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Pick Up Stories
‘Year of the Dragon’ begins in Okinawan … [CULTURE CURRENT ISSUE]
Legend has it that Buddha asked all animals to meet him on the Chinese New Year. Twelve came, and Buddha named a year after each one, and an...Read More
Pro-Baseball Spring Training 2024 [Family Sports]
Okinawa is the southernmost prefecture in Japan, and that means it’s the warmest place in the country in the wintertime. Because of that, ma...Read More
Okinawa Expressway Renewal Work Starts J… [CURRENT ISSUE]
NEXCO, the company operating the Okinawa Expressway announces that Expressway renewal works start from January 9th in 2024 to late April in ...Read More
Police warn women on increasing sexual assault incidents [News]
Okinawa Prefectural Police is warning women to be careful when they walk alone, especially when entering deserted areas late in the evening, as there has been 27 reported incidents...
Yamauchi named MVP at Asian Women’s Volleyball C’ships [Sports]
Misaki Yamauchi, the captain of Japan Women’s National U-23 Volleyball Team from Itoman, was awarded the Individual MVP Award for the second Asian Women’s Volleyball U-23 Champions...
Norio Sassa to replace Tsutomu Isa as King’s head coach [Ryukyu Golden Kings]
Tsutomu Isa, the current head coach of the Ryukyu Golden Kings will leave his position at the end of this season. He will pass the helm to Norio Sassa, currently an assistant coach...
Okinawa City taxi driver arrested for hit and run [News]
Okinawa Police arrested a 75-year-old taxi driver, Monday, on suspicion of negligent driving resulting in injury and leaving the scene of an accident. According to police, taxi dri...
Over 20 million passengers go through Naha Airport [News]
More than 20 million passengers went through the domestic and international terminals of Naha Airport during fiscal 2016. It marks the first time the total number of passengers exc...
Japan’s oldest human bones excavated on Ishigaki Island [News]
The Okinawa Buried Cultural Property Investigation Center announced Friday that human bones from the Old Stone Age were excavated from the Shiraho Saonetabaru Cave. The archaeologi...
Okinawan Daigo Higa wins flyweight World Champion title [Sports]
The World Boxing Council flyweight title match was held on the night of May 20 at Ariake Coliseum in Tokyo. In the fight, 21-year-old Daigo Higa from Okinawa faced 30-year-old Juan...
Correspondence school planned for Yonaguni [News]
Yonaguni Town and Cabinet Office are reportedly preparing for a plan to build a correspondence upper secondary school on the island. A demonstration experiment to conduct trial les...
Long waiting time at airport irks rental car users [News]
A survey on the congestion at Naha Airport conducted by Okinawa Prefecture in 2016, found that it takes up to two hours to rent a car after arriving at Naha Airport during the summ...
Two police resign after subject of disciplinary action [News]
The Okinawa Prefectural Police Inspection Division suspended a 33-year-old male police sergeant serving at Ginowan Police Station for six months from duty on May 18th as a discipli...
Car rentals by foreign tourists at highest rate ever [News]
A study by Okinawa Rent-a-car Association found that the number of car rentals by foreign tourists in 2016 was 207,970 that is a record high for the third consecutive year. By nati...
Man arrested after setting two police officers on fire [News]
Ishikawa Police arrested a 51-year-old man after he poured flammable liquid on two police officers, who went to arrest him on another charge, and set them on fire on Wednesday. One...
Rains fell big banyan tree at Futenma Shrine [News]
Torrential rains hit Okinawa main island from early morning Tuesday due to a seasonal rain front. According to the Okinawa Meteorological Observatory, 107.5 millimeters rain was re...
Disney mulling to build hotel in Ginowan [News]
Oriental Land, the company operating Tokyo Disneyland, has reportedly had discussions with Ginowan City officials about a plan to build a resort hotel on the returned land within s...
Assistant principal arrested for taking photos up woman’s skirt [News]
Uruma Police arrested Monday an assistan principal of a junior high school on suspicion of taking a photo up a woman’s skirt in a convenience store in Taba, Uruma City. According t...
Yusaku Miyazato wins PGA Championship in Kise [Sports]
Golfer Yusaku Miyazato came from behind on the last day of the 85th PGA Championship Nissin Noodles Cup at Kise Country Club in Nago to win the tournament, Sunday. This was his sec...
2,253 children on waiting list for nursery schools [News]
A study by Okinawa Child Care Support Division published on Monday, found 2,253 children in the prefecture were on waiting lists to get into publicly certified nursery schools as o...
Golden Kings’ season ends with two losses [Ryukyu Golden Kings]
The first season in the new Japanese top B. League professional basketball league for the Ryukyu Golden Kings ended last weekend in a pair of semifinal games against SeaHorse Mikaw...
4,943 foreign employees work in Okinawa Prefecture [News]
According to employment figures derived from the national census in 2015, the number of foreign employees in Okinawa increased by 50 percent compared to the previous census five ye...
Juveniles commit 27% of all criminal offenses [News]
According to Okinawa Prefectural Police Juvenile Division, 1,018 juveniles under the age of 29 were taken to a protective custody or given police “guidance” because of criminal off...