Henoko

Hagoromo Festival attracts with pomp and legend

Hagoromo Festival inGinowan is one of thelargest summer festivalson Okinawa regularly

attracting more than 100,000 visi-tors during its two days over theweekend, this year Aug. 8th (Sat)

and 9th (Sun). The festival venueis the Ginowan Seaside Park nextto Okinawa Convention Centerand adjacent streets.

Although typhoon Soudelorshould be well past Okinawa bythe weekend, festival organizers

say that in case of inclementweather the festival will be post-poned to next weekend, Aug. 15thand 16th.

On the first day, the festivalopening ceremony is held at 3:30p.m. followed by Children’s Eisa

at 4:15. A parade honoring thelife and achievements of KingSatto takes place on Kankai Gateand Convention Streets in front ofthe Seaside Park starting 5:15p.m. with hundreds of peopledressed in ancient Ryukyu attires.

The parade includes King Sattoand the famous Hagoromo angel,accompanied by hatagashiragroups and Ginowan JuniorChamber of Commerce Eisadancers. The theme of the parade

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The fight between the central gov-ernment and Okinawa Prefecturalgovernment over the landfill prepa-ration work for the Furenma

replacement facility off Henoko was obvi-

ously getting a bit too hot to everyone’sliking, so the central government in Tokyohas decided to suspend the seabed drillingsurvey in the area for a month startingMonday.

Chief Cabinet Secretary YoshihideSuga announced Tuesday the suspension ofthe work in order to help ease the strainedrelations with the prefectural governmentand give both sides time to hold intensivenegotiations.

At the same time, Suga was quick tomake perfectly clear that the suspension doesnot mean anything with the governmentplans has changed. “The suspension of theproject does not represent a change of thegovernment policy, but is intended to give ustime to fully explain our thinking toOkinawan authorities,” Suga stressed. Headded that the government side is also will-

ing to hear the opinions of the Okinawa side.Okinawa Governor Takeshi Onaga

was quick to respond announcing the sameday that his government would not takemeasures to block the landfill project dur-ing the one-month period, meaning he willnot cancel the landfill approval for now, ashe was prepared to do.

During a news conference in Tokyo,Suga said he would visit Okinawa inAugust to exchange opinions with Onaga.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is also sched-uled to meet Onaga Friday to again explainhis government’s position on the base relo-cation plan.

As an extra goodwill gesture, Sugasaid that the central government wouldmake arrangements with the U.S. militaryto allow the prefectural government offi-cials to make environmental inspections

within the restricted area off Henoko.On his part, Onaga wows to stick to

his guns. “I will make it clear again duringthe upcoming discussions why it’s impossi-ble to relocate the Futenma functions toHenoko.” He added that he is sure he andthe central government can forge a mutualunderstanding on the matter. “I will spareno effort to achieve that,” Onaga said.

Henoko seabed survey put on hold for one month

Kachashi dance contest starting 5 p.m. is the highlight of Sunday’s activities at the festival. The water gun contest takes place Sunday afternoon.

Festival crowds waiting for fireworks to begin.

Camp Schwab

Aug. 06, 2015 - Aug. 12, 2015

¥150 Fantastic OkinawaLocal News

ClassifiedsOkinawan Culture

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Fantastic Okinawa

2Japan Update Classifieds Aug. 06, 2015 - Aug. 12, 2015

By Jun Ikemura

Almost everyone knows Koza andGoya districts outside Kadena AirBase Gate 2, mostly for theirnumerous entertainment venues,

but Okinawa City is very big and has plen-ty of other areas to enjoy shopping andentertainment.

Although foreign residents and visitorsfrequent most of the other areas inOkinawa City much less yet they haveplenty to offer as most local residents couldconfirm. One of those areas is Awase andits surrounding areas on the east coast ofthe city.

After the war, the U.S. Military tookover Awase. It was returned to Okinawa inmid 60's and has been gradually developedfrom mostly swampland into a new town.The main thoroughfare in the area is calledthe Awase Bay Street that runs fromKitanakagusuku through Awase to UrumaCity, and continues passing the Gushikawa

district of Uruma City to the KatsurenCastle ruins and White Beach. There’s alsoa new road linking the Awase Bay Streetdirectly to Kaichu Road that connects theOkinawan east coast islands of Miyagi,Ikei and Hamahiga with Katsuren peninsu-la on the main island of Okinawa.

Driving from Kitanakagusuku towardsAwase, there is the Okinawa Comprehen-sive Athletic Park on both sides of theAwase Bay Street. It’s the largest parkfacility on Okinawa, with six different ath-letic facilities, a cycling road, joggingpaths, a pond where one can rent a boat topaddle around, camping area, observatory,leisure pools or much more.

Further along the Awase Bay Street,there are several large shopping centers,including AEON Gushikawa, NitoriFurniture, Sports DEPO, Yamada Denkihome electronics store, Shimamura clothesstore and a Birthday apparel specialtyshop, Yellow Hat Auto parts shop, MangaSouko recycling shop, Direx DIY shop,

fishing tackle shops, and everybody’sfavorite, a mega discount shop DonQuijote!

The latter also houses the 50’s Caféthat specializes in the real American taste100% beef hamburgers. Their super juicyhamburgers truly deserve to be recom-mended!

Sam’s-by-the Sea restaurant by theAwase Fishing Port is an Okinawan leg-end, and eateries of every imaginable vari-ety are everywhere.

All children will enjoy two large parkswith plenty of play equipment, calledKuroshio Park and Manta Park, which arelocated near Sam’s and across from AwaseFishing Port respectively.

Finally, before heading back home,one should not forget to get some fresh fishat Payao, a restaurant/fresh fish marketwithin Awase Fishing Port. Besides freshfish from the sea, the market has a fishrestaurant that is packed every day withtourists and locals enjoying seafood meals.The premises may look a little rugged, butthe food is absolutely delicious. They also

sell ready-made sushi and seafood tempurato go!

Awase area is well worth to take yourfamily to explore and have some fun. It’sguaranteed to attract you back for more,and will become one of your nicest memo-ries from Okinawa!!

Awase is modern, great for shopping and playing

Awase Comprehensive Athletic Park has plenty to do to keep the whole family enter-tained all day long, including a pond with rental paddle boats.

Discount store Don Quijote is located atthe northern end of the Awase area.

Payao fish market at Awase Fishing Port has a daily supply of fresh fish and an in-house fish restaurant that is extremely popular among locals and visitors alike.

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