Keep your dates open! March 22-24 2019 is the next LooChoo Identity Summit. We will be returning to the University of HawaiÊ»i Windward Campus, Hale Ä€koakoa.  The theme for this summit is “Washiraran, Mai Poina”, “Never Forget”, as we look at the importance to look at the past as we go into the future.  Stories […]
Author: Eric
Ukwanshin Website and blog under construction
Haisai Gusūyo, Please excuse our website and blog as we are reworking our website after very busy schedules, and will be updating pages and postings.  We will continue to post events and announcements on our blog as we work on our website.  Stay connected for more on culture, language, entertainment and news. Yutasarugutu Unigēsabira.
JÅ«guya, Chichinagami Shinubu
Ukwanshin Workshop/Performance in Los Angeles
Last May Ukwanshin Kabudan visited the Los Angeles Okinawa community for a workshop and performance focusing on connecting back to cultural roots and history. Â Although we were all the way in Southern California, it felt like home with the warm hospitality of the community and great home cooked food. The Los Angeles Okinawa community is […]
Shiimi: A Time To Reconnect and Remember Our Roots
The season of Shiimi begins on April 5th this year. Â Usually lasting from a week or two, families gather at gravesites or tombs to pay respects to the ancestors by offering food, incense, and burning paper money. Â For many in Okinawa, it takes up almost the whole day, and looks like a family picnic at […]
Kohala Okinawa Club Celebrates Shinenenkai and Relief After Tsunami All Clear
It was an eventful day, beginning with stress, worry and unsettling anticipation as all hawai`i awaited the arrival of the predicted Tsunami which was created from the 9.0 earthquake in Chile. Â Almost everyone in Hawai`i was alerted and shaken from sleep at 6am, with sirens that was the first real alert of the pending danger […]
Could This Be the Future of Okinawans?
Ancient Tribe Goes Extinct as Last Member Dies Updated: 21 hours 38 minutes ago  AOLnews.com/world Print Text Size E-mail More David KnowlesWriter (Feb. 5) – Marking the end of a language and an entire people, the last member of the Bo, an ancient tribe that lived in the Andaman Islands, has died. When Boa Sr, […]
Happy New Year 2010!
Haisai Gusuyoo! Happy New Year and may you have a healthy and prosperous 2010! Although we don’t actually welcome in the year of the Tiger till February 14th, many of us have , or are celebrating the start of a new decade. What will it have in store for us? Looking back at this past […]
Ryukyu Classical Music: The Voice of Our Ancestors and Our Identity
“Yanajiwa miduri, Hana wa kurinayi, fwitu wa tada nasaki, nmi wa niwui” Such simple words form the classical song “Yanaji”, but as many “ufu bushi”, classical music pieces, this Ryukyu poem expresses deep meaning that is so simple to understand if we look at the symbols it envokes. Â In these words, we can basically find […]
Donate and Get Gifts For The Holidays
Happy Holidays! We have 2 offers for those of you who would like to get something for your donation to Ukwanshin. The first is Poinsettia plants that will be available December 5&6th at Kamemoto Nursery in Manoa, or we can deliver too. Each plant is in a 6-8″ pot and stands about 2ft tall with […]