shimanchupenpals

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals February 2022 Sign Ups are now open from Jan. 28- Feb.4! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than Feb. 7th.

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #shimanchudiaspora #okinawa #okinawan #okinawanpenpals #okinawandiaspora #okinawadiaspora #ryukyu #ryuukyuu #loochoo #Liuchiu

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals December Sign Ups are now open from Dec. 3-10! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than Dec. 13th.

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#ryukyu #ryuukyuu #okinawa #okinawan #okinawanpenpals #okinawandiaspora #okinawadiaspora #Liuchiu #loochoo #shimanchupenpals #penpals #penpal

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals August Sign Ups are now open from Oct. 29-Nov 5th! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than Nov. 8th.

Artwork created by Co of Shimanchu Hajichi Revival! <3

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #shimanchudiaspora #okinawa #okinawan #okinawandiaspora #okinawanpenpals #okinawadiaspora #Liuchiu #loochoo #ryukyu #ryuukyuu #penpals #penpal #letterwriting

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals October Sign Ups are now open from October 01 to October 8th! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than October 11th.

Sign up here!

#shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #shimanchudiaspora #penpals #ryukyu #ryuukyuu #okinawa #okinawan #okinawandiaspora #okinawadiaspora #okinawanpenpals

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals September Sign Ups are now open from August 27 to September 3rd! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than September 6th.

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #okinawan #okinawa #okinawandias #ryukyu #loochoo #penpals #沖縄 #uchina #uchinanchu #snailmail

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals August Sign Ups are now open from July 23-July 30th! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than August 2nd.

This awesome goya illustration created by Mariko Middleton  <3

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #shimanchudiaspora #okinawa #okinawadiaspora #penpals #ryukyu #loochoo #liuchiu

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals July Sign Ups are now open from June 25-July 2nd! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than July 5th.

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#shimanchupenpals #shimanchu #shimanchudiaspora #okinawa #okinawan #okinawandiaspora #okinawanpenpals #ryukyu #penpals #loochoo #liuchiu

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals June Sign Ups are now open from May 21st-May 28th! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than May 31st.

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#okinawanpenpals #okinawa #okinawan #shimanchupenpals #shimanchu #ryukyu #penpals #penpal #snailmail #okinawandiaspora #loochoo #okinawadiaspora #letterwriting

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals May Sign Ups are now open till April 30th! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than May 3rd. 

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]! 

#shimanchupenpals #shimanchu #okinawa #okinawadiaspora #uchinanchu #ryukyu #ryuukyuu #loochoo #liuchiu #penpals #letterwriting #snailmail

[shimanchupenpals]

Shimanchu Pen Pals April Sign-Ups are now open till April 2nd! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than April 5th.

Sign Up Here

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected]!

#shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #okinawa #okinawan #ryukyu #loochoo #uchinanchu #okinawadiaspora #shimanchudiaspora #penpals #snailmail

[shimanchupenpals]

March 2021- Sign Ups Open

Shimanchu Pen Pals March Sign-Ups are now open till February 26th! I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than February 28th.

Sign Up Here

I haven’t finalized the format but I think I’m sticking with February’s format unless there’s a lot of feedback against it.

Also, I know there were still a handful of February Pen Pals that didn’t get their letters yet, so hopefully they’ll get to you soon!

#shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #okinawa #okinawan #uchinanchu #uchinaanchu #ryukyu #okinawadiaspora #shimanchudiaspora #penpals #snailmail

[shimanchupenpals]

Why are the Ryukyuan Languages Endangered?

CW: Mentions of war and violence

All of the native languages of the Ryukyu Islands (Uchinaaguchi, Myaakufutsu, Yanbaru Kutuuba, Shimayumuta, Yaimamuni, and Dunan-Munai) are UNESCO listed endangered languages. This means that the languages are not getting passed down from generation to generation, and are at a high risk of being lost completely without efforts to revitalize them. How did they get to this point?

The beginning of the decline of Shimakutuba (Ryukyuan languages) can be traced to 1879, which is when the Ryukyu Kingdom was forcibly annexed, i.e. colonized, by Japan. Upon this act, the Japanese government swiftly enacted assimilationist policies to integrate Ryukyuans into the Japanese nation-state. This involved banning Ryukyuan languages in all public spheres and, educating them only in the Japanese language. To Ryukyuans, Japanese was a foreign language, and if they spoke Shimakutuba in schools, they were punished for doing so. This punishment for speaking Shimakutuba often involved having to wear something called a “Hougen Fuda” (Dialect Tag) around their necks. Calling the Ryukyuan languages “hougen” (dialect) was a psychological tactic, still used even today, to erase and deny the existence of the languages. Even Shimanchu today refer to their native languages as “hougen”, unaware of how harmful and incorrect this term is. I asked several Japanese people and foreigners living in Japan if they knew Okinawa had its own languages- not a single person did.

Going back to the hougen fuda, typically, the unfortunate student who was given this punishment had to keep wearing it until another student was caught speaking Shimakutuba. Sometimes, kids would stomp on another kid’s foot to get them to say “Agaa!” which means “Ow!” in Uchinaaguchi in order to pass off the hougen fuda. As you could imagine, this experience was quite traumatic, and it caused Ryukyuans to associate their native languages with pain and punishment. 

In addition, in public buildings (City Hall, etc), Ryukyuans sometimes wouldn’t get served if they spoke in Shimakutuba. They had to speak Japanese to get things done.

These experiences, as bad as they were, don’t even compare to what Ryukyuans went through in the Battle of Okinawa. The Battle of Okinawa was one of the deadliest battles to have taken place during WWII. Nearly one out of every three Ryukyuans died in it. Most of those who died were civilians, or forcibly conscripted into the Japanese army. Japan intentionally built up their troops in Okinawa as a way to delay the US Army from entering “mainland” Japan. Okinawans were dispensable in the eyes of the Japanese state. Some Okinawans were pushed in front of Japanese soldiers to be used as human shields. Okinawans who spoke in Shimakutuba were sometimes suspected to be spies, and then shot.

With all of this trauma from speaking Shimakutuba, it is understandable why many Shimanchu decided not to pass it down to their children. They began developing an inferiority complex towards their own native language, as the Japanese language became more prestigious and economically advantageous. Shimakutuba is generally not taught in schools, and there isn’t much funding available for it. However, this is not to say there isn’t interest in it. In surveys, many Shimanchu youth state that they wish they could speak Shimakutuba in order to understand their grandparents. Without Shimakutuba, this intergenerational connection is getting broken, and young Shimanchu are unable to understand many things in their culture, such as sanshin music, Ryukyuan literature, poetry, historical records, etc. Without the language, we lose an essential component of our culture. The Ryukyuan identity is at stake.

This is why I am learning Uchinaaguchi. This is a language that should have been passed down to me if only my people were allowed to speak it. The more Uchinaaguchi I learn, the more I understand my culture. My grandparents have already passed on, but if I can speak Uchinaaguchi, I could know the sounds that came out of their mouths, and learn their Indigenous way of thinking through the language. I could feel more connected to them, and all of my ancestors.

I am fortunate to have learned why my heritage language is endangered, and to have the ability (time/money) to pursue learning it. However, most young Ryukyuans are unaware of this history, as it isn’t taught much in mainstream Japanese education. I’m not sure exactly how to reverse the cause of the decline in Shimakutuba, but I will do my best to learn it and help other Shimanchu who want to learn it. ちばらやー!

https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2012/05/19/national/okinawans-push-to-preserve-unique-language/

https://apjjf.org/-Patrick-Heinrich/3138/article.html

Anderson, M., & Heinrich, P. (Eds.). (2014). Language crisis in the Ryukyus. Cambridge Scholars Publishing.

[shimanchupenpals]

February 2021- Sign-Ups Open

February signs-ups are now open! 

Please fill out the Google Forms here

Sign-ups for February will close on January 29th and I will follow up via email with participation guidelines and the name/address of your match no later than January 31st.

Please feel free to invite your friends and family to participate! Also if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].

#penpals #shimanchu #shimanchupenpals #okinawan #okinawa #okinawanpenpals #uchinaanchu #ryukyu #okinawandiaspora

[shimanchupenpals]

Hai Sai!

Thank you for your interest in the pen pal program*! This community will mostly be focused on connecting people in the Uchinaanchu (Okinawan) diaspora, but everyone is welcome to join! When matching up friends, people who are interested in connecting with other Uchinaanchu will take priority, but we will match you with a pen pal even if you don't identify as Uchinaanchu!

I'm so excited to get this going and I hope you all have fun!

*This program is snail mail based! After you've connected with your pen pal, you are free to connect via email, social media, etc if that is of interest to you.

[shimanchupenpals]

Format

For February, you will only get one pen pal to write to for the month, so hopefully there will be more time to write to each other. When I pair you up with your pen pal, I will include both of you together in that email, so it’s not a big mystery who you will be expecting a letter from. In the email I will indicate who will send the first letter, just to make things easier. You can then write back and forth as you see fit!

We are still testing out different formats, but feel free to provide me any feedback in the meantime so we can make this experience as best as possible.

Find us on Instagram @Shimanchupenpals and tag us #shimanchupenpals

Happy letter writing!

[shimanchupenpals]

Guidelines

Please be respectful of your pen pals privacy. I encourage to share images of your letters but please block out information of mailing addresses/personal info

Be as creative as you want with your mail, but also there’s no pressure in keeping it simple (perfection is not the goal)

Be courteous and treat others as you want to be treated (if you sign up, PLEASE make it a priority to participate)

Be compassionate and empathetic; treat the recipient as you would a friend

Things to mindful of:

Assumptions, accusations, generalizations, hate speech, etc. 

Being respectful

Feel free to share any other contact info (like email or social media info) with your pen pal if you want to