Fantastic Okinawa

Foster Spring Festival

Ryukyu Kaiensai presents massive fireworks!

By Bill Charles

Hours and hours of enter-tainment, including anultra-spectacular fire-works program set to

music, will join forces April 11thas Okinawa’s summer gets underway with Ryukyu Kaiensai, amassive fireworks festival.

One of the world’s leadingdesigners has teamed with thepyrotechnics specialists to createspellbinding illusions at theGinowan Seaside Park TropicalBeach. Sponsored by Japan AirLines, Japan Trans Ocean Air,Okinawa Cellular and

FamilyMart, the 12th annual festi-val will see the skies illuminatedby more than 10,000 pyrotechnicsof all shapes, sizes and colors, aspart of a dream corroborationwith Designer Junko Koshino,who’ s produced the JapanFestival at the Kennedy Center inWashington D.C.

This year’s theme is “the ear-liest place to vibrate with thesummer in Japan.” Organizers ofthis, the season’s first fireworksexhibition, are holding their col-lective breaths to see if MotherNature has any intentions ofcooperating. As of press time,they were still shaking their heads

as weather prognosticators arelaying out a 40% chance of thatwet stuff on Saturday night.

Born in Osaka, Koshinograduated from the BunkaFashion College, then moved onto participate in Paris’ collection,holding fashion shows in Beijing,New York, Vietnam and Cuba.Her designs and illusions willtinge the blue skies with hanabi—fireworks blended with the latestcomputer technology to producean hour-long program. Accom-panying the dazzling display willbe music of Janet Jackson, DavidFoster, Katherine McPhee andmore as the show proceeds to the

music of a variety of genres.Live music will get under

way at 2 p.m. at Haisai Square onTropical Beach and provide plen-ty of entertainment until the fire-works exhibition kicks off at 8p.m. The hour-long show willfeature music timed to the fire-works launches, which are com-puter driven to integrated laserlight show beams, the music andthe illuminations. Festival groundopens at 1 p.m.

Advance tickets are on saleuntil April 10th. Adult tickets are¥2,700, and tickets for youngstersunder 12 are ¥1,600. Tickets atthe gate April 11th are ¥3,300 foradults and ¥2,200 for kids under12. Tickets are required for thosewanting to enjoy the music andwatch the fireworks from withinthe Tropical Beach area, wherevisitors may bring their own blan-kets or chairs. There also a seriesof special seating plans, includingseats under roofed tables.Parking fees are required; expectto pay ¥1,200 to park in a desig-nated parking area.

Anyone wanting to watch thefireworks from along the beach maydo so free. Japan Update has sixfree tickets to the Ryukyu Kaiensaito raffle away. Send us a messagethrough Japan Update facebookpage if you want to participate.

Ginowan City, RyukyuBroadcasting, Okinawa Pre-fec-ture, Okinawa Convention Center,Ginowan City Tourism PromotionAssociation and Ginowan CityChamber of Commerce are join-ing the Ryukyu Kaiensai commit-tee in sponsoring the event.

Kaihin Park is directlybehind the Okinawa ConventionCenter in Ginowan City, 4-2-1Mashiki. It’s only a five-minutewalk from the Convention Center,although the limited parking is afew hundred meters further away.Leisure seats and cooler boxes areprohibited on the park grounds.

Sunday, April 12th, has beendesignated as a make-up date ifSaturday’s fireworks festival is can-celed due to rain. Organizers say ifit rains both the 11th and 12th, tick-et purchases will be refunded.

The 2015 season for Marine CorpsCommunity Services entertainmentfestivals is here, firing up the orga-nization’s energies for the Camp

Foster Festival this weekend.The free festival is open at Camp

Foster both Saturday and Sunday from 2p.m. ~ 10 p.m. The festival is open to allwith Department of Defense identification,as well as to Japanese citizens. Entry to thecamp is only through Gate 5, the KitamaeCommissary Gate, for Japanese citizens.

Festival-goers can be prepared toexperience everything that makes a festivalworth celebrating, with free top-notchentertainment, amusement rides, KiddieLand for the children and a variety of festi-val foods such as yakitori, yakisoba, andspare ribs. The most anticipated event at

the festival is featured entertainment fromA Day to Remember on Saturday evening.

Saturday entertainment kicks off at2:30 p.m. with Clown Kotora’s balloonperformance, followed by Tamachu Hirotoand a street juggling performance. Ouka’s

Continues on page 2

Entertainment is nonstop at Camp Foster Festival

Plenty of fun is waiting for everyone atFoster Spring Fest this weekend.

A Day To Remember rock band head-lines the entertainment lineup Saturday.

MCCS Photo

CYBRERJAPAN DANCERS will entertain crowds in the build-up tothe fireworks extravaganza.

Over 10,000 pieces of pyrotechnics will lit the sky over the Tropical Beach in Ginowan.

Apr. 09, 2015 - Apr. 15, 2015 www.japanupdate.com

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1st Mercato Italiano hits Grand Blue this weekend

The Motobu tourism and culture festivalis Saturday, and it’s a sure bet visitorswill find it totally different than count-

less other festivals that dot the Okinawa land-scape.

The festival is actually a night event,starting Saturday at 6 p.m., at the Motobumulti-purpose event space in Motobu Town’sTamokuteki Hiroba. Google Map to the venueis at http://goo.gl/maps/iXB1N The tourismand cultural festival’s goal is about expanding

Motobu Town culture and creating a moreactive town, while also getting more Touriststo visit the town.

The event features bull and goat fightingmainly, while Ryukyu pop music performedlive by Shuken Genchan Maekawa, a majorOkinawan folk music singer, fills in the enter-tainment. There’s also a special raffle game.

Entry to the festival costs ¥1,000 inadvance and ¥1,500 at the gate. Those under18 are free.

An authentic Italian restaurantwith a spectacular view over-looking Central OkinawaGrand Blue is hosting the 1st

Mercato Italiano, an Italian fair, thisSaturday and Sunday.

Grand Blue is known for servingdishes made of genuine Italian ingredi-ents to customers and a large number ofItalian fans. Its Mercato Italiano, anItalian fair is held at the special venue atthe garden of Grand Blue, and wines,olive oil, hams, cheeses and other gen-uine Italian items including cloths andsundry goods from Italy, will be avail-able for tasting and purchase.

The organizer, the Italia CultureClub, and Marco Massetani says “Onboth days of the weekend Grand Blueoffers special service to customers whoorder any dish of the menu. You canrefill for free proschiutto di Parma! Theoffer is valid as long as supplies last.You can enjoy the ham with Italianwine, with cheeses or with olive oil!”

Grand Blue daily offers genuineNapoli Pizza and other Italian food, andtheir especially raw oysters now in sea-son! The Mercato Italiano in Grand Blueis open this Saturday and Sunday from11:00 a.m. through 7:00 p.m. Directionsby map are http://goo.gl/maps/pVu7Y

Foster FestContinued from page 1Taiko Drum performanceis at 3:30 p.m. andKalapana live Hawaiianmusic at 4 p.m. NUReality rhythm and bluesis on stage at 5:15 p.m.,followed at 6:15 p.m. bythe Koza City Rockers. ADay to Remember kicksoff at 8 p.m.

On Sunday, ClownKotora opens at 2:45p.m., Ryukyu KiraraOkinawan Cultural per-formance at 3:15 p.m.,followed by the Kalapanalive Hawaiian music.Classic Hits cover bandReverse plays at 5:30p.m., T-DA Hip HopDance at 7 p.m., andApache Band with livevariety music closes theshows at 8 p.m.

There will be shut-tles from designated

parking areas to the festi-val. No pets, outsidealcohol, bottles, back-

packs or coolers will beallowed. Taxi and daikoservices will be available.

Goats, bulls are core of Motobu Festival

Crowds at last year's Foster Festival enjoyed theentertainment in good weather. (MCCS photo)

Part of the deal is free refills of prosciuttoham to your heart's content.

And just the thing to go with the ham is agood Italian wine.

Winners celebrate after last year's contest.

All action concentrates on the bull ring.