When the young women of Yap’s remote outer islands leave home to seek a college education, better work opportunities or medical care on the U.S. mainland, the risk of leaving their cultural traditions behind is very real.
In 1945, 722 U.S. Navy ships were anchored in the atoll of Ulithi, 100 miles east of the main island of Yap. This number is even larger than at Pearl Harbor.
The long, low sound of the conch shell announces the beginning of Yap Day, an annual holiday set aside to celebrate the unique culture of this remote island, one of the best-preserved in the entire Pacific region.
Yap? Where’s that? In Micronesia. Oh, you’re moving to Indonesia. No, Micro….Micronesia…in the far western Pacific Ocean just above the equator. Blank stare.
U.S. Air Force Capt. Clayton Barrus, a pilot assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, smiles at Staff Sgt. Adrian Pinnock, a flying crew chief assigned to the 909th Air Refueling Squadron, Kadena Air Base, Japan, before taking off in a KC-135 Stratotanker during Exercise Cope North 20 at Andersen Air Force Base, Guam,...
As a kid, every New Year I would look forward to a sweet jelly called kouhaku kanten. Kanten is a jelly made from boiled tengusa algae and seaweed. It is known for being low-calorie and rich in fiber, so it is often used as a healthy alternative to regular sweets.
Turmeric, or “ukon” in Japanese, is a kind of ginger, known as a spice for Indian curry, and in Japan, it is mostly recognized as a food that can help avoid hangover.
It has been said that food is the soul of a country. This couldn’t be truer for Okinawa. A mix of favorable natural conditions and diverse foreign influences produced unique eating habits and a cooking style that is now known as “Okinawan cuisine”.
