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Okinawa Everywhere All at Once
A long time dream come true to see my hero pro cyclist Arashiro Yukiya (if you don’t know him, he is the 🐐 [G.O.A.T. means greatest of all time] in all of Asian cycling and he’s from Ishigaki Island) in a road race during the Saitama Criterium in Japan. Although I wasn’t able to meet…
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Hawaii’s KIKU-TV RIP
You may have heard a rumor that KIKU will stop airing Japanese and Filipino programming soon. Unfortunately, the rumor is true. Starting Monday, June 28, 2021, KIKU and other stations owned by RNN National, LLC will air ShopHQ 24/7. via the station’s FB page Definitely sad news to hear that KIKU-TV will no longer show…
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Film: “Minami no Shima no Furimun”
The film’s poster at Consolidated Theatres Pearlridge West 16. “Minami no Shima no Furimun” (also called “Furimun’s Paradise” or “Furimun in Okinawa“) is the 2009 directorial debut of comedian/actor Gori of the comedy duo Garage Sale. Gori, who also stars in the film as its main character Eisho (the furimun), also gets credit for writing…
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7 Videos from the 2009 Shinjuku VII Eisa Matsuri
Wow. This is pretty awesome. A YouTube’r by the username of angelyarachinen uploaded seven videos from the 7th annual Shinjuku Eisa Matsuri. (Nifee deebitan to Myron Akana for the link!)
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Yusuke Kamiji, Yu Yamada get “BLOG of the year 2008” honors
Congratulations to Yusuke Kamiji and to Yu Yamada for being honored with Ameba’s “BLOG of the year 2008” award. Kamiji, who also won the award last year, is known for his blog which has a Guinness World Record distinction for most unique hits in a day. The Ameba awards is categorized by: tarento/actor (there’s a…
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Mark this date: 2/14/09 Ukulele Picnic in Hawaii
One of my favorite artists of both Okinawan and Hawaiian music is Keith Nakaganeku (with his band Calabash) and I got a tip that he’ll be performing along with his friend Masaru Shimabukuro (BEGIN‘s guitarist) at this year’s Ukulele Picnic 2009 in Hawaii on Saturday, February 14, 2009. He’ll be singing “Nada Sou Sou” and…
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Wallpaper: Takeshi Kaneshiro in John Woo’s “Red Cliff” (TSUTAYA online)
One of the best films I’ve seen this year, John Woo’s “Red Cliff” gets the kabegami (wallpaper) treatment and the one we’re featuring (three in all) has actor Takeshi Kaneshiro (who plays strategist Zhuge Liang) in it. Go and download the wallpaper (in commemorating the Japan release of the film) from TSUTAYA online here. And…
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Show your support
From the NYT: “Okinawans Protest Japan’s Plan to Revise Bitter Chapter of World War II” For the past quarter of a century, Japan’s high school textbooks had included the accepted historical fact that that Okinawans had been coerced into mass suicides by Imperial Army soldiers. But six months ago, the Education Ministry said that next…
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Autumn 2007’s line-up of J-dramas
Summer 2007’s J-drama line-up proved to be a successful one for actors from Okinawa so how does autumn look? Abarenbo Mama (Fuji TV) stars Aya Ueto in the lead role Hataraki Man (NTV) stars Yu Yamada in a supporting role Joshi Deka! (TBS) stars Yukie Nakama in the lead role Otoko no Kosodate (TV Asahi)…
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A TV Season Like No Other
I’m not sure how many of you may recall a time (in the ’90s) when the J-pop scene was filled with artists from Okinawa from Namie Amuro to SPEED. Although you’ll still find Namie, ORANGE RANGE and Haikara at the top of the J-pop charts, it’s definitely far from what it used to be. So…