Byron Fija

Byron Fija (; born 1 September 1969 in Naha) is an Okinawan-language educator and promoter. He hosts an Okinawan-language radio program and is often featured on Japanese television to teach the language.

Early life Fija was born on 1 September 1969 in Naha to an Okinawan mother and an American father. He was left with an uncle and aunt soon after birth. He grew up in his native Okinawa and was bullied as a child by his classmates, who called him "America" because of his appearance. At the age of 22, he travelled to the United States but found life there to be equally as troublesome, because locals assumed he could speak English because of his appearance. Fija now identifies as "American-Uchinanchu" (American-Okinawan). As one of the few fluent speakers of the language, he is frequently contacted by domestic and international media and regularly attends national and international events on the matter of Ryukyuan languages or endangered languages in general.

A video featuring Fija singing Okinawan folk songs in the Okinawan language is included in a collection at the Ethnological Museum Berlin compiled by the Okinawan artist Yuken Teruya as part of a new collection telling Okinawan history up to the present day.