Naha City Research Articles

Find Sites of the Pleistocene Man in Okinawa

Fossil bones of the Pleistocene man have been found at the Yamashitacho cave in Naha city and the Minatogawa quarry near the southern coast of the main island of Okinawa. Charcoal fragments from these two sites yielded the radiocarbon date 32, 100±1, 000y.B.P. and 18, 250± 650y.B.P., respectively.

Community Health Activities in a Remote Island (Kudaka Jima) in Okinawa Prefecture

Morbidity and use of medical care were studied to obtain adequate health indicators of community health in a remote island (Kudaka Jima) in Okinawa Prefecture. It is a typical remote island with its area of 1.5 square kilometers. Population of the island has been continuously decreasing since some 16 years ago, and in the present it is about 400 and is mainly composed of children and old people. So far, the islanders came from and moved to 18 districts in the main island of Okinawa. Among these districts M District in Naha City and Y Town are prominent in terms of number of people who came in and moved out. When people of this island get sick, they usually visit their relatives who reside in the main island and go to hospitals in the same district. A home-visit survey was conducted and it revealed that the main purpose of the people who visited their relatives in Y Town was to get medical care in an early stage and 80 percent of them came back to their own island in the same day. On the contrary, in cases of the islanders to Naha City, they had compartively severe diseases and stayed there one to two days in 61 percent and five days or more in 30 percent.

Tinea Capitis in Children of Ryukyu Islands

Under inspection of 14, 098 children in Okinawa Prefecture, 19 cases of tinea capitis were found. Age of patients were varied from 4 to 12. There were no difference between sexes. Causative fungi were Trichophyton glabrum, 15 cases; followed by T. violaceum, 3 cases; T. ferrugineum one case; T. rubrum, one case. Double infection with T. violaceum and T. rubrum was found in one boy of Naha City. Clinical features were common type of superficial tinea capitis, neither black dot nor kerion.

The Epidemiological Study on Leprosy in the Ryukyu Island

Recently the epidemiological improvement on leprosy disease in the Ryukyu Island has been observed. Leprosy Prevalence Rate (P. R.) and Leprosy Incidence Rate (I. R.) in the Island in 1970 were 1.97‰ and 0.088‰, but on the other hand the P. R. and the I. R. were 1.34‰ and 0.059‰ in 1975. So generally the leprosy epidemiological status in the Island has improved after the reversion of the Island to Japan in 1972. The drift of population to the urban areas from the rural areas has taken place from 1971, especially after the reversion. The rural areas (Miyako Islands, Yaeyama Islands and other Islands in Okinawa) have been sparsely populated and the urban araeas (Naha City, Urazoe City and their outskirts) have been rapidly grown in population.According to the drift of population, the geographical status on leprosy endemic in the Island has something been changed after 1971. In regard to leprosy onset place, the following change can be observed: in the Naha City (one of the urban areas) the total number of newly-detected patients was only 5 (I. R. 0.017‰) in 1969 but in 1974 was 20 (I. R. 0.065‰). On the other hand in Miyako Islands (one of the rural areas) the number was 38 (I. R. 0.552‰) in 1969 and in 1974 was 17 (I. R. 0.293‰).The another statistics shows as follows: The ratio of the annual newly detected patients in Naha City to total number all the Ryukyu Island was 5.2% in 1969 and 28.2% in 1974. But the ratio in Yaeyama Islands was 21.6% in 1969 and only 7% in 1974.So before the reversion, the endemic pattern on leprosy disease was as follows: Leprosy infection and onset have occured in the same place in the rural areas. But after the reversion, the pattern was changed as follows: Leprosy infection has occured in the rural areas and the disease developed in the urban areas.The phenomenon of the change on leprosy onset place in the Ryukyu Island after the reversion seems to be caused by the movement of population, by social developement in the rural areas and also by the improvement of leprosy endemic status in the Islands.From the fact described above, it may be concluded that leprosy control programs in the urban areas in the Island should be more emphasized in the furture.

The Problems for Urban Development in Okinawa

The purpose of this paper is to provide the problems underlie in urban areas of Okinawa prefecture. These areas have two main characteristics. The first one is that the construction of the main cities in Okinawa were greatly influenced by the U. S. Military base. The second is that many of the functions are over concentrated in Naha city, the largest city of Okinawa, and in turn, this fact has produced so many problems to be solved for a future expansion or development of the economy.This report, therefore, tries to present such urban problems as reallocation of city functions, trafic, economic stability of cities, and etc., and to point out a necessity of big projects needed to solve the above mentioned problems.

Excavation Report of the Yamashita-cho Cave Site, Naha-shi, Okinawa

The fossil bones of the pleistocene man were found at the Yamshita-cho Cave Site in Naha city, Okinawa Prefecture. Cave deposits were divided as follows.Human skeltal remains were excavated from the layer VI just under the layers III and V, the charcoal of which was dated as 32, 100±1, 000 yr. B. P. (TK-78).

A new race of Buteo buteo from Minamidaito I., Borodino Is

Type: Possibly male, a live specimen at examination on Oct. 22, 1970. Six years and fivemonths old. Collected on May 4, 1964 as new-born chick by Mr. K. Yonamine on Minamidaito I., Borodino Is. and has been reared and being kept alive by Mr. Masao Oshiro in Naha City, Oki-nawa I.Measurements: Total L. 470mm, Wing Exp. 1050mm, Wing 330mm (Natural), 340mm (Pres-sed), Tarsus 64mm, Culmen 31mm (Entire), 24mm (From cere). For comparison, the measurements in 10_??__??_, 6_??__??_ of japonicus (from Japan) are: Wing (Natural) _??__??_ 348-368 (Av. 354. 5)mm, _??__??_ 363-373 (Av. 367. 6)mm; Tail _??__??_ 187-210 (Av. 195.6)mm, _??__??_ 205-210 (Av. 207.5)mm (Measured by the author).Description: Similar to Bnteo buteo japonicus as a whole, but is generally more reddish, the tectrices and rectrices being almost chestnut color with distinct regular dark bands. The sides of head, supercilliaries and ear-coverts, as well as foreneck at crop region are distinctly tawny buff.The typical japonicus is buffy white in these regions, and wings and tail lack chestnut color(though there is a weak wash of this color on primaries) and with less regular dark bands, the tail being usually uniformly pale greyish brown. However, the flank pattern is of japonicus-type (Cf. Photos). There is no similarly reddish and so distinctly banded example among Japanese specimens preserved in Yamashina Institute, and is also different from larger-sized continental reddish and banded phase.Range: Minamidaito I., Borodino Is. (The first record).Remarks: Having examined only one bird, it is not clear whether its plumage pattern represents whole Minamidaito population. However, it is reasonable that a darker (redder) population has been established on this southern island. It is decidedly smaller in size than japonicus. Its subspecific name is dedicated to Mr. Oshiro who has reared it from chick. The nest was found by Mr. Yonamine with three eggs which soon hatched but a late hatched chick had disappeared when he examined the nest three hours later. The two chicks were taken by him and one of them was given to Mr. Oshiro.

Structure and Characteristics of Commercial Functions of Naha City

Structure and Characteristics of Commercial Functions of Naha City