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Okinawa Expressway Renewal Work Starts J… [CURRENT ISSUE LIFE Living]
NEXCO, the company operating the Okinawa Expressway announces that Expressway renewal works start from January 6th to April 28th in 2026 bet...Read More
Itoman Tug-of-War marks end of summer [CULTURE CURRENT ISSUE ENTERTAINMENT]
Many Okinawan farmers and fishermen, in some form or fashion, pay tribute to the Gods, seeking their blessing and favor for a great harvest ...Read More
Awamori "Ku-su" Day [CURRENT ISSUE LIFE]
September 4th is the “Ku-su Day”, with September = ‘9’ which is pronounced ‘kyu’ or ‘ku’ in Japanese, and ‘4’ being pronounced ‘...Read More
Foreign visitors spent average ¥107,302 while in Okinawa [Business]
A survey by Okinawa Prefecture Department of Culture, Tourism and Sports published on May 31st, indicates that foreign visitors spend an average ¥107,302 per person during their st...
Okinawa Police arrest four on narcotics charges [News]
Okinawa Prefectural Police Organized Crime Control Division arrested four persons on May 31st, including two civilian employees of U.S. military, on suspicion of violating the stim...
LDP open to SOFA changes [News]
In the aftermath of the recent murder of a 20-year-old girl by a former U.S. Marine, calls from Okinawa are getting stronger for a complete overhaul of the Status of Forces Agreeme...
Helicopter emergency medical service to re-locate to Urasoe [News]
Urasoe Sogo Hospital in Urasoe City announced May 30th that the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) base the hospital operates is moving to Minatogawa from its current loca...
Ishigaki aims at designation as International Dark Sky Reserve [News]
Ishigaki City aims to be designated as the first location in Japan with the World’s International Dark Sky Reserve Program of the International Dark Sky Association (IDA) in Arizon...
Teenage girl badly injured after crashing on moped [News]
An Urasoe City Police patrol car spotted a moped-type bike with a driver without a helmet early Sunday morning in the Takushi district of Urasoe, and started to give a chase. As so...
Itoman Public Market is ready for for renovation [Business]
Itoman City is planning for a renovation of the Itoman Public Market that is a well-known and very popular place among the community. The market has currently 27 tenant stores sell...
“Be-Okinawa-Free-Wi-Fi” service to start in July [Business]
Okinawa Prefecture has asked all major telecommunications companies to provide a centralized service of free Wi-Fi that would enable all smartphone owners to access a free Wi-Fi se...
Okinawan weightlifter Yoichi Itokazu earns ticket to Rio [Sports]
The Japan Weightlifting Association announced May 28th that Yoichi Itokazu from Okinawa was selected to compete in men’s 62-kg division in the Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games in Augus...
Sailor pleads guilty of rape of tourist in March [News]
A U.S. Navy Sailor pleaded guilty to raping a Japanese woman on a visit to Okinawa in a Naha hotel after he found her asleep in the hallway and took her to his hotel room in March,...
Scholars, peace activists call for closing bases on Okinawa [Politics]
About 80 scholars, peace activists and others in the United States have sent a letter to the U.S. government, calling for closing American military bases on Okinawa and withdrawing...
Okinawa Assembly election campaigns started Friday [Politics]
The election campaign of candidates for the 12th Okinawa Prefecture Assembly officially started on May 27th when the term of the last assembly expired. 71 hopefuls from 13 electora...
Okinawan businesses’ expansion to overseas markets sluggish [Business]
Kaiho Research Institute, Ltd. reported May 25th that of 328 companies with regular transactions outside Okinawa, only 53 (16.2%) have expanded their business overseas, led by the ...
2017 new graduates face bright employment prospects [News]
Kyujin Okinawa Co., Ltd., the operator of a job recruitment website, Joonavi, reported on May 26th that according to responses to a survey among 62 companies that had placed job of...
Okinawa service members, civilians begin period of unity, mourning [Military]
MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP BUTLER, Okinawa – The Okinawa area coordinator and Commanding General III Marine Expeditionary Force, Lt. Gen. Lawrence D. Nicholson announced the star...
Multilingual Contact Center answered to 7,211 inquiries in 2015 [News]
Okinawa Convention & Visitors Bureau (OCVB), the operator of the Multilingual Contact Center that provides information for inbound tourists from overseas in English, Chinese, a...
Shopping center, six businesses in Okinawa earn awards [Business]
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan named the Plaza House Shopping Center in Okinawa City for the top 30 Shopping Malls and Tenants National Award on May 25th. The...
Golden Kings to face Alvark Tokyo in B. League opening game [Ryukyu Golden Kings]
The Japanese pro-basketball is opening a new era his fall when the new B’ League takes off in September. The Ryukyu Golden Kings will face Toyota Alvark Tokyo in the opening games ...
Vanilla Air launches Naha – Taipei flights from Sep. 14 [Business]
Vanilla Air Inc., an LLC based in Narita, Chiba Prefecture, will launch flights connecting Naha and Taipei in Taiwan, on Sep 14, 2016. This is the first international route for Van...
Fraudsters con two elderly women in Nago [News]
Two cases of a tax scam targeting elderly women occurred successively in Nago on May 18 and 20. According to Nago Police, in both cases the victims first received letters purported...
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