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Okinawa group eyes interpretation monuments
The Micronesian Repatriation Association of Okinawa, led by its chairman, Taira Zenichi, who was born on Saipan during the Japanese time, is collaborating with the Saipan Mayor’s Office and the Marianas Visitors Authority to put up interpretation monuments in different sites in the CNMI that will remind younger Okinawans of the time when many of their elders still lived in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Micronesian Repatriation Association of Okinawa chair Taira Zenichi, center, and MRA Okinawa member Kaminten Kensei are working with local officials to put up interpretation monuments on Saipan. (Contributed Photo)
The sites where the monuments will be placed are at the Fishing Base, CNMI Museum, Taro Sue Store, and Susupe Beach Park, reflecting to areas where these former CNMI residents grew up. The group completed the construction of monuments on Tinian last year. This year they are on Saipan and next year they will be constructing on Rota.
Zenichi shared how important it is to build these monuments as a lot of their members are passing on and he’s always had the feeling that the CNMI is his second home away from Okinawa and will never forget the close ties Okinawans and the CNMI share in both history and culture. (PR)
