It was scheduled to take place on August 28 to 29 so many of us were happy to see the festival back on-track but on July 21 the organizers have decided to cancel it due to the pandemic. It’s sad to see it canceled again but it’s for everyone’s safety as the organizers felt that it would be difficult to take preventative measures. https://www.zentoeisa.com/news/21-151500.html
In the meantime, the film “Eisa Don Don” is still available for VOD on YouTube until August 31.
34M subs to his YouTube channel. 200M views since its release on June 3, 2021. Featured in a Ryukyu Shimpo article. “Yonaguni” (YouTube link) by Puerto Rican artist Bad Bunny may have nothing to with Yonaguni other than the song title, but damn, those are crazy numbers. Sadly, according to the Shimpo article, although the song has garnered millions of views, it hasn’t brought any attention to the island. Even sadder is that online searches for Yonaguni (the island) will likely result in returning top results of a song that has nothing to do with it.
Ahead of her upcoming new album release next month, Kamiya Chihiro surprised fans with a digital single for “Eisa-Medley”. The single is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and Amazon Music!
Announced on the group’s Twitter, Chuning Candy (Chunican) member Yuuri will have her solo debut with a new single (the photo above is the artwork). The new song will have its debut on their radio show Chunapa on July 22nd.
Saitama Seibu Lions pitcher Taira Kaima broke a 15-year-old Nippon Pro Baseball (NPB) record with his 39th straight shutout appearance. The 21-year-old right-handed pitcher is from Ishigaki and has also be selected to be on the Japan Olympics baseball team.
Singer-songwriter Fukuda Yasuyuki will be rereleasing his 1st single “Sennen Hanabi” on August 10. The song is a beautiful ballad featuring his sanshin and acoustic guitar playing and the rerelease will have 4 tracks (the initial 2020 release featured the song only).
The Hawaii United Okinawa Association’s (HUOA) popular Okinawan Festival will sadly be virtual again this year but we’re still excited for it. They also have a t-shirt design contest going on that ends July 19th (check out their website for more details). Looks like for this year they’ll even be doing smaller in-person events and we loved the Okinawan FEASTival from last year so it’s great that they’re continuing it. This year it will take place on September 4th and 5th so be sure to subscribe to their YouTube channel to catch the virtual festivities.
We learned a lot in 2020 as we created our first ever Virtual Okinawan Festival. This year, we will continue our virtual format for the continued safety of our community. HUOA will continue to strive to bring you the best our culture has to offer with all the entertainment, singing, dancing, interviews and fun videos from the comfort of your own home. We will also be celebrating Okinawan FEASTival and encourage you to pre-order food from your favorite Okinawan-owned restaurant.
In an effort to elevate the experience, we will also have a number of drive-through food orders and small in-person events. Be sure to check with your HUOA club and this website for more details.
https://www.okinawanfestival.com
They also have a presale for this year’s festival merchandise at https://shophuoa.com. Presale ends July 24th so don’t miss out!
(h/t JTB USA Honolulu)
BEGIN is participating in YouTube’s #YouTubeMusicWeekend and will be streaming their 25th anniversary concert “Sugar Cane Cable NETWORK TOUR 2015-2016 Ryōgoku Kokugikan” on July 17th 13:30 (Okinawa time). The band has been releasing a lot of YouTube content with special video clips for Uta no Hi and looks like they wasted no time in continuing this new tradition. It’s a free concert so be sure to set your reminder!
This. Is. Interesting. Set for an August 25th release date, “HONEY meets ISLAND CAFE presents HY Ocean Blue Sound -The Surf Remixes-“, will feature 7 summer tracks from HY. The remix album is a collaboration with the popular women’s beach lifestyle magazine HONEY. We’re interested to see how this turns out.
On July 7th Kiroro’s Tamashiro Chiharu released a new single and music video for her song “Inochi no Ki”. The song (translated to “Tree of Life” is about a sakura tree at the Yomitan junior high school that Chiharu attended and the MV features students from the school. The single is currently available in various streaming services.
