can build up in the blood and potentially cause an arrhythmia, which led him to stop eating the day before.
Cheng was traveling with a party of seven, six family members and a friend, on a two day trip to Okinawa. The pan was to return on September 5, however with the typhoon approaching they had been told they had been moved to a flight on September 9. Cheng contacted the hospital in charge of his care in Taiwan, and through the patient support group, was introduced to Sorae Shiroma, president of SORA Acacdemy Support, to help him as a medical interpreter to interpret Chinese as well as other linguistic support.
Shiroma has worked with a hospital that accepted Taiwanese dialysis patients last year. This time, she enlisted the help that hospital, Toyomi Seikyo Hospital, as well as a pharmaceutical general trading company, Daico Okinawa. Since there was no dialysis fluid in Okinawa that was suitable for Cheng, they urgently ordered some from a major pharmaceutical company in Tokyo.
Cheng said smiling, “While travelling I made sure to pack extra, however this time it was not enough. I am very grateful that they were able to get some here so quickly.” He said hopefully, “I would be glad if a support system were created that would allow people to travel without worry.”
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)
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September 7, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
KITANAKAGUSUKU-The area surrounding Okinawa Rycom AEON Mall has been officially named “Aza Rycom” as of September 7. The area was formerly addressed as “Kitanakagusuku Awase Rezoning Project Grounds.” The Awase Rezoning Association invited the public to vote on a name, and the village assembly unanimously decided on the most voted “Aza Rycom.”
Most of Aza Rycom, where construction of high-rise condos is currently underway, used to be the grounds of the U.S. Marine Corps’ Awase Meadows Golf Course. According to the village office’s Citizen’s Affairs Division, some 200 households currently reside in the area. Kitanakagusuku estimates 2,700 residents will eventually inhabit the area, as outline in the rezoning plan.
Mayor Kunio Arakaki expects good things: “It seemed like a strange name at first, but ‘Rycom’ is growing on us. We mostly have multi-family residences at the moment, but we anticipate the area will bustle with more activity as single-family homes start to sprout.”
(English translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)
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September 7, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
(Taketomi Island, Taketomi) September 1 marked the start of a new system in which tourists visiting Taketomi Island of Taketomi Town are asked to voluntarily pay 300 yen as an island entrance fee, and tourists on their way to Taketomi Island could be seen purchasing island entrance tickets one after another.
On the same day, a commencement ceremony was held at the Ishigaki Port Outlying Island Terminal on Ishigaki Island and on Taketomi Island.
The island entrance fee can be paid at ticket machines installed at the Outlying Islands Terminal and at the Taketomi Port Terminal.
The island entrance fees paid will be used for activities to maintain and preserve the island’s scenery and nature, and some will be allocated to a movement to buy back land.
At the ceremony, town mayor Kojun Nishiomasu made a call for support, saying, “I want to work together with all of you to make Taketomi Island the best place in Japan.
I want to ask for the support of many people.
” Taketomi Community Center director Shousei Uchimori greeted participants saying, “I want to endeavor to create an environment unique to Taketomi Island in which humans and nature can coexist.”
“I hope they use it to protect the old-style island streetscape,” said Ryoichiro Sakamoto, 38, of Gunma, as he paid the island entrance fee at the Outlying Island Terminal prior to traveling to Taketomi Island.
(English translation by T&CT and Sandi Aritza)
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September 6, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Kyotaro Nishimura and 13 other authors/members of the Mystery Writers of Japan, Inc., announced on September 6 that they have lodged an official letter of request with the Japanese government, calling for the discontinuation of the Henoko base construction, and its sincere engagement with Okinawa.
The letter was addressed to the Cabinet Secretariat Okinawa Liaison Office. Authors Akio Fukamachi and Fumie Kondo have also expressed their support.
“The current administration’s handling of the situation is bizarre; it has ignored the results of the referendum, has yet to stop the construction, and refuses to engage in talks.
” The comment refers to the results of the Okinawan prefectural referendum held in February, in which 72% of voters disapproved of the Henoko construction.
(English translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)
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September 5, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo Digital Edition
Okinawa governor Denny Tamaki met with Japanese Defense Minister Takeshi Iwaya at the Okinawa Prefectural Office September 5 to once again demand that the Japanese government abandon the plans to relocate MCAS Futenma to Henoko, as well as to immediately cease operations at the airbase.
The governor raised as an example the soft ground in the ocean area being filled at the relocation site extending construction time, claiming, “I want construction to stop and for [the Japanese government] to engage Okinawa in discussions to plan a solution.
Unrelated to the Henoko relocation, I want to remove the danger of MCAS Futenma without delaying another day.”
In response, Defense Minister Iwaya stressed, “I have confirmed that we are inspecting the [relocation] site, and while taking into consideration the natural environment, progressing construction safely.
Certainly, we want to continue these operations so that we can return MCAS Futenma.
” Regarding the soft ground, he announced his idea of moving forward while obtaining assistance from meeting with experts.
The two repeatedly shared their thoughts with one another, but ended their meeting without the moving any closer to an agreement.
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)
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September 5, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
According to a representative of the Okinawa Meteorological Observatory, the extremely strong typhoon approaching Okinawa recorded a maximum instantaneous wind speed of 61.2 meters at Miyako Airport in Miyakojima on September 5 at 12:22 p.m.
This record is the highest in recorded history since 2009. The Miyakojima Local Meteorological Observatory recorded 59.6 meters, while Miyako Shimojishima Airport recorded 58.1 meters.
(English translation by T&CT and Chelsea Ashimine)
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September 3, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
On August 31, the fishing boat Seisho-maru (0.8 tons), which was lost after being swept away in the tsunami following the 2011 East Japan earthquake, was discovered washed ashore in Kin, Kin, Okinawa by an employee of the Nakagusuku Regional Coast Guard Headquarters while on patrol.
The boat, which is 6.5 meters long, had lost its engine and other power units, and drifted ashore roughly 1,900 kilometers from home on the beach of Kin after being lost at sea for over eight years since the disaster.
According to the Nakagusuku Regional Coast Guard, the boat’s owner, Kiyofumi Sasaki, 74, of Kamaishi, Iwate choked up when he heard that his fishing boat had been discovered, saying, “I never thought after all this time that it would turn up in Okinawa.
” At the time of the disaster, Sasaki evacuated to high ground and his life was spared, but his and his friends’ boats and nearly all moored boats were swept away in the tsunami.
The name inscribed on the fishing boat that washed ashore could not be made out, but its owner was revealed by contacting the Toni Fishery Cooperative in Kamaishi on the basis of the boat’s registration number.
(English translation by T&CT and Sandi Aritza)
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September 4, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Around 3:00 p.m. on September 4 a U.S. Marine Corps UH-1Y helicopter was spotted taking off and landing on returned Northern Training Area (NTA) land in Ada, Kunigami Village.
The strip where it landed, called the LZ-FBJ helipad, was returned to Okinawa in December 2016 and is now included within the Yambaru National Park.
According to Akino Miyagi, a butterfly researcher who sighted the UH-1Y, the helicopter flew into the vicinity of the returned land around 2:30 p.m., and at around 3:00 p.m. it landed.
The helicopter remained on the land for tens of seconds and then it took off.
A U.S. soldier on the helicopter emerged from the side door as though to disembark, but ultimately did not, and the helicopter took off.
Miyagi said, “I thought it was something like an emergency landing, perhaps this time it was a landing during training. It’s irresponsible.”
(English translation by T&CT and Erin Jones)
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September 2, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo Digital Edition
The Naha Fire Department announced September 2 that they would be presenting a thank you card to two Korean firefighters who, back in June, just happened to be passing through the Don Quijote store on Kokusai Dori in Naha when a Chinese tourist began complaining of chest pains before suddenly collapsing, and were able to save him.
The pair of firefighters were brought an automated external defibrillator (AED) by a Don Quijote employee, and were able to resuscitate the Chinese visitor by using the machine to administer electric shocks. After the Naha Fire Department’s ambulance crew arrived, the Chinese man’s heartbeat and breathing had returned. The man was taken to the hospital for examination before being released with no after-effects.
Additionally, a female Japanese tourist, 27, visiting from Aichi Prefecture who quickly ran to dial 119 was also sent a thank you card. There is also a plan to give commendations to the Don Quijote employees who provided the Korean firefighters with the AED, and guided the emergency medical crew through the store.
The Naha Fire Department Central Fire Station gave as a reason for the commendations, “The act of saving a life is huge.”
The two firefighters involved in the rescue work at a fire station in southern South Korea. The two consented to receiving the thank you card, and the Naha Fire Department is working on a way to send it to them. Fire Chief Masahiro Teruya said, “The act of saving a life is extremely noble. It may be presumptuous, but it would be good if this improved the perilous mood between Japan and Korea, if only a little.”
(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)
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September 2, 2019 Ryukyu Shimpo
Pink Dot Okinawa advocates a society in which everyone, including LGBTQ+ people, are able to live comfortably in their own skin. The 2019 Pink Dot Okinawa event was held on September 1, at the Ryukyu Shimpo public open space, located on the ground floor. The theme this year was “same-sex marriage,” under which businesses and civil organizations set up 21 booths. Attendees also enjoyed festive onstage performances. The event attracted about 3,000 people, many of whom dressed in pink shirts and hats, all expectant of a diverse society.
The seventh annual event was supported and sponsored by 124 businesses and organizations. Activist Jennifer Lu, who won gay couples their equal marriage rights in Taiwan, made an appearance for the special talk session. Lu explained that in Taiwan, campaigners sought equal marriage rights from the beginning, not settling on a partnership scheme. Lu commented: “It’s critical that we actively communicate with the people around us, to raise awareness of the existence of sexual minorities.”
In Japan, a group of gay couples are currently suing the government, arguing that the government’s denial of equal marriage rights is unconstitutional, and breaches the freedom to marry. Makiko Terahara, one of the lawyers bringing the suit, took the stage with two male plaintiffs. One of the plaintiffs, “Tadashi”, 50, travelled from Tokyo. Tadashi said, “We can’t change our sexual orientation or gender identity. I hope this event will help people get to know what people of the sexual minority are like.”
Event goers flew 200 pink and white environmentally friendly balloons to wrap up the event.
(English translation by T&CT and Monica Shingaki)
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Webcam(Kokusai Street)
