NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Fumiko Ikari used to spend hours listening to Japanese radio, mimicking broadcasters' inflections and trying to purge all traces of the Okinawa dialect from her speech.
"I used to be so ashamed of my accent and the Okinawan phrases I used as a girl," Ikari said. "I wanted to be just like people in Tokyo."
Luckily, Ikari was unable to rid herself of the language her parents had taught her. So in 1982, Radio Okinawa got its first female "dialect broadcaster." Reporting news in dialect over the airwaves for Radio Okinawa, Ikari now fights to keep alive what she remembers of her heritage.
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