Okinawan right?

[Yuzuki]

Hi, i'd just like to point out, which a lot of you MAY already know, that he is part Okinawan. I just noticed that on his profile, it says his father is half Japanese & half Chinese. However, the last name "Kaneshiro" is Okinawan. I just wanted to let this be known if unknown.

Thanks.

[Oninawa]

Yes, you're right. He's Okinawan Japanese--not mainland Japanese. It's different ethnicity.

[tkisthebest]

What is the different between Okinawan Japanese and mainland Japanese? Isn't it the same group of people?

Thanks.

[mister]

tkisthebest said:

What is the different between Okinawan Japanese and mainland Japanese? Isn't it the same group of people?

Thanks.

okinawa didn't officially become part of mainland japan until quite recently (i think around 1972), it was known as the ryukyuan islands (or the nansei shoto to the mainland japanese). it's pattern of islands on the southern-most part of japan. okinawa is actually just the largest island of the nansei shoto, but people just call the whole group of islands okinawa.

i'm pretty sure this is somewhat accurate. anyone please correct me if i'm wrong.

i'm actually half-okinawan and half-(mainland) japanese

[sunshine]

Thanks for info.

I used to have a housemate who was from Okinawa and a
a US marine friend on duty there. As a result learnt a little
about Okinawa from them. One of which is that Okinawans
are unique in that they have their own culture and native
language /dialect, apart from the main Japanese language.

Another thing is that they also make good friends, for they
are easy going, warm and friendly.

[kewpie-chan]

There's a saying that goes, "the further down south you travel in Japan, the less you understand the language."
A bit of trivia: Until Okinawa became officially part of Japan, no one understood the local Kagoshima dialect. So much so that during WWII, it was used by the Japanese military as the secret code language so that the enemies can't decipher it. (Just like how the US used Native American Navajo language for their secret code language.)

[tkisthebest]

Wow thanks for the replies. Learn something new everyday!