Okinawa
smallest of the five main islands of Japan / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Okinawa is the name for the biggest island in the Ryūkyū Islands, far south of Japan. It is also the common name for Okinawa Prefecture, which controls the Southern Ryūkyū Islands.[1]
The capital of Okinawa is Naha. Naha is on the island with the most people, Okinawa island. Okinawa used to be called Great Lew Chew Island.
Okinawa is home to the Okinawan people, who also inhabit the minor islands surrounding Okinawa as well. There are also many Japanese in Okinawa.
Many of Okinawa's islands are scenic, and there are many beaches there.
The temperature in Okinawa is often warm or hot. Many animals make their home around the Okinawa islands. For example, sea turtles, jellyfish, and many kinds of birds all live around Okinawa.
An average person in Okinawa lives to be older than 100 years old. Some people think that is because Okinawan food is healthy. Fish is very popular, but people also eat sea vegetables and pork. Okinawans are known as easygoing people, almost everyone loves to sing and dance. Okinawa's music is popular all over Japan. A musical instrument called a sanshin is often used. They celebrate their musical instrument every year on March 4th by singing folk songs together. Okinawans when compared with Japanese are peaceful people. They placed sanshin on their tokonoma while on Japanese mainland tend to display samurai.
Okinawan food is famous for its originality. Examples of local specialties are Okinawa Soba, Go-ya Champuru, Rafute, and Ji-mami-doufu.
Okinawa was the site of the last big battle of World War II, the Battle of Okinawa. A lot of Okinawan people died during the battle. Now, the United States has some military bases for soldiers on the different islands of Okinawa. There are some symbols of this battle in Okinawa. The Himeyuri Monument is the most famous symbol.