The 5th Uchinanchu Festival
The 5th Uchinanchu Festival will be held in Okinawa in the Fall of 2011, next year. This event is a getting-together of world-wide Kenjinkais in our homeland that takes place once every 5 years. In the first festival in 1990 about 2,000 Uchinanchus/members gathered in Okinawa. The last one (4th) in 2006 had about 5,000 people. The event lasts five consecutive days. There are numerous sub-events and parties. You just have to be there to experience it yourself. Seeing is Believing ! I’ve been thinking about the one-mile parade, the stage show and other events that our association can participate in. If I am allowed to organize it again I [...]
Read More →Happy New Year ! Toast to the Year of the Tiger!
Happy New Year ! Toast to the Year of the Tiger! Feliz año del Tigre ! Best wishes for health and happiness in the year of the Tiger. Thank you so much for your great support for the last year. Your ongoing support and participation is appreciated ! —————————————————- Schedule: March 28 (Sunday): Get-Together at JAA (the add. below in red) April 18 (Sunday): Annual Spring Party at American Legion Post 116: Address: 1165 River Road, Edgewater, NJ 07020 (A little over one mile from Mitsuwa Market on the same side) Shuttle Bus will leave for the party at 11 a.m. Be at front of JAA Bldg. Address: 15 W. 44th [...]
Read More →Okinawa Children Programs
(A) Junior Study Tour (JST): The Junior Study Tour aims to contribute to the further development of various Kenjinkai communities around the world and foster the next generation of human resources that will lead the Uchinanchu Network, by inviting youths from Oversea Kenjinkais to Okinawa to deepen ties with their native lands through taking part with Okinawan students in various learning experiences about Okinawa’s history, culture, nature and so on. Eligibility requirements – Applicants must: 1. Be a kenkeijin youth 2. Not have participated in a previous Junior Study Tour. 3. Be a Junior/Senior High school student between the ages of 13 and 18. 4. Have relatives in Okinawa and [...]
Read More →Dancing among the pros
Who would have ever thought that me, a New York born and raised sansei, would one day dance at the Kokuritsu Gekijo (National Theater) in Okinawa among the pros. The days, and weeks, before the “event” was a peaking and building up of nervousness, tension, anxiety and excitement. I bought a portable DVD player so that Julie and I could watch, study and learn Teiko’s dance on the plane going to Japan, on the bus, in the car, in our hotel room etc. I kept thinking it’s only 4 minutes – why can’t I get it. The first time that all seven of us met and practiced together was the [...]
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