Masako Ganaha (Japanese: 我那覇（がなは）真（まさ）子（こ）; born August 10, 1989) is a Japanese freelance journalist and JSDF…Masako Ganaha (Japanese: 我那覇（がなは）真（まさ）子（こ）; born August 10, 1989) is a Japanese freelance journalist and JSDF reservist. She is a representative operating committee member of the Citizens' and People's Association for Correcting the Ryukyu Shimpo and the Okinawa Times (琉球新報、沖縄タイムスを正す県民・国民の会). She is also an external advisor for the Sanseitō party.
Shun Medoruma (目取真 俊, Medoruma Shun; born 10 October 1960) is a Japanese writer, who, along with Tatsuhiro Oshiro, Tami…Shun Medoruma (目取真 俊, Medoruma Shun; born 10 October 1960) is a Japanese writer, who, along with Tatsuhiro Oshiro, Tami Sakiyama, and Eiki Matayoshi, is one of the most important contemporary writers from Okinawa, Japan. Early in his career he won the 11th Ryukyu Shimpō Short Story Prize in 1983 for "Taiwan Woman: Record of a Fish Shoal" ("Gyogunki"), translated by Shi-Lin Loh in Islands of Protest: Japanese Literature from Okinawa, and the New Okinawan Literature Prize in 1986 for "Walking the Street Named Peace Boulevard" ("Heiwa doori to nazukerareta machi o aruite"). He was awarded the 27th Kyushu Arts Festival Literary Prize and the 117th Akutagawa Prize in 1997 for his short story "A Drop of Water" ("Suiteki"). (Also translated as "Droplets" by Michael Molasky, appearing in the collection of translated stories and poems from Japanese into English titled Southern Exposure: Modern Japanese literature from Okinawa.) In 2000, his short story "Mabuigumi" ("Spirit Stuffing," 1998) won the prestigious Kawabata Yasunari and Kiyama Shōhei literary prizes. Medoruma also wrote the screenplay for the film Fūon: The Crying Wind, which received the Montreal Film Festival Innovation Prize in 2004, and published a novel based on the screenplay the same year. His critically acclaimed novel In the Woods of Memory (眼の奥の森, Me no oku no mori; translated by Kasumi Sminkey) is the first full-length novel by an Okinawan writer to be translated and published in English.
Shoukichi Kina (喜納昌吉, Kina Shōkichi; born June 10, 1948 in Koza, Okinawa), is a Japanese rock musician and politician.…Shoukichi Kina (喜納昌吉, Kina Shōkichi; born June 10, 1948 in Koza, Okinawa), is a Japanese rock musician and politician. He, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Okinawan home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 1970s and 1980s. His first big hit was "Haisai Ojisan" ("Hey, old man") in 1972, which he wrote when he was in high school. A Song from the 1980 album Blood Lines, "Hana" also named "Subete no Hito no Kokoro ni Hana o", is frequently heard in international markets. He was elected a member of the House of Councillors in July 2004. In 2010 he ran for a second term but lost.
Mitsuo Matayoshi (又吉 光雄, Matayoshi Mitsuo; February 5, 1944 – July 20, 2018), also known as Jesus Matayoshi (又吉 イエス…Mitsuo Matayoshi (又吉 光雄, Matayoshi Mitsuo; February 5, 1944 – July 20, 2018), also known as Jesus Matayoshi (又吉 イエス, Matayoshi Iesu) or The Only God Matayoshi Jesus Christ (唯一神又吉光雄・イエス・キリスト, Yui'itsu-shin Matayoshi Mitsuo Iesu Kirisuto), was a Japanese political activist and perennial candidate. He was the leader and founder of the World Economic Community Party (Sekai Keizai Kyōdōtai-tō (世界経済共同体党)). He was born in Ginowan, Okinawa on February 5, 1944. After graduating from Chuo University in Tokyo in 1968, he moved back to Okinawa and ran a juku, a private school. Matayoshi was trained as a Protestant preacher, and through his religious studies developed a particular concept of Christianity strongly influenced by eschatology. In 1997, he established the World Economic Community Party, a political party based on his conviction that he was God. His concept was both religious and political, a mix of Christian eschatology like Augustine's De civitate Dei ("City of God") and conservative collectivism. He died from kidney cancer on 20 July 2018 in Tokyo, aged 74.
Kyuichi Tokuda (徳田 球一, Tokuda Kyūichi; September 12, 1894 – October 14, 1953) was a Japanese politician and first…Kyuichi Tokuda (徳田 球一, Tokuda Kyūichi; September 12, 1894 – October 14, 1953) was a Japanese politician and first chairman of the Japanese Communist Party from 1945 until his death in 1953.
