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The Weird Al of Okinawa? Tohme Yoshiaki
What can we say about Tohme Yoshiaki that’s better seen by watching his YouTube parody videos that are done in Uchinaaguchi. Here’s a couple that are very fun. But don’t let the parody videos and his food-filled Instagram fool you as his real occupation is a Ryukyu traditional arts performer (琉球伝統芸能実演家) and he’s an actor…
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Our Voices Through Rapper Awich
If you’re a new reader of Karakui, you may think it’s mainly a blog about Awich (and YU-KA) because of how often we post about her. It’s just that this is how BIG she’s become and it’s very much deserved. Being a female rapper in Okinawa and Japan and becoming famous enough to command a…
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Miyagi Hiroya Leads the Orix Buffaloes to the Japan Series! (Baseball)
The Orix Buffaloes (I knew them as the Blue Wave!) made it the the Japan Series (like USA’s World Series) with a great effort from Okinawan pitcher Miyagi Hiroya (#13) and winning the Pacific League Climax Series versus the Lotte Marines. They go on to challenge Hanshin Tigers. By the way, the Orix Buffaloes has…
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Orion Beer’s Shokunin for Overseas Market?
So apparently Orion Beer released a new item for the overseas market called Shokunin with a really cute can design. Has anyone seen it yet? It’s a wheat beer with the wheat coming from Okinawa and it can only be purchased online in Okinawa as it’s not being sold at restaurants and stores in Japan.
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Nanaironote x i-Dushi
Perhaps one of the best YouTube channels around is Nanaironote who does covers of J-pop songs in Uchinaaguchi (although they use Okinawa Hougen in their music video descriptions) with many of the top musicians from Okinawa. We’ve featured their videos on Karakui before but here’s one featuring our favorite now-on-hiatus duo, i-Dushi, covering J-pop star…
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Ishimine Airi’s Memorial Song “Minazuki no Hana”
Having recently performed with her group Aimamire, to an enthusiastic crowd at this year’s HUOA Okinawan Festival, singer Ishimine Airi (who we proclaimed to have one of the best voices in the industry) released a beautiful single on 6/23 as a tribute to Irei no Hi (Okinawa’s Memorial Day) titled “Minazuki no Hana” (June’s Flower).…
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Karakui Joins the Fediverse
Although we’ve been on a server for a while, there was no way to easily set up a WordPress.com blog for the Fediverse until now. You can now follow us on the Fediverse @karakui.blog@karakui.blog. ✌️ Sorry in advance as we’ll also be testing a ‘Share this post’ to see how it works on @karakui@shimanuchu.social and…
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Agena Sisters Announce New Music Group “Unaikanai”
Singer-songwriter Agena Mana announced that she and her sister Halu started a new music duo called Unaikanai. (There’s a third sister who often appears on Mana’s YouTube channel that’s currently not part of this unit.) The name of the duo is a play on Niraikanai with Unai meaning sisters and Kanai make it come true…
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Anly’s 5th Album “26ml”
Our beloved singer-songwriter from Okinawa’s Ie Island Anly is set to release her 5th album “26ml” on 10/18! 🎉 We don’t have any links to streaming platforms at this time but we’re pretty sure we’ll get them soon. For now, physical copies of the album are being sold on online retailers with special limited edition…
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YU-KA’s “Hoshizukiyo (Starry Night)” Reaches 12 Million Views on YouTube!
Wut. It was just April of this year that YU-KA announced that her music video for “Hoshizukiyo (Starry Night)” reached 6-millions views and a few months later it’s doubled that and is now at 12-million! Could being on The First Take have that much of an impact? The answer is yes. Yes it can. Un.…
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