Photo By Cpl. Thomas Sheng | Nirai, a dragon boat racing team, celebrates after winning the men’s bracket during...... read more read more
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NANJO CITY, OKINAWA, Japan – U.S. Marines with Security Guard Force, Camp Courtney, join the local Japanese population to compete in an annual dragon boat race on Ojima Island, June 21.
Okinawa adopted dragon boat racing around 600 years ago from China. Today, these races draw large crowds in the southern areas of Okinawa, with the most popular locations being Naha, Itoman, and Nanjo cities.
Ojima Island, located in Nanjo City, hosts races in heats of three teams, with each team consisting of 11 members. Ten members row while the last individual steers. Each race requires each team to make two U-turns and a full lap across Ojima Island’s water passage to finish the race.
The Camp Courtney Sea Monkeys, along with other American-dominated teams joined the races. The Sea Monkeys is composed of 11 Marines from rotating SGF squads based out of Camp Courtney.
“This was our team’s first experience with dragon boat racing,” said U.S. Marine Corps Cpl. Reis Hermanson, an infantry rifleman with SGF, Camp Courtney. “We thought we were going to embarrass ourselves, but we performed well, finished the race, and enjoyed ourselves.”
According to Hermanson, the Sea Monkeys weighed over 2000 pounds in the boat. During practices, the Sea Monkeys found their main problem was capsizing the boat while completing the course. They had two practices before race day to work on fundamentals with Japanese instructors and their focus was to maintain balance while navigating through the sharp turns during the race without accidentally flipping over.
When the final race day came, the Sea Monkeys successfully completed the entire race without flipping over. Members of the local news approached them after they finished, to celebrate with them and ask about their experience.
“Coming to this event was definitely worth it. It was tons of fun,” said Lance Cpl. Trey Girard, a supply administrator and operations specialist with SGF. “No one decides to enlist with the expectation to compete in a dragon boat race, but it’s a good opportunity to experience something that you might not find stateside.”
Local schools and businesses were excused for the day to either attend or compete. People of all ages attended the event and enjoyed the food and beverages provided. Children won prizes from playing carnival-style games at pop-up stations.
“We have a huge culture surrounding our beautiful ocean landscape,” said Tomoya Gima, a facility planning specialist with Naval Facility Engineering Systems Command. “I'm hoping more people decide to participate in these dragon boat races, because some American service members have started racing here in Okinawa and went on to compete at an international level.”
Gima, a paddler for the Takara Harlee Club and Okinawa Dragon Boat Team, has 25 years of experience in dragon boat racing. He was also selected to represent Japan as one of the paddlers in the 16th International Dragon Boat Federation World Nations Championships in Thailand in August 2023.
“Dragon boat racing is a good environment for sharing our culture, you can be a part of this no matter your gender, culture, nationality, or trade.” said Gima. “Some of our team members frequently teach paddling to foreigners, and through this we can share our experience and culture.”
The Yasha Dragons, Summer Dragons, Sabani Soul Sisters, and Gunners were other teams where U.S. service members or dependents filled majority of the team roster. Team Nirai won the men’s bracket and Gunners won the women’s bracket.
“When you're in a country like Japan there’s so many experiences that you’re not going to have anywhere else, so it’s important to experience new things like this,” said Hermanson. “It also shows that we respect the culture of the host nation and that we want to be a part of their environment.”
| Date Taken: | 06.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.09.2023 21:35 |
| Story ID: | 448603 |
| Location: | NANJO CITY, OKINAWA, JP |
| Web Views: | 79 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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