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Okinawa Bookstore Grand Prize おきなわしょてんたいしょう

Edition 11 (2025)

Novel CategoryLocal Book CategoryLiterary Book CategoryChildren's Book CategoryPicture Book CategoryOkinawa Category

Winners

8 people
Kohei Toyonaga とよなが こうへい grand prize

Chichi nu Haiya, Unma nu Hai follows Okinawa's wartime and postwar history through the voices of fourteen people from different times and positions. With the rhythms of Okinawan language and the saying that life is precious as its guide, it traces voices from a place layered with violence, memory, and time.

Okinawan language and fourteen voices excavate layers of memory spanning the war.

160 pages
Battle of Okinawapostwar historyOkinawan languagememorylife is precious
Sora Egumi そら えぐみ grand prize

The eighth volume of a coming-of-age romantic comedy in which Teruaki, a transfer student in Okinawa, spends his school days with Hina Kyan, who speaks Uchinaguchi, and Kana Higa, who helps interpret it. When newcomer Kamitsuma begins to understand Hina, Teruaki, who thought he had adapted first, finds himself unexpectedly unsettled.

As the words become easier to understand, everyday life in Okinawa begins to look a little different.

144 pages
OkinawaUchinaguchitransfer studentsyouthschool romantic comedy
伊波貢 いは みつぐ runner-up grand prize

A practical guide to the habits and perspectives of people who live and work in Okinawa, examined by an author with experience in the regional economy. Through everyday examples involving language, attitudes toward time, food culture, and ways of making requests at work, it offers newcomers a perspective on understanding daily life in Okinawa.

An introduction to the local sensibilities that shape life and work in Okinawa.

160 pages
Okinawan culturelocal customsbusinesshuman relationshipsrelocation and transfers
Yasuyuki Nakama きじー excellence award

An accessible adventure guide in which Kidzy, who has lived close to Okinawa's sea and mountains, shares 47 lessons learned through play and life in nature. It introduces reading the weather, spending time safely by water and in forests, finding food, and preparing for injury or getting lost, inviting children to see the natural world as a teacher.

Nature is our teacher. Learn how to live alongside the sea and mountains through the wisdom of Okinawa Tarzan Kidzy.

128 pages
Okinawan natureoutdoor activitiessurvival skillslearning for childrenliving alongside wildlife
大田吉子 おおた よしこ excellence award

90-sai no Obaa no Gokigen na Hitorigurashi was a nominated title in the Okinawa category of the 11th Okinawa Bookstore Grand Prize, not a prize recipient.

Masaya Muroi むろい まさや excellence award

Okinawa no Obentoya-san Oen Guidebook was nominated in the Okinawa category of the 11th Okinawa Shoten Award, but it was not a prize recipient.

Pia Editorial Department ぴあへんしゅうぶ excellence award

A guide to cafés and restaurants nestled in Okinawa's abundant greenery. It introduces mountain hideaways, renovated traditional homes, and seats overlooking both sea and foliage, inviting readers to step away from everyday bustle.

A guide for seeking a cup of coffee and a meal amid Okinawa's forests and greenery.

84 pages
Okinawan cafésDining in green spacesNature and travelLocal establishments
柴田ケイコ しばた けいこ grand prize

When the Bread Thief delivers bread to the Cocco family's farm, he learns that someone is ravaging the fields and sets out to investigate. As he lands in trouble, Ringo Kamen, a new heroine who seems both dependable and rather uncertain, appears in this humorous picture book set on a fruit farm.

Who is Ringo Kamen, the heroine who appears at the fruit farm and seems helpful yet somehow suspicious?

32 pages
Helping one anotherFruit farmA hero of justiceHumor