Judicial Reform Passes in the Knesset
I’ve fallen far behind in the blog posts I’ve been meaning to write about my Israel trip earlier in the summer – specifically on the second of two of the fantastic museums we visited. I drafted much of this post weeks ago, and am not updating it based on what has happened since. I want to just take the draft, and put it out – my thoughts from that time, that I should have published at that…
The Yitzhak Rabin Center
Yitzhak Rabin (b. 1922) was Prime Minister of Israel from 1974 to 1977, and again from 1992 until his assassination in 1995 at the hands of a Jewish Israeli right-wing extremist who opposed the Oslo Accords.
Right: A bloodstained paper found in Rabin’s shirt pocket after his assassination, with the text of a song or poem called Shir Hashalom (A Song of Peace).
I was old enough at that time to…
A Virtual Visit to the Aleppo Synagogue
Photos of the Aleppo Synagogue taken in 1947, and a pair of VR headsets used to view a virtual recreation of the synagogue in 3D.
Visiting the Israel Museum in Jerusalem recently, it was incredible to get to visit a number of synagogues from around the world, either partially recreated within the halls of the Museum, or in the case of the Aleppo Synagogue, in an incredible VR…
Shurijō Akewatashi 首里城明渡し - The Turning Over of the Sui royal palace
Shurijō Akewatashi 首里城明渡し – The Turning Over of the Sui royal palace
Went to the new NahART なはーと arts center today and saw “Shurijō akewatashi” 首里城明渡し, a 1933 play by Yamazato Eikichi 山里永吉, relating the 1879 events of the Empire of Japan forcing King Shō Tai of Lūchū to turn over Sui gusuku (Shuri castle), the royal palace, and move to Tokyo. It was beautiful to get to see it performed. Beautiful costumes, beautiful sets. I had not anticipated that it would be in…
1872: The Beginning of the End of the Kingdom of Lūchū (Ryūkyū)
1872: The Beginning of the End of the Kingdom of Lūchū (Ryūkyū)
This year has seen numerous events commemorating or marking or otherwise being held in connection with the 50th anniversary of Okinawa’s “reversion” to Japan in 1972, after 27 years of US/Allied Occupation. And rightfully so. It’s an event worth marking; the Occupation period is not only fascinating, but extremely impactful and significant for understanding Okinawan politics today. I’ve certainly…
Kumi udui in Yokohama: Wunna munu gurui
Kumi udui in Yokohama: Wunna munu gurui
Got to go see some Kumi udui this weekend, and.. it was wonderful as always.
Kumi udui / Kumi wudui 組踊 (or, Kumi odori in Japanese) is an Okinawan form of dance-drama originated in the Luchuan (Ryukyuan) royal court in 1719. It bears many similarities to Japanese Noh or Kabuki, and I suppose perhaps to Chinese theatre forms such as kunqu or jingju as well. You can read a bit more about it at the…
The Brand New Tsushima Museum
The Brand New Tsushima Museum
Tsushima 対馬 is a really interesting place. Halfway between Korea and Japan, it was ruled for hundreds of years by the Sо̄ samurai house 宗家, retainers to the various successive shogunates *and* by the late 16th c. if not earlier, vassals to the kings of Joseon 朝鮮 (Korea) as well. Unlike the Shimazu house 島津家 of Kagoshima 鹿児島, who conquered the kingdom of Lūchū (Ryūkyū) 琉球 and then treated it in…
ガッティンナラン!
There are, of course, constantly new news articles about various aspects of the ongoing military base issue in Okinawa, and I cannot take the time (or energy) to read them all. In fact, I’ll be honest, I rarely read any of them at all.
But the image in this article (originally from the Ryukyu Shimpo, reposted by Yahoo News) happened to catch my eye, for some of the phrasing on the sign. The…
The King’s Dream
The King’s Dream
I saw a rather interesting one-man play the other day, which I thought I’d like to share about.
I guess I’ll say from the opening that I don’t know what exactly I have to say – I only saw the play once, and don’t have any images or recording from it to go back over it again, and I didn’t take all that many notes during the show. But it was an interesting performance, about an interesting topic,…
The Okinawa Times on J. Mark Ramseyer
The Okinawa Times on J. Mark Ramseyer
Given all the much-merited focus over the course of this past year on the incredible lies being peddled by Harvard Law professor J. Mark Ramseyer and the ways in which ultrarightwing ethnonationalist liars (history deniers) work with figures like him to attempt to strengthen their positions and to validate their bullshit, I suppose this is old news in a sense, and the very same Okinawa Times…
