Fantastic Okinawa

St. Patrick's Day

Niutu Umachii reaches to roots of Okinawan music The Rinken Band, one of

Okinawa’s most popularteams of musicians, isleading stage performanc-

es of more than a dozen artists atthe 3rd Niutu Umachii, called“ Meet the Root Music ofRyukyu”.

This weekend’ s NiutuUmachii takes place at the openspace on the first floor of KozaMusic Town in Okinawa City.The program begins at 5 p.m. andruns to 8 p.m. both Saturday andSunday. Admission is free. Theevent provides an opportunity foraudience members to join musi-cians on stage to perform popularOkinawan songs together.Participation from the crowd isavailable to those who can playguitar or shamisen as well as tothose who would like to sing anddance. Participants are required toapply in advance, in Japanese only.

Rinken Band, Sonda Eisaand the Okinawa City Associationof Performing Arts Organizationsperform both Saturday andSunday. Others on stageSaturday are Koichi Kamiya,Hajime Nakasone, AkaneMurayoshi, and Hikari. OnSunday, Shuken Maekawa per-forms, along with TatsuyaShimabukuro, Kozue Chinen,Awase-Chondara and Zakimi Bo.

The Niutu Umachii comes onthe heels of Rinken Band’s travelto Paris in December for a two-dayconcert. The performance washeld to promote the annual NiutuUmachii event, which is producedby Rinken Band leader RinkenTeruya. The Rinken Band, formedin 1977, was a hit with Parisianswho were thrilled with the spiritedsounds of Eisa drums. TomokoUehara, one of Okinawa’s bestknown vocalists, showed off herpowerful and soothing voice, lead-ing to an encore.

Ryukyu music has its rootsin the islands, pulling together thepower of nature and spirituality ofancestors. The shamanic world is

still alive here, and there are ritu-als of agriculture and fishing, inwhich people pray for fertility andpeace that give their lives the

rhythm of Hare and Ke, theunusual and the usual. They’rethe keys to gaining tranquility anda well-grounded life on the island.

The Ryukyu interpretation ofmusic brings Ni-Utu, the rootmusic, together to sing songs ofjoy, reunion and togetherness.

Chuo Park Avenue goes green for St. Patrick’s DayThe 9th Saint Patrick’s Day 2015 and

the 14th Kanaderu Park street musicprogram take center stage Sundayas Okinawa tests the mystic power

of the Green, and the luck of the Irish.St. Patrick’s Day, the largest event in

Ireland, will be celebrated at Chuo ParkAvenue in Okinawa City, from 2:30 p.m. onSunday, as everyone puts on Irish nationalcolor green and will march on Chuo ParkAvenue, Sunday afternoon. At the sametime, the 14th Kanaderu Park street musicprogram will take place as a co-event at thethree points around the site. Performers fromprofessionals to local students will entertain.

The expected parade participants are‘what’s up Akemi dance school’, Hula andbelly dance group, Philippines bamboo

dance and Mexican dance group. Theparade kicks off at 3 p.m. following open-ing ceremonies, running about an hour,while the festival activities are in progressuntil 8 p.m. Admission is free.

The Kanaderu Park programs begin at4 p.m., following the parade.

Eisa syncs with green very well. Folklorico de Mexico participates.

Niutu Umachii event goes right to the roots of Okinawan music at the free musical extravaganza at Koza Music Town Saturday and Sunday.

Mar. 12, 2015 - Mar. 18, 2015 www.japanupdate.com

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Entertainment hub HAPINAHA opens today in Naha

HAPINAHA is celebrating its grand opening todayin downtown Naha City on Kokusai Street, creat-ing a large amusement center in what was oncethe Mitsukoshi department store.

HAPINAHA comes from ‘Happy + Naha’, and bringsto Okinawa an entertainment facility with a 7-days-a-weekcomedy stage, as well as a large scale haunted housestretching from the 4th to the 6th floors. Created byYoshimoto Kogyo Co., Ltd., the oldest and largest enter-tainment management agency in Japan, will bring comedi-ans to perform from the mainland.

Grand opening ceremonies are at 10 a.m. today, withthe first entertainment stages at 2 p.m. Doors open at 1:30p.m. for the program, while a second show sees doors open-ing at 4:30 p.m. for a 5 p.m. program. Advance general seat-ing tickets are ¥2,000. Tickets at the door are ¥2,500.Tickets are available at FamilyMart e-plus Y-code 999-130,or by phone at 0570-550-100.

The building was formerly occupied by departmentstore Mitsukoshi. On the 1st floor of HAPINAHA is a

snack and gourmet zone. A large selection of snacks andlocal selected goodies like Awamori, as well as specialtiesfrom remote islands on Okinawa, will be showcasedtogether. The official store of now world popular anime‘Pokemon’ will come to Okinawa for the first time.

There are a various sundries’ stores and JapaneseBBQ restaurant on the second floor. An Okinawa-borncosmetics store of popular anime characters of SailorMoon and the Rose of Versailles, unique Japanese station-ary goods shop and traditional Japanese style sundriesstore will be in line on the floor. Other than that, peoplecan get goods of popular characters in and out of Japan.

First floor hours, as well as the sundries store on thesecond floor, are 10 a.m. ~ 10 p.m. The Japanese BBQrestaurant Ocean Grill on the second floor operates 11 a.m.~ 11 p.m. Comedy show stages on the 3rd floor operatefrom 2 p.m., 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays, and 1 p.m., 3p.m. and 5 p.m. on Saturdays, Sundays and Japanese holi-days. The haunted house on the 4th ~ 6th floors is open11 a.m. ~ 9:55 p.m.

Okinawa's first Pokemon store will open on the firstfloor of the HAPINAHA building.

The two top floors will house the largest permanent haunted houseon Okinawa. No children under elementary school age allowed.

The 3rd floor Comedy Theater will have three shows aday, seven days a week.

HAPINAHA occupies the former Okinawa MitsukoshiBuilding on Kokusai Street in Naha.