いしがき起業ガレッジ、受講生募集

「いしがき起業ガレッジ」は石垣市主催の起業創業支援プログラム。石垣市の特有の風土と個人の世界観を掛け合わせることで、地域に根ざした持続可能なビジネスの創出を支援するとともに地域の課題解決に寄与することを目指す。2025年８月30日より始まり、基礎編、共創編を経て、来年2月には市民参加可能な成果発表会を予定している。

McDonald's Ishigakijima store grand opening on July 25th

Approximately six months after the closure of the McDonald's attached to San-A, the new McDonald's Ishigakijima store will have its grand opening at 10:30 am on July 25th. The stand-alone McDonald's Ishigakijima store will have a new look with a modern exterior, and the interior will be decorated with lights reminiscent of ketchup, fries, and straws, as well as McDonald's signature red and yellow chairs, welcoming customers in a stylish and bright atmosphere.

Weeding carried out in the Yamahara area. Local residents cooperate to protect the environment.

On Tuesday, June 17, 2025, the Yamahara Neighborhood Association (Chairman: Ichiro Asami, permanent population 57) conducted a mass grass cutting on the main roads within Yamahara village. This is an annual event to protect the local nature and landscape, and 11 neighborhood association members participated. The grass cutting work began at 9:00 a.m. and took approximately two and a half hours to carefully prepare the designated area. Despite it being a weekday, many residents cooperated with the work, contributing to the beautification of the village environment.

The 88th Occupational Basketball Tournament will be held on June 15th.

The 88th Occupational Basketball Tournament (18th Futaba Construction Machinery Cup), a regional workplace basketball tournament, will be held at the Yaeyama Agriculture and Forestry High School gymnasium on Sunday, June 15, 2025. This year, Ishigaki City Hall, JTA, JP Labor Union, Bank of Okinawa, JGSDF (Japan Self-Defense Forces), and Izakaya "Urashima Taro" will participate, with a total of eight teams battling it out.

✈ Taiwan is now much closer to Ishigaki! Tigerair Taiwan launches new Ishigaki-Taipei route [from 8,000 yen one way]

Calling for donations to build Koshijobushi song monument

The committee for the construction of a monument to the song "Echijo-bushi," an ancient folk song that originated in Shinjo (Kamiji Island), was formed and fundraising activities have begun. The association is moving forward with plans to erect a monument to the song on Shinjo Kamiji Island, and is calling for donations from local friends and people in the entertainment industry with a goal of raising 5.05 million yen in total.

Ishigaki City's first dedicated children's center opens in Shinkawa

The first dedicated children's center in Ishigaki City, the Shinkawa Children's Center, has been completed on the west side of the Shinkawa housing complex. An opening ceremony was held on January 6th prior to the opening. The Shinkawa Children's Center was built by the city using a subsidy for the promotion of the revitalization of local residential functions, at a total cost of 679.61 million yen. The facility is fully equipped with a gymnasium, three multipurpose rooms, a creative activity room, a kitchen, toilets, shower rooms, and more.

Land, history, culture, people. A new style of tourism begins at YAIMA

Ethical consumption is consumption that is kind to the environment, society, and people. At MoFF2024, an event that connects the various ethical trends happening in local areas, Yoshida Tomoatsu of Yoshida Sabani Shipbuilding in Kuura took the stage to talk about "tourism that draws out the power of the region."

Swinging frog. And feeling frog.

When people from other regions don't understand the words they use, that's when most people realize, "Oh, that's a dialect!" When I'm curious about a dialect, I'm the type to look it up in a dictionary rather than on the internet, but the words we use are subtly different from the traditional Yaeyama dialect. The original meaning of a word may be narrower, or conversely, it may be broader...

A story that is hard to notice

Here's a question! "If there's no kaane~, let's go to the sea~♪" - this part of "Ojii Jiman no Orion Beer/BEGIN" has an expression that is different from standard Japanese, but where is it? Incidentally, here is also the sentence-ending expression "〇〇sa~" that mainlanders often use when imitating the Okinawan dialect, but that's not what we're looking at today. Try looking in one more place. I'll give you a hint. In "National Route 508/BEGIN" there's the part that goes "Let's load up the white truck~♪". Here, too, the same Yaeyama-specific expression as before is used. Did you get it?

No, that person is "Oji-san"

I'll tell you a scary story. It's about when I went to an izakaya run by a friend of a friend on the main island of Okinawa. The owner was in his forties and was a very kind man who offered me food and drinks even though we had just met.

Did you p-puff? Did you p-puff?

Imagine this. You're alone with someone. You're driving a car. The windows are closed. If you smell poop, you'll probably think, "Did this guy poop?"

Is the language of Ishigaki an Okinawan dialect?

"Say something in the Yaeyama dialect!" If you are from Yaeyama, this is a phrase that you will have heard at some point in your life, or maybe many times. At such times, what would you tell people outside the island as the Yaeyama dialect? "Haisai" or "Menso-re"? No, in fact, neither "Haisai" nor "Menso-re" are words that our island ancestors actually spoke.