Updated 6/16/15

Source of image: tidana.ti-da.net

(A message from Minami Tamamoto, president of the World Association of Youth Uchinanchu. The emphasis in this announcement is the 3rd youth festival, but it also mentions the 6th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival.)

Haitai, from Okinawa, I am Minami Tamamoto, president of the World Association of Youth Uchinanchu.¹

At the International Conference that took place in the 5th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival, we announced that we will organize the Youth Uchinanchu Festival every year until the 6th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival, 2016.² [“The Uchinanchu Taikai is a rare opportunity developed to allow Uchinanchu from all over the world (the Uchinanchu Diaspora) to return to the islands to reconnect with their heritage and culture and to redevelop linkages to their motherland.”³]

In July 2012, we held the 1st Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu Festival in Sao Paulo, Brazil. In July 2013, the 2nd Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu Festival in L.A, USA. Approximately 85 youth uchinanchus from 8 different countries participated, and this festival was successful in regards to strengthening and reinforcing the Uchinanchu network.

We are extremely grateful and thankful from the bottom of our hearts for all the help and support we received, especially to the co-organizer, Okinawa Association of America, Inc. (Los Angels Wakamono Taikai Support Committee) and WYUA USA Wakamono Taikai Planning Committee. We couldn’t have organized it without their support.

We are also pleased to announce that we have decided to host the 3rd Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu Festival in Dusseldorf, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.　We have already started preparing for the festival and would like to count on your support. If you can spread the word and inform your youth members and other youth groups about this Festival, there is no limit to our potential of becoming a unified Uchinanchu network all across the globe.

The attached documents contain an outline of the 3nd Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu Festival Germany 2014, a poster. Please check if all the files are there.

For more information, please check our website

• The 3rd Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu Festival　Germany 2014
  URL: http://yuao.org/the-3rd-in-germany/conference-program/　（English）
  URL: http://yuao.org/wyuf_europe_2014/detail-2/　（Japanese）
• The 1st Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu Festival Brazil 2012
• Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2_ynuaxSUY&feature=share
• The 2nd Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu Festival USA 2013; HP: http://wyuausa.wordpress.com/; Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/WYUAUSA

In addition, we are planning to hold the Worldwide Youth Uchinanchu festival 2015 in Philippines and 2016 in Okinawa. In 2016, we are absolutely certain that both the 6th Worldwide Uchinanchu Festival⁴ and Youth Uchinanchu Festival will be a joint-event beyond imagination. We kindly ask for your ongoing support.

Again, thank you very much for your cooperation!

Sincerely yours,
Minami Tamamoto

__________
¹ From l’Association des ressortissants Okinawaiens en France, 6/17/14.
² Also see Funoki.
³ From Okinawa Peace Network of Los Angeles.
⁴ Dates of previous Worldwide Uchinanchu Festivals: 1st, 23-26 Aug. 1990; 2nd, 16-19 Nov. 1995; 3rd, 1-4 Nov. 2001; 4th, 11-16 Oct. 2006, 5th 12-16 Oct. 2011. Some of these dates include the parade, which precedes the opening day.