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Northern California Okinawa Kenjin-Kai

北カリフォルニア沖縄県人会

Videos

We strive to move other people’s hearts with our culture as we are moved by other’s cultures.

NHK World - Okinawa

UNTOLD STORIES OF THE BATTLE OF OKINAWA: Women and Teens on the Frontline

The final stages of World War II... The islands of Okinawa turned into a theater of war the United States military called "hell." The Battle of Okinawa claimed the lives of at least 120,000 islanders. Women and girls were forced in as army cooks or nurses, boys in their mid-teens molded into soldiers... and sent to the frontline. As most records were lost, families are still wondering how their loved ones were mobilized... and what became of them. But recently discovered documents reveal their unknown stories.

Okinawa: Whispers of the Ryukyu Kingdom

Across the Ryukyu Islands, you can find elevated sites surrounded by stone walls. The walls protected gusuku or castles built between the 14th and the 15th centuries. Unlike the castles in mainland Japan that emerged in the Sengoku period (15th to 16th centuries), gusuku were also sacred places of community rituals and festivals. Photographer Alfie Goodrich feels the history of Okinawa through exploring these precious ruins.

Okinawan Groups

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