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Twitter User @kubocchi0617 Shares Rare Footage of Amuro Namie
In the short 2-minute clip Amuro and her best friend since preschool walk through Heiwa-dōri. Looks to be around the time she made her solo debut from Super Monkey’s (and before she hit it big) as hitomi’s CANDY GIRL (from 1995) is playing in the background (why not one of Amuro’s songs?!).
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2021 Marks SPEED’s 25th Anniversary
Wow, it’s hard to believe that it’s been 25 years since SPEED made their debut. To commemorate this occasion the group released a special box set called SPEED MUSIC BOX -ALL THE MEMORIES- for ¥19,968 ($199 USD) containing several booklets, CDs, and Blu-rays — definitely a must-have item for diehard fans. Of the 4 members,…
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Okinawan Folk Musician Oshiro Misako RIP
Sad news from Okinawa Times reporting that minyou great Oshiro Misako has passed away. RIP.
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YouTube: Yonaha Tōru Band Live at Output Naha
Enjoy this live concert of the Yonaha Tōru Band from their performance at output in Naha December 30, 2020. Tōru is a musician who’s able to masterfully perform in both koten (classical) and minyou (folk) — add roots pop to that too. He has two channels on YouTube but this is the one that’s being…
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Miyazawa Kazufumi on J-MELO
If you have the NHK World app (website link) be sure to catch the latest episode (1/10) of J-MELO (it’s on VOD until March 12, 2021) to see Miyazawa Kazufumi perform an acoustic (sanshin-only) version of Shimauta. It’s always interesting to see an artist’s rendition of a song they’ve played 100’s (probably 1000’s in this…
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YouTube: Hidden Gems in Okinawa
The manjū pictured for the video’s thumbnail is my grandmother’s favorite and it’s become one of mine’s too. Check out the I Will Always Travel for Food’s YouTube channel for Day 1’s video as well as upcoming and archived videos.
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Speaking of Noborikawa Seijin
Here’s a 2012 video from Respect Record’s YouTube account (be sure to subscribe!) featuring Noroborikawa Seijin 登川盛仁 and Oshiro Misako 大城美佐子 — outtakes from their recording of the album Duet. You may also see Nakasone Hajime 仲宗根 創 pop in here and there in the video which is pretty cool.
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Rory (アーサー) the Ryukyuan Villager in Animal Crossing
Rory (アーサー [aasaa] in the Japanese-language version) is a lion jock villager in the Animal Crossing video game fr0m Nintendo (above photos are from the New Horizons version of the game — he first appeared in the New Leaf version of the game) who is Ryukyuan. Playing the English-language version of the game doesn’t give…
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Cobra Kai & Okinawan Culture Twitter Thread @sherryberry100
I just started watching Cobra Kai (Netflix link) and am still on Season 1 so it’s great to see what develops in future episodes/seasons of the series. Cobra Kai takes place decades after the Karate Kid films (the ones starring Pat Morita as the sensei) so it’s nice to see that it calls back to…
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Honolulu-Naha Sister City 60th Anniversary (Hawaii)
History of Okinawan immigration begins in January 1900, when the first 26 migrants from Okinawa arrived in Hawai‘i to seek better lives for themselves and their descendants. Now Hawai‘i residents of Okinawa ancestry number approximately 50,000, one of the largest ethnic groups in Hawai‘i. Okinawan workers faced significant discrimination when they arrived, but they successfully…
Karakui 