Sporting connections

From November 11 to 15, the Okinawa Youth Basketball Team, consisting of students selected from senior and junior high schools, took part in three friendly games over five days.

They played against a Fujian men's youth basketball team and the Xiamen University's youth basketball team.

The Japanese teenagers, aged 14 to 17, were visiting Fujian for the first time, but said they did not find Fuzhou unfamiliar.

Tenshiro Hayashi from Okinawa Prefectural Okinawa Suisan High School said: "Fuzhou feels quite familiar to us. It shares many similarities with Okinawa in terms of lifestyle, cuisine and culture."

Since Okinawa and Fujian established sister province-prefecture relations, exchanges and cooperation in various fields such as economy, trade, tourism, people-to-people exchanges, and youth exchanges have achieved fruitful results.

The Fukushu-En Garden, now a famous tourist attraction in Okinawa's Naha, was jointly constructed.

The garden, rich in traditional Chinese aesthetics, faithfully replicates Fuzhou's iconic landscapes and has become a symbol of friendship between Fuzhou and Naha.

Fuzhou is also home to the Ryukyu-Kan Museum, a testament to Ryukyu's exchanges with Fujian and a tourist attraction enjoyed by Japanese tourists.

Last month, a delegation of 22 youths from Okinawa visited Fuzhou. Young volunteers from Fuzhou University of International Studies and Trade accompanied the delegation members to visit cultural attractions with Ryukyu connections.

"When I showed my Okinawan friends how people in both Fujian and Ryukyu worship Mazu (Goddess of the Sea) and share the same cultural heritage of Chinese characters, the surprise in their eyes made me deeply aware of the power of preserving history and tradition," said Lin Yuyang, a Japanese language major.

Yang Jie, Wang Jingyao and Xu Yidan contributed to this story.