Hi, guys! My name is Eri and I’ll be writing about Japanese culture, events in Japan, and also answering questions about Japanese! I’ll also be creating Japanese Language videos with Nick! Hope you’ll enjoy them! ヨロシク〜 
Summer is the busiest season for Miyakojima. (Miyakojima is a small sub-tropical island of Okinawa. It is located about half way between Mainland of Okinawa and Taiwan.)
We get the largest number of tourists around this time of the year, the kids are out of school, and yes, lots of events to go to!! 
Yesterday, Nick and I attended the Orion Beer Festival here in Miyakojima. Orion Beer is Okinawa’s most famous beer company, and they hold this festival every year.I must say, people here looooooove to get together and DRINK!! It seems the entire island comes to this festival and enjoys time with family and friends.
The festival had several live performances including sanshin, taiko, and more modern music as well. And of course, beer!
*a list of Japanese vocabulary with English translations can be found at the bottom of the page.
Okinawan Drum Dance (琉球太鼓：Ryukyu Daiko)
The type of music used for Okinawan Drum Dance is called “エイサー”. It is a traditional Okinawan music for 盆踊り(Bonodori).
Its choreography is inspired from Karate moves. Karate was originally founded in Okinawa.
I love Ryukyu Daiko! It is かっこいい (kakkoii)！
a local band called “Kagihana Band”
Kampai (カンパイ！）with Orion Campaign Girls
A local band called “Harvesta” performed a type of reggae rap.
And, Today’s special Live performed by BENI. She does TV Commercials for Orion’s.
Japanese Words List
ビール – Beer
カンパイ（乾杯）- Cheers
かっこいい – Looks cool!
盆踊り-ぼんおどり- Japanese traditional grouped dance for Summer time
This program was really great and I enjoyed a lot……… Thanks
Everything was great and I liked very much.
Hi, Swetha
I’m glad that you enjoyed the article! Hope you will enjoy the next one too!
When I graduate I would love to come with my friends to this festival — it looks and sounds soo interesting!
Hi Kate, Thanks for your comment. The festivals here in Miyakojima are a blast. They really get everyone involved and there are a lot of great performances. What will you be graduating from?
Hey does anyone the the guitarist’s name that played in the white clothes before Beni? I wanna know the the song name where they say eiyasasa in it. Does anyone know?
Dereck, Thanks for the comment. It sounds like you are referring to the woman who was dressed in white playing the sanshin. The guy she was playing with was called Kagihana band (美ぎ花バンド), but I don’t think she is normally a part of his band (not really sure about this). I hope that helps and Good Luck!
Hey Nick, thanks for the reply. No it was a guy in white with a guitar and the other guy was playing an acoustic and the other guy was just say eiya sa sa every now and then and he busted a rap in the middle of the solo. Do you remember? They had like 4 songs and I remember he said in english on one, “I just wanna keep on singing” . Thanks.
I just looked through the pics and the group that went on before Beni, was ハーベスタ. They were wearing yellow t-shirts, but there was one guy playing a guitar and they do kind of a raggae rap. Was that who you were thinking of? I think this is their page here: http://www.myspace.com/harvestajp
I’m looking for the song that they use at the start of all the beer festivals. They play it here in Okinawa, Ishigaki and Miyako. We made it to all four this year. (there’s two in Oki) The song they use is not a commercial song. I met the president of the Orion co. but was star struck and forgot to ask. Does anybody know?
Hi, Ron. Unfortunately, I wasn’t there at the very beginning and so wasn’t able to hear that song. I wish you the best of luck in finding it though.
Hey Nick,
I’m going to take a trip up to the factory in November. Maybe I can convince someone there to hook me up with the song
Ron, is the song the official song for Orion Beer?
Nick, It’s the song they use at the start of all of the festivals. I don’t know if they call it the “Official Song” or not I gotta keep looking!
Hi Ron. Sorry I can’t be of more help. I wasn’t there for the very opening and so I don’t think I heard the song.
I found the song! I talked to the president of the Orion company and he couldn’t get the song. But then I thought, “why talk to him”? I asked one of the PA guys and bingo! Picked it up on CD yesterday. It was almost a year long quest but SUCCESS!
Hey Ron, Congrats. You must really like the song. So what was the name of it?