Okinawa: Just The FAQs


Okinawa's Prefectural Song.:

Poem by: Seiko Miyasato
Composed by: Shigeru Shiroma

The day breaks over the clean ocean
Clouds are cleared over the peaceful islands
Dawn bell sounds throughout the world
We now face the glorious morning
Gone are the days of trials
Oh! We solemnly swear
We swear eternal peace on Okinawa

The Black Current runs around the islands
Green mountains and rivers glowing
We, the fellow citizens are stirred up
To build a new, independent and prosperous Okinawa
Now, let us build eternal peace
On our home islands

The skies are filled with lights
Stain the Deigo flowers with brilliant color
The folk culture inherited for generations
Now brilliantly shines over our home islands
Let us create our own culture
For future Okinawa.

Okinawa Quick Facts:

Some Quick Facts about Okinawa as supplied by the Okinawa Prefecture Government.

Capital: Naha City.

Population: As of September 1,1999

  • Total 1,309,163
  • Men: 642,652
  • Women: 666,511

    Location: You'll find an arc of islands on a map of Asia that stretches from the southern tip of Kyushu (Southern Japan) to Taiwan . All these islands, Okinawa islands, Miyako islands, Yaeyama islands, Daito islands, and Senkaku islands make up the Okinawa Prefecture. The Okinawa Prefecture lays in a subtropical oceanic climate zone, extending from the north latitude 24°02' to 27°51'N.

    Number of Islands: Okinawa is part of the Ryukyu island chain. In Uchina Guchi, Ryukyu means "rope" and the chains of islands resembles a stretched out rope. The Okinawa prefecture consists of the main island Okinawa and fifty seven smaller islands. Among these islands 41 are inhabited islands and 16 are uninhabited islands according to the Okinawa Promotion Act.

    Land Mass: The the land area of Okinawa is about 2,267.48km2.

    Temperature/Rainfall:

  • Annual average temperature 22.9°c
  • Annual highest temperature 33.5°c
  • Annual lowest temperature 9.5°c
  • The annual rainfall 1,797.4mm.

    The Okinawan Flag:

    Description of the flag

    White O letter in red disc on white field. O is the prefecture initial letter. The inner small red disc stands for progress of Okinawa and outer red circle for sea surrounding Okinawa. Adopted 1972-10-13.

    Symbolism of The Flag

    The symbol on the Okinawan flag of today brought out a great deal of discussion and even threats of law suits while it was being formulated.The initial colors used blue as the outer disk. As such, if placed on its side, disks towards the hoist, it would have been identical with the the Mon used by the most prominent Okinawan martial arts organization. This quite possibly reflects that that organization was really the only native organization which received equal status with organizations throughout Japan.

    From 1879 until 1945, the Japanese had strived to squelch the Okinawan culture, and to impose their own. This was especially true through education, where children would be severely punished if they used the Okinawan language in school, even among themselves. The colors were changed to Red on White on Red, but the significance to the Okinawans remains clear, if they are to be a part of Japan, then they are equal to any other prefecture in the nation.

    E-mail comments Here! . Last modified on 7 April 2002.