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Chinen, Okinawa
was a village located in Shimajiri District, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. As of 2003, the village had an estimated population of 5,947 and a density of 602.53 persons per km2. The total area was 9.87 km2. On January 1, 2006, Chinen, along with the town of Sashiki, and the villages of Ōzato and Tamagusuku (all from Shimajiri District), was merged to create the city of Nanjō. History According to the ''Chūzan Seikan'' (1650), the creation goddess, Amamikyu, built Chinen Castle soon after forming the Ryukyu Islands. Chinen was important for later lords and kings because of its many holy sites, most notably Sefa-utaki. The village of Chinen (pronounced shi-nen) was appropriated by the United States in 1948 for the purpose of building a secret Central Intelligence Agency operated logistics base, under US Army cover, known as Camp Chinen. Camp Chinen was closed after it was exposed in The Pentagon Papers. The Pentagon Papers revealed a 1961 memo from General Edward Lansdale t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Okinawan Language
The Okinawan language (, , , ) or Central Okinawan, is a Northern Ryukyuan languages, Ryukyuan language spoken primarily in the southern half of the Okinawa Island, island of Okinawa, as well as in the surrounding islands of Kerama Islands, Kerama, Kumejima, Okinawa, Kumejima, Tonaki, Okinawa, Tonaki, Aguni, Okinawa, Aguni and a number of smaller peripheral islands. Central Okinawan distinguishes itself from the speech of Northern Okinawa, which is classified independently as the Kunigami language. Both languages are listed by UNESCO as Atlas of the World's Languages in Danger, endangered. Though Okinawan encompasses a number of local dialects, the Shuri, Okinawa, Shuri–Naha variant is generally recognized as the ''de facto'' standard, as it had been used as the official language of the Ryukyu Kingdom since the reign of King Shō Shin (1477–1526). Moreover, as the former capital of Shuri was built around the royal palace, the language used by the royal court became the regio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Amamikyu
Amamichuu, or , is the creation goddess of the Ryukyu Islands in the Ryukyuan religion. Name Amamikyu's name comes from the reading of the Chinese characters 阿摩美久 or 阿摩彌姑, which were most likely written ad hoc for the Okinawan pronunciation. Readings can vary widely from Amamikyu, Amamikyo, Amamikiyo, Amamiko, Amamiku, Amamigu, Amamichuu, and Amanchuu. "Amamikyu" was used by George H. Kerr in his ''Ryukyu: Kingdom and Province Before 1945'' in 1953. Creation myth The beginning of ''Chūzan Seikan'' details the creation of the Ryukyu Islands. The Heavenly Emperor (天帝), who lived in the Heavenly Gusuku (天城), looked down on the world and saw that there were no islands, so he ordered Amamikyu (阿摩美久) to create the Ryukyu Islands. She asked for materials to build the islands, so the Heavenly Emperor sent Shinerikyu to bring her grasses, trees, and stones. She descended to Earth on Kudaka Island, and then made landfall on Okinawa Island on the spot of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paramilitary
A paramilitary is an organization whose structure, tactics, training, subculture, and (often) function are similar to those of a professional military, but is not part of a country's official or legitimate armed forces. Paramilitary units carry out duties that a country's military or police forces are unable or unwilling to handle. Other organizations may be considered paramilitaries by structure alone, despite being unarmed or lacking a combat role. Overview Though a paramilitary is, by definition, not a military, it is usually equivalent to a light infantry force in terms of strength, firepower, and organizational structure. Paramilitaries use "military" equipment (such as long guns and armored personnel carriers; usually military surplus resources), skills (such as battlefield medicine and bomb disposal), and tactics (such as urban warfare and close-quarters combat) that are compatible with their purpose, often combining them with skills from other relevant fields such a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Site
In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with a crime and have no legal recourse, with no bail or court order." Egypt Black sites are used extensively by the Egyptian security services. During the Egyptian Crisis (2011–2014) hundreds of protesters alleged that torture occurred at these black sites. The Egyptian security service also operated black sites involved with the CIA’s counter-terror black site program. Russia In Chechnya, gay men have alleged been tortured at black sites by Chechen security forces. Gay men in other parts of Russia have been kidnapped and transported to sites in Chechnya, where over 100 have been tortured, and some killed. Chechen authorities have thwarted attempts by the Russian LGBT Network to help gay people in Chechnya escape to safe locations i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxwell Taylor
Maxwell Davenport Taylor (August 26, 1901 – April 19, 1987) was a senior United States Army officer and diplomat of the mid-20th century. He served with distinction in World War II, most notably as commander of the 101st Airborne Division, nicknamed "The Screaming Eagles." After the war, he served as the fifth chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, having been appointed by President John F. Kennedy. He is the father of biographer and historian John Maxwell Taylor and of military historian and author Thomas Happer Taylor. A controversial figure, Taylor, was considered, along with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, to have played a major role during the early days of the Vietnam War in the decision to deploy US combat troops to Vietnam and to escalate the conflict more generally. Early life and career Born in Keytesville, Missouri, and raised in Kansas City, Taylor graduated from Northeast High School and attended Kansas City Polytechnic Institute. In 1918, he passed co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edward Lansdale
Edward Geary Lansdale (February 6, 1908 – February 23, 1987) was a United States Air Force officer until retiring in 1963 as a major general before continuing his work with the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Lansdale was a pioneer in clandestine operations and psychological warfare. In the early 1950s, Lansdale played a significant role in suppressing the Huk insurgency in the Philippines. In 1954, he moved to Saigon and started the Saigon Military Mission, a covert intelligence operation which was created to sow dissension in North Vietnam. Lansdale believed the United States could win guerrilla wars by studying the enemy's psychology, an approach that won the approval of the presidential administrations of both Kennedy and Johnson. Early life Lansdale was born in Detroit, Michigan, on February 6, 1908, and later raised in Los Angeles. He was the second of four sons of Sarah Frances Philips and Henry Lansdale. Lansdale attended school in Michigan, New York and Califor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Pentagon Papers
The ''Pentagon Papers'', officially titled ''Report of the Office of the Secretary of Defense Vietnam Task Force'', is a United States Department of Defense history of the United States' political and military involvement in Vietnam from 1945 to 1967. Released by Daniel Ellsberg, who had worked on the study, they were first brought to the attention of the public on the front page of ''The New York Times'' in 1971. A 1996 article in ''The New York Times'' said that the ''Pentagon Papers'' had demonstrated, among other things, that the Johnson Administration had "systematically lied, not only to the public but also to Congress." The ''Pentagon Papers'' revealed that the U.S. had secretly enlarged the scope of its actions in the Vietnam War with coastal raids on North Vietnam and Marine Corps attacks—none of which were reported in the mainstream media. For his disclosure of the ''Pentagon Papers'', Ellsberg was initially charged with conspiracy, espionage, and theft of governm ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Central Intelligence Agency
The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, and analyzing national security information from around the world, primarily through the use of human intelligence (HUMINT) and performing covert actions. As a principal member of the United States Intelligence Community (IC), the CIA reports to the Director of National Intelligence and is primarily focused on providing intelligence for the President and Cabinet of the United States. President Harry S. Truman had created the Central Intelligence Group under the direction of a Director of Central Intelligence by presidential directive on January 22, 1946, and this group was transformed into the Central Intelligence Agency by implementation of the National Security Act of 1947. Unlike the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), which is a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sefa-utaki
''Seefa-utaki'', meaning "purified place of Utaki," is a historical sacred space, overlooking Kudaka Island, that served as one of the key locations of worship in the native religion of the Ryukyuan people for millennia. Later as a part of assimilation of Okinawa by Japan, it was shifted to serve as a Shinto Shrine. It is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site ''Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu'' in Nanjō, Okinawa. Sefa Utaki is on the Chinen Peninsula, and has been recognized as a sacred place since the earliest period of Ryukyuan history. According to ''Chūzan Seikan'', this was the spot where Amamikyu, goddess of creation, made landfall on Okinawa. The shrine area itself comprises a number of caves and overhanging ledges opening to the east and south among towering rock formations of a high promontory over the sea. All buildings have been destroyed, but the outer and inner precincts can still be traced.Kerr, George H. (1953) ''Ryukyu Kingdom and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ryukyu Islands
The , also known as the or the , are a chain of Japanese islands that stretch southwest from Kyushu to Taiwan: the Ōsumi, Tokara, Amami, Okinawa, and Sakishima Islands (further divided into the Miyako and Yaeyama Islands), with Yonaguni the westernmost. The larger are mostly high islands and the smaller mostly coral. The largest is Okinawa Island. The climate of the islands ranges from humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification ''Cfa'') in the north to tropical rainforest climate (Köppen climate classification ''Af'') in the south. Precipitation is very high and is affected by the rainy season and typhoons. Except the outlying Daitō Islands, the island chain has two major geologic boundaries, the Tokara Strait (between the Tokara and Amami Islands) and the Kerama Gap (between the Okinawa and Miyako Islands). The islands beyond the Tokara Strait are characterized by their coral reefs. The Ōsumi and Tokara Islands, the northernmost of the islands, fall un ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinen Castle
is a Ryukyuan ''gusuku'' in Nanjō, Okinawa. It is the second oldest castle in the Ryukyu Islands. The ruins consist of the old castle to the east being made out of rock and the other newer castle to the west being made out of ashlar masonry. History Before the Sanzan Period, the "King of the Ryukyu Islands" and the chief priestess would make a pilgrimage to Chinen Castle. The castle was the home of the Aji of Chinen Magiri. The new castle was built under Shō Shin was a king of the Ryukyu Kingdom, the third ruler the second Shō dynasty. Shō Shin's long reign has been described as "the Great Days of Chūzan", a period of great peace and relative prosperity. He was the son of Shō En, the founder of the dyn ... who reigned from 1477 to 1526. In 1972 the ruins of Chinen Castle were designated as a National Historic Site. References External linksA video [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chūzan Seikan
, compiled in 1650 by Shō Shōken, is the first official history of the Ryūkyū Kingdom. In six scrolls, the main text occupies five and an accompanying summary the sixth. Unlike later official histories such as ''Chūzan Seifu'' and ''Kyūyō'', which were written in kanbun, ''Chūzan Seikan'' is largely written in Japanese, other than for the summary and a number of quotes in Chinese. The account of Shō Nei, whose reign saw invasion and subjugation by Satsuma, opens with the statement that the kingdom had been in subordinate vassal status to the Shimazu clan since the Eikyō era. The account of the siring of Shunten by Minamoto no Tametomo was similarly exploited during the Meiji period and after to help legitimize the annexation of the kingdom and its reconfiguration first as the Ryūkyū Domain and subsequently as Okinawa Prefecture. See also * List of Cultural Properties of Japan - writings (Okinawa) This list is of the Cultural Properties of Japan designated in the c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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