Congratulations to Miss Universe 2006’s runner-up CHIBANA Kurara who was chosen by Vogue Nippon as one (14 total) of their Women of the Year. Check out their website for a video clip of the beautiful winner.
Archive for the 'News' Category
Kurara Chibana: Winner of Vogue Nippon’s WotY 2006
Published by December 3rd, 2006 in News. 0 CommentsZampa Ufujishi Daiko promotes peace with their taiko
Published by September 16th, 2006 in Music, News, Performing Arts and Concerts. 0 CommentsThis one comes via Myron (Internet-Okinawa.com’s resident photographer) about two sisters—Ayano and Chisato Arakaki—who with their Yomitan-based taiko group, Zampa Ufujishi Daiko (残波大獅子太鼓), are promoting a message of peace through their music. The following is from a Kyodo News story:
For two Okinawan women, drumming is the ultimate form of expression and a symbol of the dialogue they believe is essential to achieve world peace.
Chisato and Ayano Arakaki, both in their 30s, came to this realization in the course of composing music for a new production titled “War and Peace.”
The sisters are key members of the Zampa Ufujishi Daiko, a troupe of professional taiko drummers from the village of Yomitan in Okinawa Prefecture, where U.S. forces landed in April 1945 at the onset of the bloodiest battle in the Pacific during World War II.
This summer, the eight-member ensemble is busy rehearsing a new show to commemorate its 20th anniversary, working in collaboration with Tamiya Kuriyama, artistic director for the drama division at the New National Theatre in Tokyo.
The show, to be performed in October at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall in Tokyo and the Hyogo Performing Arts Center in Hyogo Prefecture, will bring a broad spectrum of vibrant rhythms that channel the sisters’ interpretations of Okinawa’s history. [Read the rest of the Kyodo News article over here.]
Info on the group’s October 6th performance at the Bunkamura Orchard Hall can be found here and info for the Hyogo Performing Arts Center on October 22nd is here.
Hawaii’s newspaper coverage of this year’s Okinawan Festival
Published by September 5th, 2006 in News, Community and Performing Arts. 0 CommentsLoren Moreno (HonoluluAdvertiser.com): “New generations taste Okinawan culture”
Betty Shimabukuro (StarBulletin.com): “Sharing aloha”
View a larger image of the pic above over here—shot by Honolulu Advertiser’s Joaquin Siopack. (Plug: It’s of the minyou group I’m in called Nidaime Teishin Kai Hawaii Shibu. ;))
Received this message in my inbox this morning and comes via the HUOA’s Bonnie Miyashiro (thanks!):
We just received this message from the 4th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival (Taikai) Executive Offices to publicize an event of the festival entitled, “Project Esperanza” for any former overseas student, researcher or other persons interested in this event. Please click on the website at the end of their message for more information.
お世話になっております。
第４回世界のウチナーンチュ大会HPのアドレスは下記のとおりですが、
その中のプロジェクトエスペランサを現在申込受付中です。帰国留学生や研
修員等からの応募を是非お待ちしております。それ以外にどなたでも申込み
できますので呼びかけの方よろしくお願いいたします。
Here’s the English link to ‘Project Esperanza’ (the word is Spanish for “hope”).
For those of you who use aggregators (I’m currently using endo as my default and I’m still running NNW from time to time too), The Ryukyu Shimpo has a feed up on their site. Unfortunately, the Okinawa Times has no RSS feed but if you want to roll your own you can try this out. It looks like both sites have dropped their support for English readers (which wasn’t updated all that much if that’s any consolation) so it’ll be a good chance to test out the Yahoo! Babel Fish site. 
