18 February 2022

Japan Foundation Asia Center, Ryukyu Art Embassy and Japan Creative Centre (JCC) proudly present a livestream event entitled “Life on Yonaguni Island ~ Song, Dance, and Handicraft ~”, in cooperation with Yonaha Mingu, Okinawa Industry Promotion Public Corporation Singapore Representative office and Yonaguni Choritsu Higawa Elementary School. Learn more about life on Yonaguni Island, the westernmost island in Japan, through talk, song and dance, and Kuba (Chinese fan palm) handicraft demonstrations.

The session will be led by Mr and Mrs Yonahas, Kuba craftsmen and artists, who live on Yonaguni Island. They make items, such as hats, fans, and brooms, from the Kuba, and actively share the wonderfulness of Kuba, as well as life on Yonaguni Island, through demonstrations and workshops. In addition to participation in the ritual entertainment of Yonaguni Island, which is designated an important intangible cultural asset of Japan, they are actively engaged in show business with live performances and the CD releases.

Livestream Event

About Yonaguni Island

The border island is 509 km from the main island of Okinawa and located in the westernmost part of Japan in the main stream of the Kuroshio. The island is about 111 km away from neighboring Taiwan, the mountains of which can be seen from the island several times a year.

The distance from Singapore to Yonaguni Island is about 3,292 km. Yonaguni is a small island 12 km from east to west and 4 km from north to south with steep cliffs and surrounded by the blue ocean. Sugarcane farming and billfish fishing thrive on the island. A lot of tourists have visited the island in recent years since it was chosen as the filming location for a drama.

About the Performers

Yonaha Yuu is a Kuba craftsman and musician. Born on Yonaguni Island, he has participated in island festivals since he was a child and learned classical music and folk songs through the Local Entertainment Course of Haebaru High School (on the main island of Okinawa). After coming back to Yonaguni Island, he mastered the folk songs and traditional songs of Yonaguni. He is actively engaged in participation in events on the island, live performances in Okinawa and other prefectures, and CD releases. Furthermore, he makes folk tools from the Kuba collected on the island, and disseminates Yonaguni culture by holding workshops in various places and writing columns for newspapers.

Yonaha Keiko is a Kuba craftswoman and Ryukyu dancer, who graduated from Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts. She has appeared on a tour in African nations with the alumni association of Ryukyuan Performing Arts Major at Okinawa Prefectural University of Arts, which was hosted by the Japan Foundation in commemoration of the Japan-Africa Exchange Year in 2008. She, together with Yonaha Yuu, is engaged in making Kuba crafts, playing music, teaching Ryukyu dances, and managing the Yonaguni horse ranch. In the Remote Islands Fair 2021, she won the special award in Excellent Specialty Products with her craft kit called Un, which allows anyone to easily make a fan from Kuba leaves.

About the Video Director

BACHIRANUN, Higashimori Aika’s graduation work at the Department of Film Production at Kyoto University of the Arts in 2020, won the President Award at the Exhibition of Graduation Works of Kyoto University of the Arts and the Grand Prize at the PFF Award 2021, which is an award acknowledging the discovery of excellent new film directors.

She was in charge of the director, lead cast, cinematographer, screenplay, direction, Yonaguni dialect instructor, and art for this movie. It is planned for release in movie theaters across Japan this spring. She is active in a wide range of roles as an actress, director, and columnist.