BRAVO TOPOTHESIA!

GREAT adoption/divulgation/awareness/charity event this afternoon at Café Topothesia in Ginowan! A university's young crowd participated massively at the cool café where we brought seven young cats from Myu-san's shelter. It has been a success, as two cuuuute kittens have been adopted by a couple who lives nearby and the next week, after some vet checks, will go for a better life with a loving family.

We gave a bunch of brochures about TNR programs and lent some books about how living with a cat to... beginners. We sold some items and people donated money, so we could save a little amount of $ for the TNRs coming (the next one in Okinawa-shi, from the 9th to the 11th September).

Satoko, as usual in these situations, has been a professional in talking/convincing people to adopt a cat. BRAVA! And so Myu-san, who still has the superpower of taking care of stray cats and bringing them to such events. Last but not least, ほんとにどうもありがとうございました to the young guys of Café Topothesia that organized the event and hosted us. Now I'm tired but... happy!

https://www.facebook.com/Topothesia2013/

PINK DOT, 4th ROUND

More people than in the past - around 1500 - yesterday by Tenbusu Building, along Kokusai-dori, for the 4th edition of the annual event held by Pink Dot Okinawa, the local LGBT community. Many Japanese people and foreigners participated. 

Events in the event have been Naha's first municipally-recognized same sex couple certification by the city's mayor, the entry of major brand sponsors as JAL, and the presence of several celebrity guests. At the end a typical summer, sudden rain, to bless the pink community. Fun, as usual! See you next year, ciao!

A MOURNING AFTERNOON

MOVING afternoon, yesterday, at Onoyama Koen, few steps from my home. Around 65.000 people, under a crazy hot sun, gathered at the athletics field to mourn the loss of Rina Shimabukuro, a 20-year-old office worker from the city of Uruma, raped and killed at the end of April by Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a 32-year-old former U.S. Marine employed by Kadena Air Base. Several personalities, including Governor Onaga, spoke to the mass dressed in black, accompanied by traditional, beautiful Okinawan songs. Here's what I photographed.

Una jornada CONMOVEDORA la del domingo 19/6 en Onoyama Koen, Naha. Cerca de 65.000 personas, bajo un sol calcitrante, se congregaron en el campo deportivo para conmemorar la pérdida Rina Shimabukuro, una chica de 20 años de la ciudad de Uruma, violada y asesinada a fines de abril por Kenneth Franklin Gadson, un ex Marine de 32 años, que trabajaba en la Base aérea de Kadena. Varias personalidades, incluyendo al gobernador Onaga, se dirigieron al público vestidas de negro, acompañados por hermosas canciones tradicionales okinawenses.

The usual four Nazis, a constant decorative presence of all the protest rallies in Okinawa, this time made their noisy carousel along a road quite distant from the event

 

The dugong, animal symbol of the protest against the bases in Okinawa, especially the one in Henoko

WHY at 2 p.m. and not at 6 p.m.??? Many aged people fainted under the heat

The mourning necklace (lei) sent from Hawai‘i to show solidarity to Okinawa, on Governor Onaga

Susumu Inamine, mayor of Nago, famous for his opposition against the expansion of the American base in Henoko

The victim: Rina Shimabukuro, a 20-year-old office worker from the city of Uruma

The rapist and murderer: Kenneth Franklin Shinzato, a 32-year-old former U.S. Marine employed by Kadena Air Base

Catherine Jane Fisher, an Australian woman raped in 2002 by Bloke T. Deans in a parking lot near Yokosuka Naval Base