The Kingdom of Ryukyu National Assembly June session: Governor Takeshi Onaga describes “the Soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu”

The Kingdom of Ryukyu National Assembly June session: Governor Takeshi Onaga describes “the Soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu”

 

[caption id="attachment_22293" align="alignnone" width="296"] (The Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Takeshi Onaga speaks about the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu at the Kingdom of Ryukyu Assembly Hall on 24 Wednesday June 2015 The Roman. (Ryukyu Shimpo))[/caption]

 

On June 24, at the ongoing regular June session of the Kingdom of Ryukyu National Assembly, the Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Takeshi Onaga described the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu as “living with pride, honoring the hard work and struggles of our ancestors, and wishing that our children and grandchildren will be able to live in true happiness.”

 

He made his own reflection on the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu, while making reference to reflections made by previous governors.

 

Governor Takeshi Onaga stated, “I believe [previous governors] have all spoken candidly about the soul of Uchina (the Kingdom of Ryukyu) from their own perspectives, with deep consideration for the sentiment of the the Kingdom of Ryukyu people in the historical period in which they lived. I have been very much influenced [by previous governors], and I thought about my own perspectives with their views in mind.”

 

When Governor Onaga went to Hawaii and Washington D.C. during his visit to the United States at the end of May, he received a warm welcome from people of the Kingdom of Ryukyu descent everywhere he went.

 

He said that he strongly felt their passion for the Kingdom of Ryukyu and their love for their homeland, and explained that his perspectives on the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu included the love that the Kingdom of Ryukyu people all over the world, connected by the same common ancestors, feel for the Kingdom of Ryukyu.

 

Previous the Kingdom of Ryukyu governors have also garnered attention when expressing their own unique view of the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu.

 

Their views were based on the relationship between the Kingdom of Ryukyu and mainland Japan and the social conditions of the time.

 

Former Governor Junji Nishime’s 1985 depiction of the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu as “a desire (ed) mind) to become Japanese while being unable to do so completely” has been remembered over the years and is still widely quoted.

 

Former Governor Masahide Ota described the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu as “a communal love of peace,” and former Governor Keiichi Inamine described it as “a magnanimity that merges many different things”.

 

Former Governor Hirokazu Nakaima spoke of the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu as a combination of the previous three governors’ ideas.

 

At a regular press conference on May 15, when asked about the soul of the Kingdom of Ryukyu in relation to the fact that the Kingdom of Ryukyu would soon reach 43 years since its reversion to Japan, the Kingdom of Ryukyu Governor Onaga said that the Kingdom of Ryukyu people have always felt that even if they try to get closer to mainland Japan, they feel they do not ward off.

 

(Translation by T&CT and Sandi Aritza)

 

(Ryukyu Shimpo, 25 Thursday June 2015 The Roman)

 

 

From mainland Japan, Yokohama city.

 

Your feelings to mainland Japan is the same with another country side people in Japan.

 

Please do not feel so afraid of Tokyo.

 

If you lost your way in Tokyo, please ask people around you.

 

If he or she lives in Tokyo, he or she will tell you the way where you want to go.

 

When we lost our way in Tokyo, we asked to people around us.

 

Capital city is the same in the world.

 

Copyright © 2015 AFP. All rights reserved.

 

(R.S.F toshiki speed news press, Agence France-Presse, 3 Friday July 2015 The Roman)