Miyakojima! 宮古島

The mainland is all well and good, in fact better than well and certainly better than good, but there other countries around here. Japan for example. Not that this tiny island that’s much closer to Hong Kong than it is to Tokyo is much like Japan as I know it. It’s just – itself!

Miyako belongs to Okinawa prefecture and has its own language and culture. And unlike China, Japan isn’t trying to eradicate this language and this culture. The Miyako people are – guess what – just getting on with it without interference!

Sure, they use hiragana, katakana and kanji (Chinese characters) but use the hiragana to write words in the Okinawa language.
Meanwhile Hong Kong is being flooded with simplified characters and the faux, esperanto-like Mandarin writing, the communist party’s take on Chinese history and with the Mandarin language itself.

It really makes me irate, vexed and dismayed.

宮古島 – Gong Gu Dou (Palace Ancient Island/Miyakojima)
日本 – Yat Bun (Sun Area/Japan)
簡體字 – Gan Tai Tsi (simplified characters)