Well, It's Japan's southern most prefecture (province/state), only about a 1 hour plane flight to Taiwan, very cool if your into snorling or diving (especially this time of year), AND most of the locals LOVE to DRINK there (has the HIGHEST Drinking and Driving rate in Japan). NOTE: There are NO trains/train system there, unlike most of Japan it only has a SMALL monorail system in the Naha area, and that only opened about 2 or 3 years ago. Also, where many Japanese, Okinawans, and American GIs lost thier lives during the WW2 battle in 1945. This happened before the Americans dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August, 61 years ago. Long time has passed since. Not forgotten there. VN
Also it was under US control until 1971 when it was returned to Japan. There's still a large US military presence which has increasingly been resented especially since a rape incident of a young girl (by Marines) happened in the mid 90s. In turn, many Okinawans resent the Tokyo government for shouldering them with the burden of the American military presence. It also gets the least funding of all the prefectures in Japan. In short, they get shafted a lot. I'm glad Ganaha made it. Hopefully he can score a ton of goals on the NT. Yes, according to media reports, he is the first Okinawan on the NT.
Man, when you get things wrong, you REALLY get them wrong! Japan has has naturalised Brazilians on its team for almost as long as there has been a national team. Most of them were Nikkei Brazilians, but not all. Before Tulio and Alex there were Ruy Ramos and Wagner Lopez, both of whom played in the 1990s. Before that were players like Jorge Yonashiro, Jorge Kobayashi and Nelson Yoshimura, who all played for Japah in the 70s and early 80s. Im sure Ive missed a few others, too. But years before any of them were capped, an Okinawan -- Osamu Yamaji -- played for the NT in the 1950s (though I think he only had 2 or 3 caps). The only thing that is "ironic" is that people somehow think that the Japan NT history started ten years ago or so.
there's a saying that goes: 'anything can happen if you don't know what you're talking about' why okinawans says that they're different from japan? i mean, 'mister miyagi' said okinawa is different from japan in 'karate kid 1' hehe
Okinawa has a very different history and some differences in ethnic group as well. I guess most people in Japan view it as just part of Japan, but Okinawans consider that they have a slightly different character. Its like Hawaii. If you ask some native Hawaiians they will tell you that the US is just a "colonial ruler", and at least in their opinion, Hawaii is still not "really" the US. I dont think the Okinawan sense of separate identity is quite as strong as Hawaiian, but there definitely is a difference. Not only are names very different (like "Ganaha" or "Kabira", which are not typical Japanese names), but there is a difference in the ethnic characteristics. Look at Ganaha's picture for example. He looks much more like polynesian or southeast asian, rather than Japanese.
Okinawa have also had a separate historicial presence apart from Japan. Okinawan Kingdoms had diplomatic relationships with Korea, China and Japan throughout history. Do they still have their own language or is that lost?
They do retain and promote their own Ryukyuan languages today. Okinawan is spoken in the Okinawan island. The older generation speaks "Uchinah-guchi" (沖縄口). The younger generation speaks its modern variant known as "Uchinah-Yamato-guchi" (沖縄大和口). "Yamato" refers to the former Yamato Province = present-day Nara Prefecture of Kansai, and the Yamato monarchy originated there in the 3rd century, and Japan as a whole. Uchinah-Yamato-guchi is a mixture of tradional Uchinah-guchi, standard Japanese, and new words that have been created recently and are not heard outside Okinawa. They'd say "Haisai!" instead of "Konnichiwa!" when saying hello to you. Okinawan is closely linked to Japanese but sounds very different from all Japanese dialects from Hokkaido to Kyushu. Japaense -> Okinawan [o] -> [ki] -> [chi] [na] (unchanged) [awa] -> [a:] Thus, "Okinawa" turns into "Uchinah" in Okinawa! As opposed to Uchinah, young Okinawans sometimes call the rest of Japan "Naichi" (内地), as do people from Hokkaido. People from Naichi are called "Naichah"(ナイチャー). Contrary to popular belief, this has nothing to do with "-er" suffixes in English. It's just a coincidence. Okinawan culture is gaining influence in the mainland thanks to Okinawan pop singers, actors, and athletes.
Ryukyuans have been engaged in seaborne trade for long, so it's natural that they look like people in West Pacific islands. As for the Okinawan identity question, "independence seekers" are a small minority of the poplation, but many would favor greater autonomy. There's a controversy over how to decentralize budget and political power, and some people argue for reorganizing Japan into a number of semi-autonomous regions, instead of 47 preferctures which no longer fit the reality of local governance. Could Okinawa change into a semi-autonomous region by itself or together with Kyushu? The puplic opinion there seems to support that idea. And it's not just in Okinawa, but also in regions like Kansai, Hokkaido, and Kyushu that a growing number of people call for sociopolitical decentralization.
Hey while we're on the subject of dialects and accents... do you guys know that when Japanese people speak korean with a japanese accent it sounds kind of like the north korean dialect?
Okinawa really does have distinct culture from the rest of Japan. Okinawans are proud of things like Okinawan donut (i dont know whether that's traditional or not), their distinct style of music (which has a jolly tone, unlike most other asian music), Karate and Amuro Namie. i believe Okinawa was a seperate kingdom until 1800s. But what do i care. When i was in highschool, our team lost against Kadena (air force base in Okinawa) twice in the Far East tournament in, once in the final and once in the quarterfinals (i swear they didnt deserve that penalty). But my little brother took revenge and beat them in the Far East finals, ending their two season unbeaten streak. HAHAHA