赤い花 -Blood Hibiscus

"Blood Hibiscus" is a song inspired by the memory of the tragedy in the Islands of Okinawa. During the W.W.II., Okinawan brave Islanders were forced to sacrifice themselves for the purpose of protecting the "Mainland" Japan. Most of them were not soldiers nor treated as the close kin of Japan, but they had to lay down their lives for just buying some time for the country about to be doomed. Weeks and months of harsh attack by the most powerful force on the globe over the tiny Ryukyu islands took place, one in four civilians lost their lives during the period. it is told that the all the Hibiscus flowers blooming around the islands were burnt to ashes and all the sea, that were filled with tropical colors from the ancient times was covered with the blood. Since then, until now, Okinawan Islands has turned into a complex island with concentrated U.S. bases greatest in East Asia while remaining as Japanese territory. Burdened the role of being the "Key Stone of the Pacific," Beautiful southern Islands of Okinawa has been in the double bind situation. Current relocation of U.S. Marine air station in Futenma to the off-shore of Henoko is once again threating her share of peace and stability of the region. The red flower of Hibiscus is called "Akabana" or "Deido" in local language, symbolizes the lives of people lost in the tragedy and stands for the braveness of people who will overcome the hardness no matter what.