“Rediscover Okinawa’s Culinary Culture” at a festival of flowers and food open until 25 January, with 116 groups displaying wares at Onoyama Park in Naha.

Splendor of Okinawa: Star Jasmine, roadside Uruma, 14fe24


With the theme of local products for local consumption, the “Okinawa Flower and Foods Festival 2026” (sponsored by the promotion headquarters of the same name, began at Naha City’s Onoyama Park on 24 January to broadcast the attraction of the prefecture’s agricultural, forestry, fishery and other products.


116 production and processing groups set up 119 booths. There are even competition shows with food sampling and sales.


The festival will end at 6 p.m. on 25 January.


Promotion Headquarters Chief  and Chairman of the Okinawa Japan Agricultural Association (JA) Yukimasa Yasuya gave his address at the opening ceremony. He urged, “Find joy in rediscovering Okinawa’s culinary culture, tasting it, touching it, seeing the agricultural, forestry, and fisheries products that workers  put their hearts into making.”


Governor Denny Tamaki, as guest speaker, noted, “Touching on the superior attractiveness of our agricultural forestry, and fisheries products, such as our fresh seafood, I’d like to have you rediscover how delicious they are.”


Outside the festival, prefectural produced livestock products and fisheries products are also being sampled  and sold. People can even enjoy such events as voting for prefectural products that they sample in the popular “Okinawa Island Food Grand Prix.

　

Within the festival, vegetables and flowers are lined up in competition to win awards.


Moreover, there is also a corner for the display of agricultural, forestry, and fishing industries related panels and such.


In a change to the festival this year, the temporary parking lot on the west side of the Naha Military Port is not in use, but a shuttle bus is running. The sponsors urge the use of either personal or public transport  facilities to get to and from the venue.


Original Japanese article: Okinawa Times, published Saturday 24 January 2026 at 10:36.

https://news.yahoo.co.jp/articles/cb3a4edc31a0441d403da40a1ce6fb6a86c6e8af


Denny in the News: Denny Tamaki is the governor of Okinawa Prefecture in Japan. Although 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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