Hearts & Soul of Uruma April 7, 2010
Posted by Elisa Hough in Language, Music, Photos.Tags: Finger Five, hogen, Iha Gusuku, Ishikawa, King Records, Love Call 6700
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The other day we went up to these castle ruins, Iha Gusuku, overlooking the Ishikawa district of Uruma City.
My Wikipedia research couldn’t tell me anything about whether Ishikawa was built on a landfill after World War II, or whether it became the headquarters for the CIA, or why my mom wasn’t allowed to visit her friends who lived there when she was in high school.
It did tell me that “Uruma” was an old alternate name for Okinawa, coming from the Hogen terms for “coral” (uru) and “island” (ma).
It also told me that Uruma was home to “the Japanese Jackson Five,” a group called Finger Five. The four preteen brothers and one sister, from a native Okinawan family, peaked in the early ’70s, after releasing a few albums with King Records and touring the Okinawa military bases. They pretty much disappeared after trying to hit the big-time in Tokyo.
Here’s their best-known single, “Love Call 6700”:
oki yo! 