“It was like a dream to send him this old rookie’s creation!” gushed the 56 year old creator of the “Kariyushi Ball”, produced as a memento of the Okinawa Glory Award bestowed on Dodgers Manager Roberts from his native Okinawa. (24jy25)

Splendor of Okinawa: Lily of the Nile, roadside Uruma, 5jy24


In June, the Okinawa Prefectural Awards Committee's Prefectural People's Glory Award was presented to Major League Dodgers Manager Dave Roberts by Governor Denny Tamaki and other members.


Separately from that,  Manager Roberts announced publicly on Facebook on 16 July  that he had also been presented a hardball baseball with a traditional Okinawan bingata (Okinawan colorfully dyed fabric) covering among other mementos.


According to Prefectural sources, during the chat before the Prefectural People’s Glory Award presentation ceremony, Governor Tamaki had given the ball to Manager Roberts, chuckling,  “It’s something you can actually enjoy using.”


The one who proposed the gift was Mitsuo Uehara (56), a leather sewing craftsman from Naha, who had attended classes at Okinawa Crafts Promotion Center’s “Goldsmithing and Craft Sewing Training” held during 2024.


Hearing the news that the Prefectural People’s Glory Award was to be presented to Manager Roberts, Mr. Uehara asked whether his Kariyushi (Ryukyuan: Happy) Ball, created as a product of his studies, might also be presented to him.


Mister Uehara fashioned his ball using a traditional Ryukyu woven  fabric dyed in a bingata pattern as its covering, and he named it the Kariyushi Ball.


The core of the ball is an ordinary hardball. But half was covered as normal with leather and the other half with the traditional Ryukyuan fabric. Since that craft fabric is too weak for play as is, its back was reinforced with the core material. 


When the actual presentation took place, Mr. Uehara thanked the Center, joyfully gushing, “At only 3 months after studying with you, something made by this old rookie, as if in a dream, got sent to the Dodgers Baseball Team. This will urge me on in my future activities.”


Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published Tuesday 22 July 2025 at 12:04. Byline: Yutaka Chinen.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/bf6d94f0a4406e3b253e8b287aede72a1ae6eb0d


Denny in the News:

Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although Okinawa is important as an international tourist destination and a key element in strategic US Military Forces, its governor receives very little coverage in the Japanese press and almost none in the English language media. 


This blog hopes to  translate one news article a day on the governor.  It is unsponsored and unauthorized. The translator simply hopes to improve his skills and perhaps give the governor an English speaking audience. 


Any suggestion on improving the translation will be gratefully accepted. However, please leave political comments for another forum.


Where they occur, words and phrases in Ryukyuan (the Okinawan language) are rendered in italics and translated in parentheses. Names  whose readings are uncertain are rendered as Name (=Kanji?) as in Nagayuki (=長行?). Any corrections in such instances would be gratefully appreciated.

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