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Koza Machi Channel (YouTube)
You’re in for a treat. Koza Machi Channel (コザまちチャンネル) on YouTube created a special cultural program “Tatta Futari no Kai (A meeting for two)” featuring top musicians/artists Maekawa Shuken “Gen-chan” and Yonaha Toru. As you can see from the screenshot, they don’t only play sanshin but also dance and talk story too. The program comes…
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Two Okinawan Films at the HIFF 2023 Fall Festival!
The 2023 fall Hawaii International Film Festival (HIFF) will screen two films from Okinawa. The first one is “This Land is Your Land (Shima ni Kaeru)” directed by Mitake Naoto and stars the most famous male actor from Okinawa, Shogen. Two actors I’m interested in seeing from this film are Miyara Shinobu (one of the…
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Amazing English Subtitled “Okinawa Live Show”
In the “We can’t believe this is available” department comes a strangely named website called “Okinawa Live Show” from the Okinawa Prefectural Government. Don’t let the name fool you as this is an amazing resource of English-subtitled videos (also available on their YouTube channel) of Luchuan traditional performing arts like Okinawa Shibai, Kumiudui, Ryukyu Buyou,…
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Kita no Akainku Shares 4 “Shinshun Minyou Kouhaku Uta Gassen”
One area where the language and culture of Ryukyu is being kept alive is in its performing arts through music and dance. One of the annual events to showcase the arts is the “Shinshun Minyou Kouhaku Uta Gassen” broadcasted by RBC (Ryukyu Broadcasting Corporation). To celebrate the show’s 60th anniversary, Kita no Akainku is sharing…
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Hirata Daiichi’s “Nantoushijin”
Hirata Daiichi will be taking his one-man show “Nantoushijin” performance to Naha’s Tenbusu Hall on 11/23.
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Ryukyu Renbo Digest (YouTube)
The video digest is from “Ryukyu Classical Performing Arts Meet the 25 String Koto”, a concert that took place last December featuring top artists from Luchu classical music and dance. It’s interesting hearing the classic songs arranged for the 25 string koto as well as Nakai Tomoya’s original songs and we’re grateful for the English…
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Season 2 of “Toki no Suisaiga”
New episodes of “Toki no Suisaiga” season two started airing at the beginning of the month. The new season brings back Miyazawa Kazufumi (The Boom) as narrator and Ryukyu classical music performances by Oyakawa Haruka. Check out their YouTube channel for the latest clips.
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National Theatre Okinawa’s Promo Video
The National Theatre Okinawa recently shared promotional videos on their YouTube channel with versions in English, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, and Korean (the latter three are subtitled only). The videos are narrated in English by Yonashiro Sho of the idol pop group JO1. National Theatre Okinawa’s building, as seen in the video, was built in…
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“Ghosts Can’t Dance” Web Drama (YouTube)
Although the 6-episode web drama “Ghosts Can’t Dance (Yūrei wa Odorenai)” was uploaded to YouTube back in March, I finally finished watching it recently and it’s so good (lots of feels)! Anyone with an interest in Ryukyu culture (both pop and traditional) shouldn’t miss this. The web drama is produced by the Kariyushi Geinou Kouen…
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Chuning Candy’s Moving On
Idol group Chuning Candy recently shared a YouTube clip of their new single MOVING ON!! (April 7th digital release) showcasing their amazing dance performance (just a reminder that their dance performance of Dynamic Ryukyu has over 3-million views on YouTube). The title of the new single is interesting (coincidental?) given the April 24th sad news…
Karakui 