The Ungami, sometimes pronounced "Unjami," Matsuri or festival is held each August in tiny Shioya, part of the Ogimi Village governmental unit along Okinawa's northwestern coast. Shioya is a beautiful little fishing village with a large back bay. This protected bay offers the locals a unique opportunity to hold boat races in traditional "sabani" boats, often used for "Hari" or dragon boat races. It is also one of the premire sites in Japan for sculling. The festival is noted for it's prayer rituals. Prayers are primarily the duty of the women and every other year, they hold special "Women Only" prayer vigils in sacred groves. But each and every year the festival is climaxed with a traditional Hari race. Unlike othher Hari races in Okinawa, in Shioya, at the finish line, the women will don traditional garb and enter the water to bang drums, dance and cheer on their favorite team of racers. With the prayers on the hillside finished, the villagers were moving on down the road to the next ceremony and the starting point for the boat races later in the day. Unfortunately for one cameraman, he was so focussed on the boat team gathered in front of him that he missed the village elder being carried down the hill in a formal procession.

05 October 2011 – the Business Opportunities Showcase Singapore (BOSS) that took place at Scape (Singapore) has once again attracted overwhelming support from franchisees and investors across the nation. The two-hour session featured theme based presentations that catered to varied areas of interests for the participants, namely restaurants/dining concepts, coffee and tea lounge concepts, ice-cream concepts and last but not least, international concepts. The workshop also featured Astreem Consulting’s Founder and Director, Mrs. Hsien Naidu, as one of the speakers.