Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Amanohashidate, and the new pilgrimage

I use the word pilgrimage pretty liberally in my thinking and even in writing. To me, it typically means a journey with some spiritual significance attached. So my bike ride to Iwa Jinja that one day was a pilgrimage in my head. My trip to Omizutori at Nigatsugo was a kind of pilgrimage. At that time, in March, when fellow writers’ group member T-rav and I stood shivering in the dark cold of 2am Nara, I got a temple book separate page to commemorate the event (the event which I see I did not post about.. to be rectified). T-rav explained that he had a temple book so he could get it calligraphied at the temples he visited as he traveled about in Kansai; he’d gotten it at our nearby Engyo-ji (on top of Mt. Shosha, where they filmed the Last Samurai). I resolved to get such a book for myself.

Our trip to Amanohashidate was not a pilgrimage. It was a last-minute planned daytrip that almost got canceled on threat of rain. We packed our rain boots and ourselves into Robin Red and set off for this one of the three great sights of Japan.

The normal way to view Amanohashidate is to stand with your back to it, grab your ankles, and look at it upside-down between your legs. This makes it look like it’s in the sky, thus making it look more like the “bridge to heaven” it is supposed to be. It takes a pretty nice dose of imagination to make it look like that, but the landform itself is pretty ridiculous and therefore awesome.


From 2011_05_21



From 2011_05_21
We arrived and parked at the south end, and went up to the viewpoint there, before walking around the temple Chion-ji. We had lunch, and walked across the narrow landmass to the north side. It was surreal, like walking in a park with pine trees and the sea lining... both sides of the path. The water was gorgeous and clear and cold, and had jellyfish. 
At the north end, we walked through Kono Shrine and up toward the other viewpoint (we bought dual tickets, good for both chairlifts). At the top of the chairlift, we decided to go on foot up to the other temple, Nariai-ji, rather than take the bus. This was a mistake. We sweated dragged ourselves all the way up to the temple, and not without a susumebachi sighting (listen, I'm not skittish about bugs, but those things are effing scary. YOU try being possibly allergic to bees and then seeing one that is two freaking inches long and called "yak killer").

From 2011_05_21

We had a little time at Nariai-ji to look around and cool off. A temple lady (priestess?) came and asked if we had walked up, and warned us not to miss the bus back, since a baby bear had been spotted recently near the road, and there were worries that its mother would be hanging around. I went into the temple and there found temple books for sale. I leafed through the "look-at" copy of the one with watercolor images of different Kansai temples. I spotted Engyo-ji. I had been wanting to buy a temple book for a while, and it was nearing time to go, so I took the book to the window to get it purchased, calligraphied, and stamped.

From 2011_05_21

The same woman who had warned us about the bus and the bear tried to ascertain whether I understood what I was buying. I assured her I did. I was lying. When I got home, I looked up the kanji on the front of the book and discovered that what I'd bought was, actually, a pilgrimage book.

Because. Duh. Who else needs a temples book, anyway? To me, the most famous temple pilgrimage in Japan is the Shikoku 88 Temple Pilgrimage. The book I got is the Kansai (that I had been able to read) thirty-three (that too) Kannon (nope!) pilgrimage. The temple at the south end of Amanohashidate, for example, is not included in the book.

Let me start by saying, I know so little about Buddhism it's kind of ridiculous, being the religion enthusiast that I am, living where I do. So it was a delightful surprise to learn that Kannon is the Japanese name for Guanyin, the goddess of mercy.

Hmm... where have I heard about a goddess of mercy before? Oh right!
From Winter Vacation Part II: Penang


And Kek Lok Si was where I bought the two wooden bracelets I wear a lot (now when you glance through photos of me, see if I'm wearing them).

Easily spotted here.
From Okinawa Take Two

They were advertised as "avoid evils wood" and are inscribed with little kanji.

So I was like, sweet, I accidentally got myself maybe on a pilgrimage (which is kind of, it turns out, what happens to the character in that novel I'm kinda working on?), and I do like it when stuff comes together... so I thought, I'll do a bit more research and see what I decide.

The next day, meaning, the day after Amanohashidate, I went out to Kobe for an art gallery opening featuring the work of some JETs I know...


From 2011_05_22


On the train home, I was sitting in the jump seat (the little pull-down seat) when an old dude got on the train, and you do not (as a 25 year old) just sit there staring at the old dude who is standing, even on the long stretch between Kobe and Akashi, sorry, so I got up and he sat down, and then I noticed this poster, and did my best to read it.

From 2011_05_22

Because the parts I could read were west-country, and thirty-three, and the picture was of Nariai-ji, where I'd just bought my temple book, and the other picture was of the Kannon image, which I freshly knew is only displayed every 33 years. I wasn't sure (and still am not) if the poster was just promoting the idea of going on the pilgrimage tour, or announcing the extension of transportation lines toward Nariai-ji, or some other thing.

I do know that I have a newfound curiosity about Buddhism, Kannon, this travel, and in my spare spare time, I will be looking into it.

Monday, May 30, 2011

This is your life

So I’m at an age where people around me are always doing things. Weird things, monumental things, making decisions, planning ‘the rest of their lives.’ People are getting married, getting jobs, getting pregnant, getting on with things I never even imagined (just got a totally unexpected email from a friend who is moving to Liberia next weekend).

And I try, in this blog, to give a slice of my own life. I started this partly for the folks back home to enjoy, partly for my own self to have some way to storytell, and partly for my successor, whoever he or she may be, that s/he might have abundant commentary and resources when it comes to being here.

It’s almost June, which means it’s almost rainy season, and after the rain comes the summer sun, and that’s when the ball rolls right to the end of the JET calendar, and all the leavers leave, and all the newbies come. And I, in a sometimes ridiculous attempt to use old/save new nenkyuu (vacay days) make my trip to America right smack in the middle of it all, thereby destroying any possibility of being “productive” at “work” during “summer vacation.”

But by now, I’m kind of okay with that. It’s still the Year of the Truce, baby, and I don’t need to make any big plans. I’ve started, kinda, to write my “novel.” I am still amazed by what I don’t know about it, ten years later, and amazed sometimes by how much information I do have.

I’m going to be working at Tokyo Orientation this summer. I’m going to be presenting on independent Japanese study for JETs. I’m actually rather proud of this; it’s one of those things they don’t just hand out, you see, even though maybe a lot of people would think more than twice about going to Tokyo to work through a weekend and all kinds of crappy hours too in order to welcome the neophytes. I do things like that because I think they’ll be cool, or interesting, or more fun/cool/interesting than my desk during “summer vacation” anyway. Not that I have much love for Tokyo, though.

This coming Sunday will be my first Shorinji Kempo taikai. I’ve been practicing hardcore narrow-eyed determined because I’ve been in a martial arts tournament before and I know what happens to me.. confident or scared, I get in there and basically do fine other than the few minor mistakes that matter to no one so much as they matter to me. It’s a small taikai, just for our city, and all the people evaluating me, I guess, will be the people who have watched me practice every other night the last couple weeks anyway.

Last week, the other group of 4th graders were simply great. Pub Quiz trivia was fun, too. It rained almost all week, and certainly all weekend.

Yesterday, I was supposed to go to Himeji for shopping and writers’ group, and I was supposed to possibly go to Aioi for the dragon boat races, and I also had the option of a hike out on the east side somewhere… but all this got typhooned out. To salvage our early afternoon, the girls and I decided to go to a little coffeeshop up the river a bit, but when the gusts of wind threatened the integrity of the car’s road position, we turned around and went home to close up the shutters. Stuff fell over and flew away all evening in a baffling display of hurricane-ish weather. I could feel my apartment brace against the windbursts (being in the end unit on the wind side). I actually lost a potted plant! Across the street, that damn poster that catches the wind on normal nights and slaps loud against the building where it hangs stopped making loud cracks because it was totally shredded by the wind. The iron thing high atop the pachinko parlor fell off and landed on a car. We saw a guy perplexedly picking up a large plastic object as if to say, “What is this thing?” then turning it over to discover that it was the front fender of a kei-truck.

Where I’m from, we sometimes have severe thunderstorms and even occasional tornadoes in the area, so I thought, surely all this can’t last more than a handful of hours. That’s.. just how tornado weather is, it blows up and blows out very violently and very quickly. And this wind, when I stepped outside to grab something, or see how it was going, was always a surprise in strength. But it took all day and into the night to roar off and away. Even this morning, it was still windy. I’d never closed my giant shutters before; it was like waking in a cave.

Today has been pretty normal, other than the grogginess that hung on me almost all morning from that.

I know there are things I cannot do right now, because I’m in Japan. I know that there is a part of my future inaccessible to me as long as I am here. But I also know that there is a part of my life inaccessible to me as soon as I leave this place. I’m not hanging out here to delay the start of my real life. This is my real life. This is who I am. I want this to be part of my story. I want to be that (insert job title here) that did stuff like live in Japan for three years. And majored in Latin. It was never “What are you going to do with that?” but always “What does it do for you now?” And it was always doing something.

 I never want to stop being the type of person who lived in Japan for three years. I always want to be the type of person who wants to learn Japanese/kempo/the best places to go walking in Shiso. There is no magic moment that starts ‘the rest of your life’ and leaves behind ‘all the prep work,’ and if there is, then it’s only right now. These years are not a precursor to my real life, they are my real life. Which will of course change as it goes, and will maybe make “use” of my previous work experiences, but certainly will make use of who I am because I was the type of person to have them.

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Today I Totally Bitched Out the Fourth Graders

But I had a really good point, and I did it all in Japanese!

It's a simple exercise really, that requires students to take laminated cards with the ABCs on them and arrange them in order on the board. I do this mostly just to get the ABCs up there so we can move on the phonics, or some game, or whatever else you needs the ABCs for. It's an opener, and it's not supposed to take all that long.

I time them to give some incentive for accomplishing it fast. Beat last week's time! Or, beat the neighboring class's time! Older kids who take it seriously can complete ABC board in like less than two minutes.

Their time was one second shy of another class's.. I admit I rounded up.

I wrote the time on the board. The regular classroom teacher was not in the room; she'd had to pull on of the kids to give him a talking-to in the hallway. Yeah, it was that kind of day with that kind of group.

6:49, I said, hm. This is your time for getting the alphabet finished. Know who else had this time? Class 2-1. Second graders. Second graders took as long as you did to do this activity. Now, why is that? My tone was one I rarely take. But why not, I was pissed. They rolled around on the floor, they deliberately put letters in wrong places, or hid them, or sat on each other.

I dunno.

Me either. Aren't you fourth graders?

Yes.

And are you doing your best?

Yeah.

Oh, really? I gave them an appraising look, and immediately moved on. They were subdued the rest of the time. Not making trouble anymore, at least, but not having a 'great time' either.

All the other classes had fun, though. 2nd and 3rd grade was great because I managed to not require them to do 6th grade level work.
It was a tiring kind of day.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Friday the 13th

(and the following Saturday) : banishing the rain.

So I'll skip right over the middle of last week because all I would have written then anyway was "omg itsstillrainin" (oh wait, I did). Friday the 13th came like a breath of not-so-humid air. Hazy in the morning, the air felt bright despite the “sand from China” hanging about the valley. I looked at the board at work to see that no one had any classes at all, everyone was on various field trips (the 3rd year Mice in Okinawa, the 1st year Fish somewhere else closer, and the 2nd years were around, just about to go on their one-day adventure). I suddenly did not want anything to do with the busy work I’d made for myself, thinking I would have a normal staff room atmosphere. It was not to be a normal staff room atmosphere. I would be the only person there, aside from the one they leave to answer the phones, and it was the first sunny day after three straight solid heavy rain days.

Who, tell me, wants to sit at their computer on that day? Sure, I had plenty to do, but I no longer relished the empty day in which to do it.

To my joy, the band teacher asked, “Emily, what are you doing today?” I gave her an innocent and hapless look and shrugged. Nothing. I’m doing nothing. “Wanna go with the 2nd years?” Um, YES. I love the second years (the Frogs). They are still my new favorite class. We stood under starling nests and gave instructinons, aAnd with that, we set off at a walk up the hill toward Sponic Park where the kids were to draw landscape sketches for the first part of the morning.

kids at work
From 2011_05_13
I wandered around a little, got bit by a leech for the first time in my life (those things are gross; but seriously, leeches, get some anesthetic to go with your anticoagulants, or you'll never be as successful with me as your brethren the gdmf mosquito) becuse they were living in the damn grass (what with all the rain). Some students were kicking them off their shoes as well, jumping on them to make them "kanpeki shinda" (I swear I heard that.. the first word is "perfect" and the second "dead"). Also saw a mukade (the poisonous Japanese manypede), all of these sightings/attacks were in the same area, too. The students jumped on the mukade, but it was not made perfectly dead before it was flung away off the hillside. We also saw a deer just chilling rather close to where we were drawing.

This is where the leeches live.
From 2011_05_13


Oh, mukade, you tiny dragons of the forest.
From 2011_05_13
After our juice break, we set off for part two, which was a walking "quiz rally" around the area. Kids were in their groups, all had maps of the checkpoints, and at each checkpoint there was a question. Lots of Japanese riddles, some kinda random questions (What number is equal to the ages of all these listed teachers combined?), for which kids would get points based on how close they got to the real thing. I carried my little parasol and wandered around with them, which of course led me to discover (as I had hoped it would) some new interesting points in the area.

Then we all ate lunch outside. After lunch, they went in to color the sketches, and I got done just a little of the work I had planned to spend all day on.

That afternoon I went back to the fuji, but it was pretty much destroyed by the rain. I stopped at Osaki-san's, and she gave me manju and cocoa, then I went to Miriam's, and she gave me some kind of apricot tart cake, then I went home, and really intended to eat a real dinner, but never did.

Saturday was really nice too, we're talking perfect weather. I spent a little time on the garden, then we had a little group picnic down by the river on the road to Himeji. Went home just in time to wash up and go to Young English Enkai, which went better than I expected it to go! The food was great, and everyone was very game. I thought only about half the group (err.. mostly the ALT half) would end up at karaoke, but actually everyone came but one! 

Strawberries! 
From 2011_05_14


From 2011_05_14


From 2011_05_14

Sunday, May 15, 2011

Happy Monday

Monday, May 9th, was like some kind of anomaly in the world of Mondays.

I had the day off because it was my school's "Foundation Day," which fortuitously came at the end of the Okinawa trip. If I had known about the day off in advance, I might have tried to extend my stay in Okinawa yet longer, but as we have seen, that would have been a not so good idea. So, instead, I just had an extra day to recover from vacation before heading back to work.

Monday was dazzlingly sunny and quite warm. These are perfect laundry conditions. In the winter, laundry takes about a full day in the sun to dry. More often than not, it would end up hanging from my closet door while I ran the heater at night. One thing I like about spring and summer (rainy season excluded) is the way you can hang laundry out more frequently, with much faster results.

So I did some laundry, and I finished unpacking, and I made a foray into the garden which had somehow lost all its color (other than greeeeen) during my absence. And there I discovered 8.6 zillion motherfucking aphids on each cluster of leaves on my little plum tree. Any kind of insect, especially large numbers of very small ones, which is eating something in my garden makes me really, really, irrationally angry. I want nothing more in the world than to end their lives as quickly as possible. Because how dare those little bastards be destroying my poor innocent plants that are not hurting anyone and that are tenuously enough holding on to life as it is? The little flowers and trees out there are just tryin' to grow, and they are bright and a beauty and a joy and anything that brings harm to them must instantly cease to do so, or die.


From 2011_04_30


This murderous rage was the only blot of negative energy on the whole morning. The rest was spent relishing my plan to visit the Thousand-Year Fuji (wisteria) of Yamasaki. I decided to go and see it on a general foray into town by bike, the usual, bank (what's the damage, Okinawa?), post office (packages to pick up, letters to send). Osaki-san had said the best days of the fuji blooms were usually right through Golden Week (3rd - 5th of May), but I had resolved to go check it out as soon as I could get over there after getting back from Okinawa.

Of course, as with any season-dependent plant life, dates only give general ideas of when the best time will be. There are photos on display at the shrine by the sen-nen fuji showing it in full bloom on May 10th, and another year, April 28th. People come from far and wide to see this thousand-year fuji (recall our own pilgrimage to the thousand-year sakura tree in Yabu), from Osaka and maybe even beyond, so I figured I was pretty lucky since I could just bike a few blocks.

Last year, I went to see the place when it was just past its prime. I had heard of it, but didn't even know where the shrine was until it was too late! A few hangers-on wandered in the pleasant shade, and there was the mild scent of dried flowers, some of the fallen petals crunching softly underfoot.

From 2010_05_16

I went a few more times to that shrine just to poke around and enjoy it. I think of it (quite all made-up by me, I assure you) as the shrine to Japanese Venus, or sort of like that equivalent (femininity, growth, fertility, love, etc.), partly because I went there at a time when I was thinking about Venus and new beginnings and healing and growth, and partly because of this statue:

The shrine is called 大歳神社, or "Otoshi shrine" .. and it turns out that is more associated to Jupiter, than anything. 
From 2011_05_09



This year, as I rode up the hill to where I thought I should park my bike, the warm breeze wafted a lovely floral scent over me. I realized with a start that it was coming from the wisteria. I was prepared for the color, and the crowds of old people, but I had not thought about the way the place would smell (I, being lately rather sensitive to smells; recall how a whiff of the moldy smell in our condo made me queasy). I went into the main area to sit in the shade and breathe in the fresh gentle smell of it all. It was absolutely awesome. The photos don't do the warmth or smell any justice, but at least you can see some of the blooms (click through to go to the album):


From 2011_05_09


From 2011_05_09


From 2011_05_09


From 2011_05_09


I thought this was cool, the blooms coming out of this vine near the ground! The main trunk in the center of the pavilion did not have this.
From 2011_05_09


I also really liked the idea that I could go run my errands, then come back again and sit for a minute, if I liked. I resolved to do so, and also to stop at Osaki-san's "open garden" (she lives really close to the Sen-nen Fuji) and ask her advice on those gdmf aphids back home.

When I went to Osaki-san's, I didn't know what to really expect. What we had there was, older people, mostly ladies, wandering in in nice dress to take traditional matcha tea (complete with a sweet) in Osaki-san's beautifully appointed tea room, with a view to the garden. Then she walked through the garden with the lady I happened to sit next to and take tea with, and pointed out some stuff for both of us. Before I left, she gave me a nice big bottle of AphidDeath (named by me) to borrow, and also some riceballs, which I took back to the fuji to eat for lunch while basking in the ancient plant's sweet presence.

As I biked home, there were cars lined up all the way to the main road, and people walking along the street between the Michi-no-eki (road station) and fuji. There's really no parking up by the shrine. I felt even more pleased to be on a bike, and decided to visit the fuji every day for a little while, if I could (of course, this plan was foiled by three straight days of heavy rain, which also did their part to take out most of the blooms and leave the display in worse shape than I found it last year!).

I spent the early afternoon doing a bit of gardening, finishing up some chores, and getting ready for the evening. At 4pm I had my second HPV vaccine shot. The paperwork runaround eventually led me downstairs where a nurse with a "I'm new" badge on her nametag asked me which arm I preferred to take my painful injection in. Another nurse corrected her, showing her that it was already written on my form, that these things were all decided ahead of time. I thought, awesome, the last shot left my arm sore for two days. This is going to be hurt like a bitch and a half with sweet nurse Newbie stabbing me.

She was super sweet, though, and as she got ready to stick me (with all the seasoned nurses, including the one who got me last time, standing by in a line against the wall, watching), she said "It's going to hurt, so be brave!" I took a breath and tried not to remember how, when I was 13, a nurse had to try like five times to get the IV in my hand properly because she was new. But just because it was Happy Monday, maybe, the shot didn't even burn like the last one did, and the following day, the muscle was only a little sore (nothing like the time before!).

I hurried home to get ready for homemade okonomiyaki dinner at Heke's dance teacher's house, which was excellent, and of which there was too much food, of course. Wrapped up the night by going over trivia questions with Lester for the Pub Quiz at the end of the month. All in all, an excellent day.

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Captain's Log: Okinawa Two for Two

Since my last trip to Okinawa was a little short and rather rained out, I was really looking forward to some fun in the sun beach time.

Right.

I think I’ll just hit the highlights (as usual, if you click through to the album, you'll find more photos, and some videos too!). One great thing about this trip was, the first half mirrored in many ways the trip I took last year. Then, I was not really involved in the planning at all, but this year I took an active role. The joy of staying in a place you have stayed before is in the comfort. Comfort of knowing what a place looks and feels like, knowing its value, knowing how to find it, how far it is from things, where to get good food nearby, etc.

As I travel more, I’m learning about the balance between the convenience of staying in one place, and the desire to hop around and cover more ground. It’s nice to leave all your stuff somewhere, and not have to find a new place and make a new bed every night, and check out by 10, and be all packed up every morning.

This trip spanned from the 30th, when we flew from Kobe in the afternoon, to (for me) the 8th when we flew back. That’s a solid 8 days of vacation (for the price of only two days of work days skipped). Our group was 6 people strong, with three returning on the 5th (unable to take that second day off, alas!).

The itinerary ended up looking like this (though some of it was made up as we went along):
30th – Travel from Kobe to Naha
1st – Naha morning, to Zamami
2nd – Zamami
3rd – Zamami morning, to Naha
4th – Naha environs (Okinawa World Park, as it turned out)
5th – 3 return super early am, other 3 make their way at some point from Naha to Motobu (Nago)
6th – Motobu (Aquarium and Ocean Expo Park)
7th – Nago, last beach chance
8th – from Nago to Shiso, a full 9 hours travel

Naha is the capital of Okinawa, and is in the south half of Okinawa Honto (main island). We stayed the first night near Kokusai Dori, which I had only visited maybe once on my first trip, but which is apparently the tourist Place To Be, the best place for ridiculousness, foreign food, souvenirs, and shopping.

Froggie bags. Ew..
From Okinawa Take Two

We stayed at a hostel called Kashiwaya, which happened to be above a bar, which happened to have 200yen beer (Orion of course!) happy hour, in which we indulged quickly (we only had like half an hour of it left) while sitting up in a loft seat area. It tasted like the start of a very good vacation. That night, we went out to Kokusai Dori to get silly, ended up singing karoke (seriously, we sang “Picture” duets three full times) with some military guys; I tried the snake sake that you see in lots of sake shops and found it actually really tasty (surprise to me, because I don’t much like the awamori, Okinawa’s other claim to fame). We ate stuff like umi-budou (sea grapes.. actually kinda salty), and I had goya (which made everyone else not want to share with me).

Zamami, of course, you know from last year’s rain-camping adventure, psychic bartender, dog that looks like a teddy bear, snorkel trip, and Star Sand Beach being just out of reach. Our triumphant return to the island had us sleeping not in tents, but in the Okinawa Resort, girls in a cabin and our lone male companion in a separate dorm box. It wasn’t raining too much, really, just lightly. We had Italian for dinner.

Everyone in the back of the mystery van!
From Okinawa Take Two

That night it was just cloudy, so we took a “Mystery Tour” given by the delightful owner of the hotel complex, a man of many hats (cook, baker, whale watcher, diver, etc.) and checked out some fun bioluminescent krill, then we collected creatures for the next morning’s shell soup breakfast (seriously, we were served the stuff the next morning). The breakfasts also had fresh-made bread from our host/leader/cook/owner guy.

Breakfast.
From Okinawa Take Two

The next day was our Zamami beach day! We sampled two of Zamami’s beaches, one next to the old campsite (now full of occupants, poor devils), and the other over the hill in the opposite direction. We all liked Furuzamami a bit better; it was deeper and more interesting. It was here that I made the mistake of not applying enough sunscreen to my legs, and in early-afternoon lying-in-the-sun-reading way, I would later pay for this.

From Okinawa Take Two


That evening, after cleaning up, we stopped for drinks in a delightful little place near our cabinette (okay, nothing is really far away on Zamami, I think?) called Sayby Dee. It was glorious – there were coconut shakes, with rum. We bummed around, attempted to “bar hop” and watched a fire-spinning show, ended up at the swank looking place in the center of town chatting with Brits and people on vacation from Tokyo.

Coconut awesome kampai!
From Okinawa Take Two

The next day, I needed to fulfill my attempt to make it to Star Sand beach, so when the others went back to the nice beach (and I was still “in as much pain as I deserve” for my sunscreen deficiency), I rented a bike after breakfast and went on my way. Star Sand beach, though, isn’t that far from where we were staying, so to make it worth my while, I made a few stops here and there at what looked like trailheads. I wandered around a couple of woodsy areas, getting drenched in sweat and one time totally lost, thus fulfilling my obligation to go and do that by myself at some point on the trip.

Finally found the way out..!
From Okinawa Take Two
 
I finally made it to Star Sand, but there was no star sand to be found, at least not by me. There were lots of interesting creatures, and the beach was overcast and not so nice for idling at. Above it, there was a space of strangely green grassy hills. After I’d poked around a bit, I decided to go back. Just as I got to the bike, it began to rain again, and I rode back through it, much like last year.

From Okinawa Take Two

Not a one.
From Okinawa Take Two

After we all got cleaned up again (this time at borrowed showers, having checked out that morning), we stopped in for more coconut shakes (they just tasted like beach vacation, it was perfect) before our ferry back to the mainland at 5. As we sat, it rained harder, then began to pour. I actually ran back (being the only one endowed with an umbrella, I mean, parasol) to ask the resort people to give us a ride to the port, close though it was, because of all our stuff and the pouring, driving rain.

From Okinawa Take Two



That night, we stayed in Kerama Guest House, where I’d stayed last time, only instead of the private room, we had to stick to dorm-style. We went out to eat at a restaurant shaped like a tree, then back to Kokusai Dori and wandered around, this bar too dim/classy, that one too full, that one in dinner mode, til eventually ending up in a very boyish bar where I played Bomberman on SuperNES with a cute Japanese guy until he and his friends left to go clubbin’ and me and my friends left to go sleep.


From Okinawa Take Two


Wednesday morning, we weren’t really sure what to do; we wanted to rent a car and go tooling around to some shops and a beach and some caves I had some vague notion about. But being dead center of Golden Week, and us with no reservation, no car was available. We eventually settled on Okinawa World, home of the caves (to which we had to take two cabs… we have decided that 4 is the optimal travel group size). I was in a weird state of mind while walking through the surprisingly huge underground trail, kept seeing characters, gnomes, dwarves, nymphs half-turned in all the stalagmites. The caves were pretty awesome, humid and slippery, and when we emerged, we’d walked across the whole park. We wandered back through Okinawa-themed shops and tree groves and stopped for a beer, then to watch the Eisa Dance show, which was also awesome (sort of a display of traditional Okinawan dance… the feel was half-real, sort of like having an “Okinawa World” theme park… in Okinawa). 

Okinawa wooooorld!
From Okinawa Take Two

I found a Shisa Museum, and as you may know, I love the Shisa; those lion-dog guard figures are kickass and special. We had super buffet lunch at about 2:20, and went back to nap and clean up. 

Arty books in Moon Bar
From Okinawa Take Two

The evening was spent out on Kokusai Dori again, stopping at Moon Bar (where I got really engrossed in the books provided) along the way. We had burgers at a little hidden place called Zooton's, but the burgers were laced with heaven.. seriously, the best burger I may have ever eaten, ever. We wandered some more, and eventually turned in.

YUMMY.
From Okinawa Take Two


Thursday morning, in the wee hours, half our group rolled out, leaving the kids behind, as it felt. We had neither guidebook, nor any real plan, so we kicked off the day with going to check out the Dragon Boat races near the port. They were fun to watch, but the rain picked up, and it became no longer fun to stand in gross puddles watching strangers strive for victory, so we left to get lunch and catch our bus north (we’d gotten advised on what bus to take, and had found the stop and everything!).

From Okinawa Take Two

Unable to find any open restaurants, we opted to get out of Naha right on the spot, and get a late lunch in Nago. The bus ride was long and uneventful, though we did roll by Kadena, which Kameron sort of remembers from living there about the first ten years of his life.

From Okinawa Take Two

We grabbed a quick lunch, and almost missed the bus to our condo (it left early! But then saw our forlorn faces at the crosswalk and stopped for us). The condo itself (On The Beach Lue) was bright and lovely, if a bit old-smelling. Paying for all three nights up front exhausted most of our funds, though, and our local bank was not going to be funding us through any ATM on a HOLIDAY (seriously, this is one thing I will never understand).

The Condo.
From Okinawa Take Two

The View from The Condo
From Okinawa Take Two

Of our group, Kam had 6 yen, Adina had like 9, and I had about 9000, total (including the emergency 100,000 I had busted out already). We also did not have a car, or bikes (the place had TWO to rent.. but there were three of us). The nearest ATM was 4km away. So, because we’re stubborn, or troopers, or idiots, we walked 4km toward “town” and came first upon a MaxValu. Hallelujah. We wanted to supply our kitchen for a sweet breakfast Friday and Saturday. We stocked up and headed back, dreaming of the yakiniku place we’d stopped to ask about on the way to the store.

Who needs money when you got legs?
From Okinawa Take Two

When we got back, it was full, the empty tables reserved. We were so mad, but grateful when a km later, the Hawaiian restaurant we’d seen (and thought would be closed by 8) was open. We gratefully tucked in to some awesome taco rice. Then went home to watch TV and hang out until bed.

Friday was to be the Aquarium day, since Adina was super excited about that, and part of the attraction of Motobu was that. I woke up feeling nauseous, got sick, and hoped it was over with that, though I sadly did not want any part of the grand breakfast of pancakes, eggs, bacon, etc. we’d all planned the night before.

Sadly, this day had some of the best weather we saw all trip.
From Okinawa Take Two

I tried to be able to go with them, I really did. I went so far as to sit at the bus stop, but it was just not happening. I knew if I went, I would just be miserable the whole time. I had thought maybe the problem was being in the condo, that I was allergic to something there, but even being outside by the beach before the bus came by (oh, and it was sunny.. maaan!) didn’t really fix anything. I stayed home all day, sleeping, getting sick, and lying there miserably.

I hear that Ocean Expo Park is awesome, and that the aquarium is too (though Georgia’s is better, word), so I’ll have to check that out someday.

Brewery of the Beer of Beers
From Okinawa Take Two


Saturday, our last day, we thought we’d go into Nago (the main city up there in Motobu) and get souvenirs, have “real Mexican tacos,” and also eat at A&W (roooooootbeeeeeeerfloats!)… but it turns out, Nago doesn’t have a central shopping district, or if it does, we never found it. We walked to the Orion brewery, which was closed, then wandered around until we got omiyage (treats for people back home) at a different MaxValu (we avoided buying them earlier so we wouldn’t have to carry them to Motobu and back.. hah!).

From Okinawa Take Two

The tacos were divine, and although I only was able to have 5 tiny tacos (Kam had like 16, Adina 9), they were the most authentic I’ve had in Japan. The owner, it turned out, had studied in Mexico, along with one of the guys there that day.

We returned to decompress and beach it, because it was actually sunny(!) and rather warm. It had clouded a bit by the time we got back, but we did some beach-lyin (me) and beach-combin (Adina), and some beach-rock-climbin (Kameron). Dinner was a beachside BBQ at our hotel restaurant porch, way too much food, but really good. Then we played with sparklers on the beach, and never drank a single beer from the 6 pack we’d bought that first night in.

Expelliarmus! (When I later performed the same charm, I almost set Kameron on fire)
From Okinawa Take Two

The next morning, I felt kinda sick again, but I kept it together by only eating a piece of toast for breakfast, and a glass of root beer for lunch at the airport. By the time I got home, I had moved up to soup!

Needless to say, by the end of the trip, we were pretty done, and glad to get back home to our little houses and routines. Shiso, on return, smelled fresh and cool and clean, and the humidity was blissfully low. The conclusions we drew from our experiences were the following:

Hokkaido (post coming soon!) was lower-stress because we all had our own rooms for basically the whole time (this also, unfortunately, cost two arms and a leg).
The ideal travel group size is 4. The ideal trip length is about 5 days. It is better to stay in fewer places, maybe two.

Apologies for the rambling nature of this post.. it’s more of a memory piece for myself than anything. Hope you enjoy the photos, though!

Look forward to the Monday adventure which followed immediately!

Thursday, May 12, 2011

It’s Still Raining.


They cancelled school today for it. I knew something was strange when there were no high schoolers waiting for the bus, no one but me. On the bus, I saw one of my recently graduated girls; she could only be heading home from school that morning, really. I got off the bus and mounted the stairs, looking up and down the road for the little clusters of uniformed kids with their yellow umbrellas or huge ponchos and saw not a child. The schoolyard was empty. Crap. I didn’t even bring my laptop cord.

But this o-ame is nothing to the one that happened about two days after I arrived here. I was baffled then, but I understand a little better now how big of a deal that was. Since then, the riverbanks have been reinforced, and the bridges have been rebuilt. The north had a rougher time of it, lots of property damage, and up in Sayo, even some loss of life. My parents, back then, mentioned hearing the name of our town on the news. I said, there must be some other place of the same name.

Today, it just feels like it’s been raining forever, because after Okinawa (post coming soon!), I’ve been swimming through humidity for what feels like weeks, and the Day of the Thousand-Year Fuji (post coming soon!) feels like a dream, or a fluke.

Everyone asks, how was Okinawa, and I tell them “It was rainy.” To which they always say, oh, yeah, it’s the rainy season down there right now, after all. What? Why didn’t anyone tell me that when I was planning a trip? Note to self: the rainy season, like sakura season, like spring, like summer, starts in Okinawa early, and progresses north, apparently.

Rain is good for some, for farmers ready to flood their fields, for plants. I like the smell of it, out the window. The river is high and brown and leaping. And it’s still, still effin’ raining!