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Rimi Natsukawa
is a Japanese singer. She is best known for her 2001 single "Nada Sōsō." Childhood Natsukawa was born in Ishigaki, the largest city in the Yaeyama Islands chain. From a young age she enjoyed singing, and wanted to be a singer after hearing her father sing Yaeyama folk songs, such as and . From age 7, she practiced two hours a day with her father to become an enka singer. At 9, she won a local singing contest (the ). Natsukawa continued to win competitions, and in 1984 won the MBS TV show 's grand prize. In 1986, she won the 's grand prize, and was the youngest person to win this prize at the time. Pony Canyon debut Natsukawa, by chance, was scouted shortly after winning the competition at 13 years old. She moved to Tokyo, and started preparing for her debut. She debuted later in 1989 as an enka singer with the name "Misato Hoshi," under Pony Canyon. She released three singles in three years, and did not find much success. Natsukawa felt defeated after this, and after l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ishigaki, Okinawa
is a city in Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. It includes Ishigaki island and the Senkaku Islands territory. The city is the political, cultural, and economic center of the Yaeyama Islands. New Ishigaki Airport serves the city. As of December 2012, the city has an estimated population of 48,816 and a population density of 213 persons per km2. The total area is 229.00 km2. It is also the location of the disputed Senkaku Islands (see below in the Geography section). History The current city of Ishigaki was founded in 1908 as Yaeyama Village, an amalgamation of the Ishigaki, Ōhama, and Miyara magiri. In 1914 it was renamed to Ishigaki Village, and grew to become Ishigaki Town in 1926. Ishigaki was elevated to city status on July 10, 1947. Historical footnote: One of the first Frenchmen ever to visit Japan, Guillaume Courtet, came ashore at Ishigaki in 1636. Geography The city of Ishigaki covers the entirety of Ishigaki Island (). The island is surrounded by coral reefs. The high ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yasukatsu Ōjima
was a Japanese ''daimyō'' of the early Edo period who ruled the Tatebayashi Domain. His court title was '' Tōtōmi no kami''. Yasukatsu was the third son of Sakakibara Yasumasa, who was one of the four chief generals of Tokugawa Ieyasu. As Yasumasa's eldest son Tadamasa was given in adoption to the Osuga family, and the second son Tadanaga died young, Yasukatsu inherited his father's fief and became lord of Tatebayashi, which was rated at 100,000 ''koku'' in size. He took part in the winter Siege of Osaka, assisting the hard-pressed forces of Satake Yoshinobu. In the summer siege the following year, he was defeated in Sanada Yukimura's counterattack. Soon after the siege, Yasukatsu died at 26 of a bad case of hemorrhoids. After Yasukatsu's death his son Tadatsugu succeeded him; Tadatsugu's only son Katsumasa became a hatamoto. Both Yasukatsu and his father Yasumasa are playable characters from the Eastern Army in the original ''Kessen is a real-time tactics video game produced ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kōhaku Uta Gassen
, more commonly known simply as ''Kōhaku'', is an annual New Year's Eve television special produced by Japanese public broadcaster NHK. It is broadcast live simultaneously on television and radio, nationally and internationally by the NHK network and by some overseas (mainly cable) broadcasters who buy the program. The show ends shortly before midnight. Before the show began broadcasting on television in late 1953, the show was held on 3 January and only consisted of a radio broadcast. The program divides the most popular music artists of the year into competing teams of red and white. The "red" team or is composed of all female artists (or groups with female vocals), while the "white" team or is all male (or groups with male vocals). At the end of the show, judges and the audience vote to decide which group performed better. The honor of performing on ''Kōhaku'' is strictly by invitation, so only the most successful singing acts in the Japanese entertainment industry can pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tida Kaji Nu Umui
is a fictional character in Square Enix's ''Final Fantasy'' series and the main protagonist of the 2001 role-playing video game ''Final Fantasy X''. Tidus is a 17-year-old from the city of Zanarkand who is transported to the world of Spira following an attack by the creature Sin. Shortly after his arrival he meets and joins Yuna, a mage and her guardians in a pilgrimage to kill Sin after learning that he is actually his missing abusive father Jecht. He has appeared in other video games, including the ''Final Fantasy X'' sequel '' Final Fantasy X-2'', the ''Kingdom Hearts'' series, and several Square Enix crossover games. Tidus was designed by Tetsuya Nomura with a cheerful appearance, in contrast to previous ''Final Fantasy'' protagonists. Scenario writer Kazushige Nojima wanted to expand the relationship between player and character with monologues describing the game's setting. While the narrative was initially focused the romance between Tidus and Yuna, Square provided a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minamikaze
is Rimi Natsukawa's debut EP, released on , consisting of covers of Okinawan songs. Background The EP was released after three singles, but only her hit single "Nada Sōsō" features. The album consists of six covers and an original track (Natsukawa's full-length debut album '' Tida: Tida Kaji nu Umui'', released six months later, also followed this pattern). Song sources Other than "Nada Sōsō," two other tracks are associated with the Okinawan band Begin who composed the track. "Irayoi Tsukiyohama" (a Yasukatsu Ōjima cover) had its music written by band vocalist Eishō Higa, and has been recorded by the band. "Hana," a Shoukichi Kina , is a Japanese rock musician and politician. He, along with his band Champloose, played a large role in the Okinawan home-grown "folk rock" scene in the 1970s and 1980s. His first big hit was " Haisai Ojisan" ("Hey, old man") in 1972, which he wr ... song, was recorded by the band on their "Nada Sōsō" single (released a year prior to Na ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan and Western music. It started as, which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc. was originally set up as a subsidiary of Original Confidence and took over the latter's Oricon record charts in April 2002. The charts are compiled from data drawn from some 39,700 retail outlets (as of April 2011) and provide sales rankings of music CDs, DVDs, electronic games, and other entertainment products based on weekly tabulations. Results are announced every Tuesday and published in ''Oricon Style'' by subsidiary Oricon Entertainment Inc. The group also lists panel survey-based popularity ratings for television commercials on its official website. Oricon started publishing Combined Chart, which includes CD sales, digital sales, and streaming together, on December 19, 2 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
26th G8 Summit
The 26th G8 summit was held in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, on July 21–23, 2000. Overview The Group of Seven ( G7) was an unofficial forum which brought together the heads of the richest industrialized countries: France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada starting in 1976. The G8, meeting for the first time in 1997, was formed with the addition of Russia.Saunders, Doug "Weight of the world too heavy for G8 shoulders," ''Globe and Mail'' (Toronto). July 5, 2008. In addition, the President of the European Commission has been formally included in summits since 1981.Reuters "Factbox: The Group of Eight: what is it?" July 3, 2008. The summits were not meant to be linked formally with wider international institutions; and in fact, a mild rebellion against the stiff formality of other international meetings was a part of the genesis of cooperation between France's President Giscard d'Estaing and West Germany's Chancellor Helmut Schmidt as they ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Naha
is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area is Naha is located on the East China Sea coast of the southern part of Okinawa Island, the largest of Okinawa Prefecture. The modern city was officially founded on May 20, 1921. Before that, Naha had been for centuries one of the most important and populous sites in Okinawa. Naha is the political, economic and education center of Okinawa Prefecture. In the medieval and early modern periods, it was the commercial center of the Ryukyu Kingdom. Geography City center Central Naha consists of the Palette Kumoji shopping mall, the Okinawa Prefecture Office, Naha City Hall, and many banks and corporations, located at the west end of Kokusai-dōri, the city's main street. boasts a 1.6 kilometer (1 mile) long stretch of stores, restaurants ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents ; the city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Japan's economic center and is the seat of both the Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. Originally a fishing village named Edo, the city became politically prominent in 1603, when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo was one of the most populous cities in the world with a population of over one million people. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was moved to Edo, which was renamed "Tokyo" (). Tokyo was devastate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mainichi Broadcasting System
, or MBS, is a radio and television broadcasting company headquartered in Osaka, Japan, affiliated with Japan Radio Network (JRN), National Radio Network (NRN), Japan News Network (JNN) and TBS Network, serving in the Kansai region. It is a parent company of a television station named and a radio station named . MBS is also one of the major stockholders of TBS Holdings, BS-TBS, RKB Mainichi Broadcasting, i-Television, TV-U Fukushima, Hiroshima Home Television, WOWOW., and FM802. History The was founded on December 27, 1950. NJB commenced radio broadcasting from the Hankyu Department Store on September 1, 1951, as the second commercial radio station in Japan. NJB founded on December 1, 1956 with Asahi Broadcasting Corporation (ABC). NJB was renamed "Mainichi Broadcasting System, Inc." on June 1, 1958. On March 1, 1959, after selling all stocks of OTV to ABC, MBS started analog terrestrial television broadcasting independently from OTV, and made a network with Nippon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Enka
is a Japanese music genre considered to resemble traditional Japanese music stylistically. Modern ''enka'', however, is a relatively recent musical form, which adopts a more traditional musical style in its vocalism than ''ryūkōka'' music, popular during the prewar years. Modern ''enka'', as developed in the postwar era, is a form of sentimental ballad music. Some of the first modern ''enka'' singers were Hachiro Kasuga, Michiya Mihashi, and Hideo Murata. The revival of ''enka'' in its modern form is said to date from 1969, when Keiko Fuji made her debut. The most famous male ''enka'' singers are Shinichi Mori and Kiyoshi Hikawa. Etymology The term ''enka'' was first used to refer to political texts set to music which were sung and distributed by opposition activists belonging to the Freedom and People's Rights Movement during the Meiji period (1868–1912) as a means of bypassing government curbs on speeches of political dissent – and in this sense the word is derived ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yaeyama Islands
The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan, and cover . The islands are located southwest of the Miyako Islands, part of the Ryukyu Islands archipelago. The Yaeyama Islands are the remotest part of Japan from the main islands and contain Japan's most southern (Hateruma) and most western (Yonaguni) inhabited islands. The city of Ishigaki serves as the political, cultural, and economic center of the Yaeyama Islands. Natural history The Yaeyama Islands are home to numerous species of subtropical and tropical plants, and mangrove forests. The islands produce sugarcane and pineapples. Coral reefs around the islands are ideal habitats for dolphins, sea turtles, and larger fish such as manta rays and whale sharks. Before being wiped out by humans, whales and dugongs wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
