Consulate Specialist Supports Preservation of Okinawa Artifacts

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Naha Consulate General Public Affairs Specialist Fujii Takayasu wrote a series of articles for the Ryukyu Shimpo newspaper on Okinawan cultural artifacts stored in the United States (Japanese only).

In the first article, which appeared on May 25, Takayasu described her successful efforts to convince the U.S. government to do something special for Okinawa as a part of United States participation in the 2000 G-8 Summit in Okinawa. That "something special" was to send three Okinawan art experts to the United States on a State Dept. International Visitors' Program (IVP) grant to investigate for one month the methods the U.S. uses for dealing with the problem of stolen artifacts.

Afterwards, the Okinawa Prefectural Government, on the advice of the three returned curators, formally registered with the Federal Bureau of Investigation a list of Okinawan artifacts reported stolen, including the crown of the king of the former Ryukyu Kingdom and 11 portraits of succeeding Ryukyu kings.

According to Ms. Takayasu, there is a popular misconception in Okinawa that most artifacts in the United States are war booty. However, as she makes clear in the series, that is actually not the case, with most of the artifacts in the United States having been legally purchased or obtained as far back as the late 1880s. Note: Based on her interest in the subject, Ms. Takayasu obtained a master's degree from Ryukyu University. Her studies trace the history of such artifacts.