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Showing posts from August, 2016

【Eisah Festival 】Ancestor's commemoration

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On a Moon calendar of mid August. Okinawa commemorate the ancestors with drumming and traditional dance. So many lives were killed in a battle of Okinawa. One out of four population on the island bacame soil of this island. But also afer the war, under the U.S. military occupation, there were countless victims. On 1972, after the returning to Japan, there are still discrimination  by Japanese main landers, because they want to keep U.S. military bases not in a main land but father south in Okinaa. What solidarity means on this world of today? I know there is nNative Americans, Australian Aborigines Hawaian and Chamoro people, South Americans, Koreans, Taiwanese, Indians, East Timor, Burmese, Arabian people, Kurdish, Africans etc... I mean everywhere,there is a struggle to prorect life and right. Here in Okinawa, we always face to police and construction company's workers, both of us don't want this situation. Both of us don't really want Military helipads in a Yambal

Yambaru forest is slowly being killed.

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It has been a month since the construction started. Now, Okinawa Defense Bureau is making a road to helipads construction sites. According the order from U.S. military high officer to complete all helipads as soon as possible, Japanese government is in a hurry. One remarkable news is that Okinawa Defense Bureau is planning to use Japanese Defense Force's helicopter CH47. Finally, Japanese goverment started to use their own weaponized force to make U.S. military base. Takae is not well known like Henoko. Therefore, numbers of people in Takae is not as many as Henoko. A big point to stop the construction is to gather many people. When there are a couple hundreds people gathered in Takae ODB and Japanese riot police don't send trucks. I ask each one of you to have more interest about Okinawa.

Jeju Island, South Korea, Naval Base on the island of great nature

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I visited Jeju island on this summer. It's been a year since I visited Gangeong village last time. I was very shocked and depressed of seeing that complete of Naval base. Those walls used be divided a village and a naval base has been taken away.  Now, you can see the naval base from a village, its massive presense of concreat is weird. It doesn't fit in a old beautiful village. I can't imagine that how much suffering for the villagers. First 4 pictures are about [hundreds bows] in front of naval base. Every morning at 7 a.m. People start to bow toward naval base for an hundred times. Soldiers are walking by. Pictures of mountain is Mt. Hallasan. A most sacred and highest mountain in Jeju island. I could see a naval base from Hallasan. What would Hallasan think about this Naval base that what I thought when I see it from the mountain. However, people in gangeong think that make this village as the place where is spreading peace.