2026 Champloo Okinawa Identity Symposium Flyer.jpg

Champloo: An Okinawa Identity Symposium

An Inaugural Identity Symposium, Exploring Identity, Heritage, and Community Across Generations.

About the Symposium

The Okinawan community continues to evolve across generations, geographies, and lived experiences.

Many Uchinānchu today navigate identities that are simultaneously Okinawan, Japanese, American, mixed-race, multilingual, and multicultural. As these identities continue to expand, there is a growing opportunity to deepen conversations around belonging, heritage, and community.

The Okinawa Identity Symposium creates a dedicated space to explore these questions through scholarship, storytelling, cultural expression, and dialogue with emphasis on the East Coast experience.

Event Details

Our program will feature a keynote address, four moderated panel discussions, dinner, cultural performance, and opportunities for mingling, networking, and community building.

Our four panels will be:

Okinawa Across Borders — Geographic & Identity Perspectives
Kenjinkai Conversations — Community, Connection & Belonging
Reclaiming Ryukyu — Identity, Scholarship & Academia
Evolving Okinawan Spaces + Diaspora Futures

Schedule

12:30pm | Doors

1:00pm - 5:30pm | Event

Opening Performances: New York Okinawa Club & Jimpukai
Keynote: Annmaria Shimabuku, NYU EAS
Panel 1: Geographic & Identity Perspectives
- Moderator: Maia Hibbett
- Mitzi Uehara Carter
- Momi Cummings
Panel 2: Kenjinkai Conversations
- Moderator: Mariko Sakiyama Middleton | President, Okinawa American Association of New York
- Linda Asato | President, Chicago Okinawa Kenjinkai
- Nariko Addaman | President, Fayetteville Okinawa Kenjinkai
Panel 3: Reclaiming Ryukyu
- Co Shigeko Lewis (Hajichi)
- Lex McClellan Ufugusuku (History)
- Zack Edwards (Uchinaaguchi Language)
Panel 4: Evolving Okinawan Spaces + Diaspora Futures
- Moderator: Yumi Sakugawa