All posts tagged: okinawa

Miss International Beauty Pageant in Okinawa 2012

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Miss International Beauty Pageant in Okinawa 2012 took place on October 21st. As the audience arrived they wandered between photographs of the girls in swimsuits and heels. The ceremony opened with some traditional Ryukyu dancing and drumming, a nice Okinawan touch. The first event was national costumes, followed by the swimsuits, and then the evening gowns. (Which was amusing titled as the Night Gown Competition) The announcement of the top 15 finalists was met with cheers as most of the favorites made the cut. Each of the finalists gave a short speech before hip hop dancers from the Tida Dance Studio in Chatan performed. The kids were fantastic and the highlight of the evening. After quite a wait, the winner was announced, Miss Japan. Huge cheers from the majority of the crowd, but quite a few raised eyebrows from the non Japanese members of the audience. After the audience had left, the press got to take some photographs of the top 5. I held a speed light at arm’s length in my left hand and …

USO Kadena Far East Bazaar

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This fall, I’ll be  selling my prints of Japan at the USO Kadena Far East Bazaar and the two winter Community Carnivals. Please stop by, say hello, and maybe even get something for your wall. USO Far East Bazaar October 27/28 USO Community Carnival at Kinser Elementary School November 17/18 USO Community Carnival at Zukeran Elementary School December 8/9

Osprey Protests

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These are a few images from a local protest against the arrival of Osprey helicopters. US Marine Corps MV-22 Osprey helicopters are now based at Marine Corps Air Station Futenma in central Okinawa. Locals were protesting against the poor safety record of the Osprey and the close location of Futenma to residential areas. It was one of the hottest days of the summer and the protest took place just after noon. I was actually  surprised I didn’t hear of anyone suffering from heatstroke or worse.  Reports from the organizers put the crowd at 100,000 people. To me this was far too high ( the number of protesters seemed  smaller than the audience in front of the green stage at Fuji Rock which was about 25,000) but it was still an impressive turnout. The Okinawan people didn’t get their wish to keep the Osprey’s out of Okinawa. The helicopters will be based here so that the US military have the latest technology to train with, but it’s a bit of a gamble for the US and …

Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island (Part 3 -The Gods)

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Festivals in Okinawa’s southern islands (collectively know as the Yaeyama Islands) are similar but not identical to those on the main island of Okinawa. Shishi lions and ryukyu dancers are common to both, while it seems only the Yaeyama festivals include the god Miroku (white mask) and the rain god Fusamarah (red mask). The images of the man dressed as the rain god Fusamarah show how the presence of the American military has slowly made it’s way into the everyday lives of Okinawans even on the most remote islands. Local farmers are particularly fond of army surplus uniforms, they must be particularly rugged, cheap, and ubiquitous to have become almost standard equipment for Okinawans working out in their fields.

Nunchaku by the Numbers

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Masakazu Kinjo demonstrates that there’s more to nunchaku than just swirling them around the body. Use the end to jab and break your attacker’s ribs. Trap the attacker’s wrist between the two shafts of the nunchaku. Use your forearm to bend and twist the attacker’s arm. The step into the attacker to to take control. From here onwards it’s the simple and painful application of leverage. Twist locked arm and apply further pressure to elbow as required.

Mushama Festival, Hateruma Island (Part 1 -The Guys)

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Hateruma is the most southerly inhabited island in Japan. It has its own police station, post office, school, awamori distillery and a summer festival called Mushama. I took a day off from scuba diving off Ishigaki and took the ferry down to Hateruma for the festival. The festival, as so many are, was a gold mine for a photographer. So many interesting faces, great costumes and a welcoming atmosphere. The majority of the spectators were island residents and their families that had returned for the event. Nobody minded that I was wandering around taking photos of everyone, and as usual I was up in people’s face shooting portraits.

Let there be underwater light (Part 1)

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A you descend beneath the ocean’s surface things become darker and bluer. Light is absorbed by the water and it does this to a greater extent at the red end of the color spectrum. When shooting in the shallows you can capture the vibrant colors of the reef, but sink a little further and your images will look a little green and possibly blurry from slow shutter speeds (or noisy from high ISOs). The solution is to shed a little light on your subject. Send in the strobes. I bought two used Ikelite strobes on Ebay (thank you Vadim in Australia). One is a powerful DS-161 strobe that has a 3W modeling light, and the other is a far less powerful (and much cheaper) DS-51 strobe that I use as fill. The above image is a pre-dive test in the bath, which showed that both strobes worked, and that the light from the modeling light allows the camera to autofocus on the subject. The strobes are positioned in this image for macro shooting. The lens …