the 27th okinawan festival

Okinawa is a small island southwest of mainland Japan. What was once an independent kingdom, it is still rich with its own history and culture. After damage and ruin of WWII to the Okinawans, The Battle of Okinawa, Hawaii became a bridge and aided with its efforts to help re-build the Okinawan community here in Hawaii, providing support and relief.

In the beginning there were 26 Okinawan immigrants who arrived in Hawaii. Today there are now more than 50,000 who stand strong, generation after generation, to celebrate and preserve their legacy.

The 27th Okinawan Festival is among Hawaii's largest celebrated festival with the best Okinawan entertainment, food, cultural exhibits and activities.

I loved trying the different types of Okinawan food and had to come back the second day for more tastings of "andagi", an Okinawan round donut that is made like cake batter and deep fried. Yum! The "andada dog" was killer too. A hotdog on a stick, dipped in andagi batter and deep fried. It is similar to a corn dog, but has a lovely sweet taste. The "okinawan soba" was great too, even on a hot day, like today. Usually soba is made from buckwheat and served cold, but this Okinawan soba noodle was a thick noodle and served hot with slices of shoyu pork, fishcake, ginger and green onions. There was "maki sushi", toppings that are placed on rice and rolled in seaweed and sliced, ready to eat. And the "champuru plate" was a generous portion of stir fried vegetables, along with shoyu pork, rice. Even though there was much more food to try and my stomach was more than full, I had to have a shave ice, sit at the bandstand and watch some of the Okinawan entertainment.

After the entertainment I walked around to some of the tents to get some okinawan cultural~arts and crafts, specialty food items from Okinawa, the exhibit on the Battle of Okinawa, the country store full of fresh produce, a karate display and the bonsai exhibit. The first day's fun ended with the Okinawan Bon Dance and a greater knowledge of the Okinawan culture.