It starts with one.  11,111 Volunteers for the Ryukyu ICC 2010 Sept. - November 11th.

YUIMARU- is the Ryukyuan word for community cooperation in the Okinawa Dialect.

The International Coastal Cleanup organized by the Ocean Conservancy has been celebrated in Okinawa as the Okinawa Cleanup "YUIMARU"-ICC since 1993.  Starting this year to mark the 18th Anniversary the ICC in Okinawa and the 25th Anniversary of the worldwide ICC effort, the cleanups will be promoted as the Ryukyu ICC to better consolidate the efforts in Miyako and the Yaeyama Islands using on-line tools and mobile phones. 

We challenge our friends and partners to cleanup or adopt-a-beach.   The cleanup is unique as volunteers use standard Marine Debris Data Cards in order to collect valuable information about the trash on our beaches.

Become a Beach Captain and lead a cleanup in your area.  We ask that cleanups take place with a minimum of 2 volunteers and to keep larger cleanups manageable taking into consideration traffic safety, parking and other logistics.

A list of Hot Spots and approved beaches will be published shortly.

Become a Beach Scout and help us identify beaches in need.  Register on-line in order to upload pictures of coastal areas.

In 1992 Okinawa International Clean Beach Club (OICBC) members after launching the I Love Okinawa Campaign of monthly cleanups, heard about this worldwide network from a friend who was a PADI Instructor.  We became the Okinawa Ryukyu Islands Coordinator in 1992 with our first participation in 1993.  Okinawa O.C.E.A.N. took over the role in 1995.  In 2003 the organization became a "Specified Nonprofit Organization" and registered with the Okinawa Prefecture.