Introduction: Nice to meet you, my name is Lucia Nakasone. I am from Argentina. Right...
Lucia Michaela Nakasone
2019 Exchange Student Sponsored by the Prefecture
In the future, I would like to spread Okinawan culture through cooking.
Career history I attended Urasoe Elementary School, Urasoe Junior High School, and the...
KATSUKI MATAYOSHI
Chunichi Dragons: pitcher, uniform number 16
Born in Okinawa
Okinawa Prefectural Nishihara High School—International Pacific University—Shikoku Island League Plus Kagawa—Chunichi Dragons
A right-handed side-armer with a powerful fastball and a sharp slider. Last season was Matayoshi’s fifth year, which ended with an unsatisfying ERA (earned run average) of 6 points; he ended up pitching in only 40 games, the lowest in his career. This season, he demonstrated his stable pitching and a promise of his full potential.
Your everyday action could lead to your two, three years later or could relate to your future course, so it is necessary to build an environment that you can continue daily. It is easy to quit, so I don’t want young players to limit their own potentials to barricade them from growing.
Career history I was born in Itoman and graduated from a junior high school there, the...
Payke, Inc., CFO Yoshihiro Higa
28 years old from Okinawa Prefecture. Higa graduated from University of the Ryukyus, Faculty of Law and Letters Department of Economics. After graduating, he joined the Bank of Okinawa, Ltd., mainly engaging in financing operations. He resigned from his job at the bank and established Payke, Inc. As an undergraduate, he won the “Ryukyu Startup Challenge Business Contest”. In November 2014, he co-founded Payke, and became in charge of finance due to his financial background.
Payke, Inc.
https://payke.co.jp/
An Okinawa-based venture company that developed the smartphone shopping app Payke for foreign travelers.
・NICT Entrepreneurs' Challenge: Minister of Internal Affairs and Communications Prize
・Toyo Keizai: selected as “Best Venture 100”
and many other awards.
I want people to have big goals not only within Okinawa but also to Japan and to the world. I’m hoping for people who are impertinent enough to say “We don’t want to aim such a small company like Payke”, because it is challenging. Those people will definitely stimulate us, so I want them to be bold and arrogant, trying out various things.
Tell us about your history I first heard about Okinawa when I was around 14 or 15 year...
Miguel Da Luz
Miguel Da Luz is a publicist at the Okinawa Karate Information Center, and is involved in the production of “Okinawa Karate Garden”.
He first visited Okinawa from France to practice karate, and moved to Okinawa in 1993.
In 2005, he began publishing Okinawa Karate News—a monthly publication of information on karate. At the same time, he has continued to promote dojos that take in foreign karate practitioners. Currently, Da Luz is expending his achievement by being in charge of public relations at the Okinawa Karate Information Center in Okinawa Karate Kaikan, established March 2018.
Uchinanchu are perseverant. Karate is a physical discipline. It is important to discipline to improve one’s self. Even looking at the history of Okinawa, it is visible that Okinawa has overcome so many difficult circumstances. This is also considered as mental discipline. Isn’t it similar to karate practitioners cultivating perseverance? I believe Okinawa became the birthplace of karate because of this temperament.
Tell us about your career historyI was born in Tokyo, in 1959. My parents are both fro...
MAKOTO KINJO
President of ANZCO Foods Japan LTD.
Born in 1959, Tokyo. His parents are from Okinawa prefecture and lived in Okinawa in his youth. After graduating from New Zealand's University of Canterbury, he started working at a New Zealand food maker company.
He was assigned as a marketing manager of the Asia region. Later, in 2000, he joined ANZCO Foods LTD.
In 2003, he became the president of ANZCO Foods Japan office.
First of all, I believe that Uchinanchus have the spirit of exploration in their DNA; there is no need to be afraid, just take on whatever challenges that come to you. Secondly, when I attended the school in Yokohama, the chairman used to tell me many times, “be a person who moves the land, even if by one centimeter.”
What made you come to Japan?“Shima-Uta” by THE BOOM was covered by an Argentinian sing...
CLAUDIA OSHIRO
A female singer and songwriter born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She has participated in many singing competitions held by Argentinian Japanese community and has won many times. In 2001, Argentinian singer Alfred Casero made a cover record of "Shima-Uta" by THE BOOM in Japanese, where she joined as a chorus member. In 2003, she moved her music career to Japan and traveled across Europe and Latin America as member of Kazufumi Miyazawa’s solo band. In 2006, she also joined GANGA ZUMBA, a multinational band lead by Miyazawa. In 2007, she released her first album “Claudia”. In December 2014, she announced the release of her best album, “C”.
Okinawa’s old sayings and customs still live on in Argentina, so I feel that Uchinanchus living in Argentina and those living in Okinawa are not so different. That’s why when I first arrived, I knew that I came to Okinawa but it wasn’t so far from how I imagined it; I felt “Okinawa” also existed in Argentina as well.
How did you first come across Okinawa? My first encounter was through Okinawan folk s...
KAZUFUMI MIYAZAWA
Born in 1966 in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture. He made his debut as the vocalist of THE BOOM in 1989. He continues to interact with Uchinanchus of Brazil as well as other parts of the world. The band’s hit song "Shima Uta" has been covered in Argentina as well as by other musicians around the world.
To pass down Okinawan minyo to the next generation, he spent four years from 2012 to make a 17-disc CD box sext titled "Utakata" that includes 245 songs from all over Okinawa. It was presented to boards and other educational institutions within Okinawa prefecture, libraries, and Okinawa kenjinkais within Japan and abroad.
I believe it is Okinawan tradition to create songs that symbolizes each era of its history, and that is the foundation of Okinawan minyo and performing arts. I think it is very wonderful to portray the perspectives of ordinary people, and turning bitterness and sadness into music and entertainment.
Career history I currently work as an astronomer, and the reason I wanted to become o...
YUKO KAKAZU
A Japanese female astronomer with a specialty in galaxy formation and evolution. She is a Public Outreach Specialist for the Subaru Telescope at the NAOJ Hawaii Observatory. Born in Okinawa, Japan. Her participation in a NASA-sponsored space camp inspired her to pursue her career in space. She has held research positions at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics in France in 2008, the California Institute of Technology in 2010, University of Chicago in 2011, and at her current position since September 2013.
After realizing that Okinawa and astronomy had a very deep connection, I fell more in love with Okinawa and I felt that I was able to learn about my own identity through astronomy.
What made you come to Okinawa? I got a plane ticket to Japan in 1985 as the winning...
ALBERTO SHIROMA（アルベルト城間）
The kind of music I'm aiming for is shimauta (Okinawan folk music). I would be overjoyed if one day Uchinanchu categorized our music as shimauta.
