Fantastic Okinawa

Kariyushi shirt to Prime Minister

Sueyoshi Park is Okinawa's best place to observe firefliesBy Tony Nakamoto

When I was a child,fireflies were every-where. I chased afterblinking yellow

lights in the evenings trying tocatch one, but I rarely made itsince I was too small, but itremains one of my good memo-ries of Okinawa's early summers.

Now, Okinawa has devel-oped so much that I rarely seefireflies in my neighborhood any-more, but there is one place wherewe can still observe swarms offireflies. That's Sueyoshi Park inNaha City.

Sueyoshi Park is located inthe northeastern part of the city.Even though it's just a mile awayfrom Okinawa's most urbanizedarea of Shintoshin, Sueyoshi Parkis a natural oasis and habitat forvarious kinds of small animalsand insects. Early this month,avoiding the onset of the rainyseason, I set up a firefly observa-tion tour with my friends. Justafter sunset, we parked our carson the east side of the park andventured into the park with asmall flashlight on one hand andholding my child's hand on theother.

It’s not a well-known factthat there are 50 kinds of firefliesin Japan, and half of them live onOkinawa due to the natural diver-sity of the islands. In SueyoshiPark, you can mainly observeOkinawa Suji Botaru andKuroiwa Botaru. You can alsofind Okinawa Mado Botaru in itslarvae stage.

I already knew TakimibashiBridge located about 200 metersinside the park is the best place toobserve, but as soon as we gotonto the park's trails, our kidsfound three fireflies flying just infront of them, then two more, andthree more. During the walk onthe trail, we saw fireflies basicallyeverywhere.

When we got to Takimibashi,which is about 15 meters long, weheard the sound of the river thatflows under the bridge. It's theAja River and this is the placethat the fireflies actually inhabit.Until then, I had only seen threeor four fireflies emitting theirlight at one time. When one seesdozens of fireflies blinking at onetime, it's like a Milky Way withina reachable distance.

One of participants, an ele-mentary school boy, HinataShimabukuro was excited andsaid, "This is my first time to seefireflies. They are small but sobeautiful." As the sky got darker,fireflies gradually stopped blink-ing, and we finished enjoying thehour-long nature’s illuminationshow.

According to Mori-no-ie MinMin, a Naha City nature educa-

tion facility, located in the park,the best time to watch fireflies isfrom 7:30 p.m. ~ 8 p.m.. In addi-tion, they recommend thatobservers refrain from usinginsect repellant, and wear a longsleeved shirt and avoid using aflashlight too much because it candisturb fireflies from emittingtheir light to attract their mate.

In order to go to SueyoshiPark, travel down Route 330

toward Naha and take a left ontoRoute 82. Go up on the 82 alongthe monorail line about a mile andtake a left again towards Route241. You can see a police box onyour left. Go into the parking loton the right side of the police box.Parking is allowed until 9 p.m..There is some information on MinMin's Facebook page in Japaneseat https://www.facebook.com/3in3in.

Japan’s Prime Minister was a bit sur-prised at a gift from Okinawa’s gover-nor this week, given animosity overthe base realignment issue, but he

accepted it in the spirit of friendship andtourism promotion.

Governor Takeshi Onaga presentedPrime Minister Shinzo Abe a Kariyushisummer shirt designed and made inOkinawa during a meeting in Abe’s office.The governor asked Abe to wear the pinklong-sleeved shirt, telling him it would pro-mote tourism in Okinawa. Abe promisedthat he would, going further by adding hewould have all his ministers wear the

Kariyushi shirts at a cabinet meeting nextweek as part of the Cool Biz campaign.The Cool Biz campaign encourages officeworkers to curb air conditioner use anddress more casually to reduce emergencyconsumption.

“The cabinet ministers will buy theirown Kariyushi shirts,” Abe promised,drawing a chuckle from Onaga and othersat the Tokyo meeting. The light heartedmoment came during a time when Onagaand Abe are at odds over the future ofFutenma Marine Corps Air Station inGinowan and its relocation to Henoko,which is opposed by Onaga. However, the

subject never even was raised during themeeting. Onaga said after the meeting thathe believes it possible to drop politics for atleast a single day each year.

On the other hand, Nago MayorSusumu Inamine, raised the issue again dur-ing his meeting with Gen Nakatani, theJapanese Defense Minister, in Tokyo. Hetold Nakatani that a resolution opposing theplan for creating the new base at Henokowas approved by attendees at a mass rallyearlier this month at Cellular Stadium inNaha City. He explained he hopes the cen-tral government will understand and acceptthe desires of the Okinawan people.

Nakatani repeated the official governmentstance, again noting the only way to removedangers at Futenma is by relocating the basenow located in densely populated GinowanCity, to the planned site in Henoko.

Onaga gives Kariyushi shirt to Prime Minister Abe

Okinawa is home to some 25 species of fireflies that are most visible at the beginning of summer season.

May. 28, 2015 - Jun. 03, 2015

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2Japan Update Classifieds May. 28, 2015 - Jun. 03, 2015

Upcoming typhoon season may be more intense

By Bill Charles

After a couple deadly typhoon sea-sons, weather forecasters arebracing for an even more activetime ahead.

The weather prognosticators across thePacific are concerned that the Asia-Pacificregion has already recorded seventyphoons this year, even before the officialstart of the season. Of those, three havebeen violent Super Typhoons. The tradi-tional typhoon season begins Monday andruns through November 30th, althoughMother Nature is known for ignoringhuman defined periods.

U.S. Military and JapanMeteorological Agency forecasters arekeeping a wary eye on the charts as theyanticipate a more active six months than

experienced during the past couple of sea-sons. The 2013 Pacific typhoon seasonwas the most active Pacific typhoon seasonsince 1994, as well as the deadliest since1975. The season began with the formationof Severe Tropical Storm Sonamu onJanuary 1st; however, most of the first sev-enteen named storms before mid-September were relatively weak, as onlytwo of them reached typhoon strength.Typhoon Soulik in July was the strongesttropical cyclone to affect Taiwan in 2013.In August, Typhoon Utor cost US$2.6 bil-lion damage and killed 97 people, becom-ing the second deadliest tropical cyclone ofthe Philippines in 2013. Three systems inAugust, Pewa, Unala and 03C, continuous-ly crossed the International Date Line fromthe Central Pacific and entered this basin.

The first two-thirds of the season were

very weak, with only two typhoons form-ing despite the average amount of namedstorms forming. However, the seasonbecame dramatically active from mid-September. The last fourteen named stormsformed within approximately two months,yet only three of them were below thetyphoon strength.

Initially, Typhoon Man-yi made land-fall over Japan. Typhoon Usagi made land-fall over Guangdong, China and costUS$4.6 billion in the country, which wasthe third strongest storm of the basin in2013. Later, Typhoon Wutip made landfallover Vietnam. In early October, TyphoonFitow made landfall over Fujian, China andcaused over US$10 billion damage, becom-ing the costliest tropical cyclone in 2013.Typhoon Danas affected Japan and SouthKorea, but without significant damage.

Typhoon Nari brought significantdamage over the Philippines and eventuallymade landfall over Vietnam, and TyphoonWipha killed 41 people in Japan. TyphoonFrancisco and Typhoon Lekima did notdirectly affect any country, but they were

both violent typhoons, especially the latterone becoming the second strongest of thisbasin in 2013. Typhoon Krosa crossed thenorthern Luzon on October 31st and inten-sified further, although it dissipated in theSouth China Sea. In early November,Tropical Depression Wilma formed overthe Caroline Islands, moved out of thebasin, and ultimately arrived in the ArabianSea in mid-November.

At the same time in early November,Typhoon Haiyan initially affected Palausignificantly. The typhoon later becameone of the most intense tropical cycloneson record and immediately made landfallover the Philippines. After arriving at theSouth China Sea, Haiyan made landfallover Vietnam and also impact Guangxi andHainan provinces of China. TyphoonHaiyan, also known as Typhoon Yolanda,caused 6,300 fatalities and over US$2 bil-lion damage in the Philippines, becomingthe deadliest and costliest typhoon in themodern Philippine history.

By any name, typhoons are somethingto be reckoned with.

Typhoon Sanba in 2012 shows its power at Kitamae seawall.

Although seldom breaking anythingmajor on Okinawa, typhoons regularlyleave a mess to clean afterwards.

As typhoons often bring a tidal surge withthem, it's best to stay clear from the shore-lines lest one gets sucked into the ocean.

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