Sunday’s Okinawa Marathon is a wide open event, as more than 11,000 runners toe the Okinawa City starting line for the kick off of the 26.2-mile event…. The Okinawa Marathon begins at Awase, then carries runners through Takahara, near Koza, to Yonashiro Town, north to Kawata and then Agena Intersection, and on to the midway point near Camp McTureous. The race continues to the northernmost checkpoint at Enobi, then turns southwest through Kariyushien, Chibana and Ikentou before moving onto Kadena Air Base, then out through Chatan town. The final 10 kilometers travel through Yamauchi, alongside Camp Foster and into the home stretch to Comprehensive Athletic Park finish line. Sunday’s Okinawa Marathon issues challenges, Japan Update 2/12/15.

On January 20, three Miss Okinawa 2015, Ayami Machida (Miss Sky Blue), Riyo Kisyaba (Miss Cobalt Blue), Azusa Ahagon (Miss Clean Green Gracious) visited the Ryukyu Shimpo Office. A visit from Miss Okinawa queens, Ryukyu Shimpo, 1/20/15. Also see Three winners of Miss Okinawa 2015, Ryukyu Shimpo, 11/3/14.

Urasoe Sogo Hospital, one of the major emergency hospitals in Okinawa, has become the first hospital in the prefecture to employ a translation system to help communication between doctors, hospital staff and foreign patients. The translation system, provided by NEC, utilizes a tablet computer that is connected 24-hours a day, seven days a week to professional translators in an NEC-operated center in Tokyo that will provide translations in real time…. The NEC translation center … has a staff of 150…. The service covers five languages, English, Chinese, Korean, Spanish and Portuguese. Urasoe hospital installs real-time foreign language service, Japan Update 2/13/15. 

Matsuro and Tsuruko Nakasone Endowment Fund. The purpose of the Fund is to provide students, preferably graduate students, with the opportunity to travel outside of Hawai’i to engage in study or research in Okinawa-related subjects. These students should have an academic focus or interest in Okinawan studies and have demonstrated a commitment to learning about or acquiring a deeper understanding of Okinawa, its people, culture and history. Application period is from November 1- February 1. Deadline is February 1 and selection will be made within a month of the deadline. Center for Okinawan Studies, University of Hawai‘i at Manoa.

The Japan Foundation Prizes for Global Citizenship is an award that honors individuals and organizations working on international cultural exchange activities based in regions nationwide. The AmerAsian School in Okinawa has received the award this time. This is the second time Okinawan organizations have become recipients of the award since Ryukyukoku Matsuri Daiko in 1999. AmerAsian School in Okinawa receives the Japan Foundation Prizes for Global Citizenship, Ryukyu Shimpo, 2/4/15.

In his keynote lecture, Zhou Kunmin, the chairman of the International Southern Shaolin Ngo Cho Kun Fraternal Association, said, “Ryuykuan martial arts such as Suidii, Tumai-dii, and Naafa-dii are surprisingly similar to Quanzhou Southern Shaolin Kun.” He explained that the originators of traditional Okinawan styles of karate Gojuryu and Uechiryu studied martial arts that descended from Southern Shaolin Kun…. Masayuki Dana … said there is a description of karate in the documents such as the Notes of Oshima, An Account of A journey to Satsuma, and Southern Island Chitchat…. “Ryukyuan martial artists learned kata from Chinese envoys Sapposhi. They created the original karate kata from the modern to contemporary period.” Symposium on Karate and Chinese Martial Arts held in Urasoe, Ryukyu Shimpo, 2/1/15.