By Jun Ikemura

The Basketball Japan League –ofwhich the Ryukyu Golden Kingsare the reigning champions—iscelebrating its 10th anniversary

this season, bringing new faces, teams anda major sponsor.

For this and next season, the leaguehas a new major sponsor, Turkish Airlines,and as the naming rights go with the spon-sorship, the bj-League is now known as theTurkish Airlines bj-League, or shortly TKbj-League. With 247 destinations, the air-line is the fourth-largest carrier in theworld by number of destinations, and isbuilding its brand image in Japan throughthe coveted age groups who pay attentionto basketball.

The Fukushima Firebonds have joinedthe TK bj-League this season, bringing thetotal number of teams to 10 in the WesternConference while the Eastern Conferencehas 12 teams.

Okinawa’s Ryukyu Golden Kingsrecaptured the league championship lastseason and now hold three championships,the same as the Osaka Evessa. If the Kingsgrab the championship again this season,it’s the first second consecutive win for theKings and the highest number of champi-onships in the league. The HamamatsuHigashi Mikawa Phoenix also holds twochampionships and could be in the sameboat as Osaka and Ryukyu if they win.

Three players left and two new facesjoined the Golden Kings team for this sea-son. Most notably, Jeff Newton left theKings after the last season ended, the onlyone to have the experience of winning atotal of six championships in the bj-League. He won playing with Osaka andOkinawa, but because of his knee injury helost much playing time on the court in lastseason and decided to leave.

Yoshiki Yamashiro retired. MasayaKarimata moved to a fresh squad with theFukushima Firebonds. New faces havebeen added to Kings roster, includingHiromasa Omiya, who came fromKumamoto Volters of the Japan BasketballLeague. He is a 197cm tall 92-kg forward.

Because of his physical size he can standup well even against big foreign players,and his quick and dynamic play is expectedto help the Golden Kings a lot. AnthonyKent joined the Kings, too. Kent is a 208-centimeter, 103-kilogram center. He shouldbe tall enough to fill Jeff's position.

Head Coach Tsutomu Isa keeps han-dling the reins of the Ryukyu GoldenKings this season and says, “We recapturedthe championship last season and are feel-ing very good now, but we should have atough mind or it will be easy to lose be-

Continues on page 5

Fantastic Okinawa

Tomorrow is Okinawa Soba Day

bj-League’s 10th season brings new excitement

By Bill Charles

There are numerous holidays and ‘specialdays’ on the Okinawa calendar, but fewevoke a more fervent interest than tomor-row’s Okinawa Soba Day, during which tens

of thousands of bowls of Okinawan Soba will besipped, chopstick’ed and slurped across the island.

A bowl of soba is to an Okinawan what a ham-burger is to an American: Everyday fast food. Ifyou’re new to the island, that may seem odd. Ifyou’ve been here a while, chances are that you’veexperienced firsthand a bowl of Okinawa’s favoritefood. If you’ve been here for any length of time andhave not had at least a bowl or two, then you’rebehind the power curve and there’s no better day torectify that than tomorrow.

It’s been an official day ever since 1978, whenthe Japanese Fair Trade Commission decided toadmit that the noodles everyone in this prefectureeats on a practically daily basis can be called“Okinawa soba.” Okinawans call “Okinawa soba”

as “soba” but in mainland Japan, you cannot get orfind Okinawa soba as easily as in Okinawa because“soba” has a different meaning.

Continues on page 3

Celebrate tomorrow's Okinawa Soba Day with big bowl

Okinawa Soba is unlike any other noodle in Japan.

The Ryukyu Golden Kings' team for the season 2014-15.

Oct. 16, 2014 - Oct. 22, 2014 www.japanupdate.com

¥150 Fantastic OkinawaLocal News

ClassifiedsOkinawan Culture

WeatherJU Weekly Raffle

Events this weekEnglish Lesson

HoroscopeRecipe

2Japan Update Classifieds Oct. 16, 2014 - Oct. 22, 2014

Okinawa Satsang Outdoor Yoga and Music Fest comingThe biggest Yoga and music

festival in western Japan,‘Okinawa Satsang OutdoorYoga and Music Fest 2014’,

will take place over four days fromOct. 31st through Nov. 3rd at HotelMoon Beach in Onna Village.

Okinawa is often said to be anisland having spiritual power withgreat nature. On Okinawa, a varietyof 58 yoga classes, including yogarelated courses are held starting fromsunrise and continuing through sunsetand moonrise. More than 30 well-experienced yoga instructors are com-ing from all over Japan and overseasto this event.

Of course, classes are open toanybody from beginners to experts,and also including children andexpectant mothers. For instance,starting with an early morning medi-

tation, ‘SUP Yoga’, a stand up paddleboard yoga on the ocean, ‘pair yoga’that has people working together, and‘acro yoga’ uses elements of Thaimassage and acrobatics by workingwith more than two people.

In the evenings, the three-daymusic fest of yogic musicians willtake place under the moonlight. Yogicperformances include traditionalIndian dance, fire performance withtraditional Okinawan folk musicsprinkled in between… by a varietyof musicians will let your mind openand relax. On November 1st, ‘Yoga-Bale’, a yoga Balearic rave party, willbe held as a follow-up at the samelocation. The beach will become aJapanese version of Ibiza Island ofSpain. You can check the detailedschedule, in Japanese, on line athttp://yogasatsang.jp/time/.

Tickets are required for eachclass. Tickets must be purchased bythe October 20th deadline through thefestival website, or at the gate on theday of the event at the venue at slight-ly higher prices. Advance ticketprices range from ¥2,680 to ¥3.680per each paid class. The three-dayticket to the open-air live music eventis ¥7,980. There are free classes, too.They offer a healthy food service likeveggie food, smoothies, and organicfood as well as yoga wear on sale.

Information on the Yoga andMusic Fest is available on theFacebook site https://ja-j p . f a c e b o o k . c o m /okinawaYogaSatsang. Hotel MoonBeach is at Meganeku in OnnaVillage.

More than a dozen per-formers and groupswill take to stages atfive locations across

Urasoe City this weekend, stagingthe 3rd Street PerformanceFestival designed to focus on pro-moting the city.

The Street PerformanceFestival will be held at the mainsite, Barclay’s Court shoppingcenter in Tohyama, next to theU.S. Consulate, and at San-AKyozuka City, Makeman, HomeCenter Sakumoto and UrasoeShopping Center, on Sunday.Street performers will pump upthe sites. Juggling, clowns,magic, dance, and a fire perform-ance are all ready to stage a vari-ety of performances to entertainpeople.

As a special guest, the ChinaGreat Yellow River AcrobatTeam, which appears on televi-sion, will perform. Each per-former is skilled and knows howto make people happy. There’s

not often a chance to see such anevent on Okinawa.

At Barclay’s Court, openingceremonies are at 11 a.m. withChanpuru entertainer Tamanchuat 11:30 a.m. Yuuri performs at 1p.m., the Hit Parades at 2 p.m.,street performer Tsubasa at 3 p.m.and the China Great Yellow River

Acrobat Team at 4 p.m. Closingceremonies are at 6 p.m.Performances at the other loca-tions –San-A Kyozuka City,Makeman, Home CenterSakumoto and Urasoe ShoppingChina Great Yellow RiverAcrobat TeamCenter will run 1p.m. ~ 4 p.m.

Animal Hospital 20 group hasopened a Shintoshin clinicin Ameku, Naha City on

Oct. 8th. The new office is locatedon Hwy 58, on the right side travel-ing south just at the end of the Ajacrossover bridge.

The Shintoshin clinic is the6th office on Okinawa for theAnimal Hospital 22 group. Theirnew office is ready to offer notonly the newest medical servicesfor your pet, but they also sell petsand pet accessories in an adjacentshop called ‘the Vet's Pet’ in the

same building. As a grand opening special,

the Vet's Pet is now offering up to70% off special sale of pets, and20% off of all trimming services.

With the yearend holidaysapproaching fast, now is the righttime to find a new family memberor a special gift to your loved ones,including your pet. The special saleruns through Oct. 26. The addressof the new shop is 762-1 Ameku,Naha City, and it’s on Google mapsat http://goo.gl/maps/xrQ6k

Resort Hotel Moon Beach will be the venue of the largestYoga event in western Japan when it hosts the ‘OkinawaSatsang Outdoor Yoga and Music Fest 2014’ from Oct.31st through Nov. 3rd.

Street performances promote Urasoe City revitalization

Animal Hospital 20 opens Shintoshin clinic in Omoromachi

The new Animal Hospital 20 in Omoromachi,Naha, is located on Highway 58.

The adjacent Vet's Pet shop sells pets, pet suppliesand accessories at discount through Oct. 26.

A street magician shows his best tricks to young eager audience.

Most of the performers are ama-teurs like this young female jug-gler showing a het trick.

The professional China GreatYellow River Acrobat Team takespart in the festival.