As I type, I look up from my art work space located in the up-stairs house area, I see in the distance, over assorted structures and vegetation, the Pacific Ocean! If I could look far enough, much too far, I would see the continent of North America. Which direction should I be looking exactly? With the island of Okinawa itself miss-shapen, but nicely, with juts and jogs, and with connected and unconnected islands, it is hard to figure out which is north, south, east, and west! It is more a function of being ‘somewhere else', than anything. What coast am I on anyway??
A quote from Sue's journal:
“On the plane over the Pacific…World War II brought men over huge open expanses of water and distance, away from comfort, security, home, place…to be killed or to kill! (What do I have to complain about!) And there ‘I' was, in this insignificant metal container hurtling by faith (forward movement by backwards thrust, against the pull/force of gravity) over the certain humongous expanses of waves and water! Which is harder, a change of place or culture? The physical movement of the body, via air travel, although very convenient, certainly is not the same as the gradual movement over the surface of the earth."
Jim said, after moving in, that we would be spoiled. Yes! Some things are ‘different' but the house we have is obviously top class, built to Japanese standards but for the American. The wooden floors are divine. While the house is an oasis, it is also somewhat ‘apart' from the houses on either side, even though the adjoining structures are built very close. The area looks as though it will end up with more houses; nothing is old and the neighbors living here must be well off. I like that some neighbors have gardens.
Soon after I arrived, we went a ‘cookout' on the 5th floor of a nice apartment building over looking the South China Sea, by the ‘sea wall', with some of the people Jim works with and a number of Japanese as well. I was as comfortable and as I was out of place.
Very, very strange … not the ‘foreign culture' but the US bases! One minute you are driving in a very crowded foreign-looking section of a mini Japanese city and the next one you are eating at a Subway or driving past a Taco Bell on base!!! The benefits of visiting Japan without having to fly for 10 hours!
Jim's mother and father must surely have something to do in part with Jim's current approach to new adventures. They manifested a great sense of welcoming and treating everyone with great courtesy, took Jim to Japan for year when he was eleven. This started him on a lifetime's adventure and supported his natural curiosity! Who knows how many other ‘realms' of people we will meet from his efforts? He knows now many people here due to his interest in fimmaking and from his being involved with a beach clean up-activity run once a month. Recently, film contacts of Jim's came from the US to work on their ‘Festivals of the World' featuring the uniquely Okinawan “Eisa” Festival. They work for themselves but this series will be on the Discovery Channel. They had a higher level of local support than normal, in great part to Jim's efforts in making contacts… free hotel, a crew/van/driver to get them to tons and tons of local cultural events.
Jim discovered and enjoyed Japanese baths when he was 12 and in mainland Japan while his father taught at the International Christian University near Tokyo. Jim discovered a new sort of modern Japanese bath here, next to a new hotel and has been enjoying lots of visits. Thus I got to try it as well. Indoors, the men's and women's areas are separate. I did enjoy sitting on a small wooden stool and scrubbing/washing myself in the traditional Japanese bath style before entering a soaking pool. Once outside, where I joined Jim, one wears a bathing suit and there are a few pools, some like swimming pools with a lovely view of the South China Sea to the west.
Recently, we drove (Jim drove … at the time, I could not imagine ever being able to drive, though now I am comfortable doing so) further north and again on the west side of the island, to Maeda Point. The area is pretty with much less city or suburbs. Yes, there are houses and denser areas of people, but more is open and green than other places. Much further north it is even more ‘remote'. We took a few side roads and parked along a rural type road beside sugar cane fields. There were tons of other cars and many people there to go scuba diving. There was a Beach Clean-up activity that we attended. The area to be cleaned was small and there was an interesting assortment of people. Due to the full parking area, we parked further away along one of several small roads, the small and narrow road was above the water with many volcanic rock formations below. We followed one path to a lovely and small, white beach that was between small points of jutting volcanic rock. Coral creates the shoreline/beach and so was a pinkish color. Jim stayed out of the water, other than exploring on shallower submerged formations, and I was in the water all too short a time. Yet with the sun still very strong, it was good that I was not out in the open much longer than it was! The water was warm but not hot and it was a very hot day.
I have been here two weeks now. The first week, after the first weekend that I already reported on, I was able to take it easy, nap, and unpack and organize more of my things. I'm much more adjusted and comfortable living here.
A few late afternoons and evenings ago, we did mini errands and explorations. Okinawa certainly has not missed consumerism! Jim took me to a couple of more stores and one mall type place, which I said “yuck, yuck” to, as I felt I was back in some mall in the US. We have shopped for food on base and off and expect to recognize more packaged food items in Japanese/Okinawa stores as time goes by.
On a recent Friday, after eating dinner at home, Jim drove me up to a nearby hotel, the “Grand Mer” (“mer” means “ocean”). It is on a high point and even in the dark the view is nice. It was built a while ago but the business owners went bankrupt and covered the furniture in plastic and hired a couple of guards and it sat empty for 8 years! It is now open. Jim knew about it since it was where the Discovery Channel crew stayed when they visited Okinawa in late August. These are the people who filmed our son, Jon, and his fiancée, Anne, at the “World Busker's Festival” in New Zealand and are doing a series of shows that showcase festivals around the world. Then, after seeing the hotel's upper floor bar, the pool and lobby, I followed Jim down this alley near the hotel – I'm much too timid to try things on my own just yet -- and into a tiny house/establishment. There were no other customers. This very nice Okinawa lady/owner welcomed us. She spoke limited English and our Japanese wasn't too good. Nonetheless, Jim ordered a beer and water for me. The owners, this lady and her husband, then proceeded to play with traditional Okinawan musical instruments and sing traditional Okinawan songs. A ‘costumer' showed up and happened to be comfortable enough to accompany them on the drums. They then had us get up and dance and Jim also did some drumming. We were there under 45 minutes. We will go back at some point with some friends of Jim's who speak the language. It was a very nice evening even with the arrival of the ‘customer' whom we think was a neighbor called in to help out as the ‘audience.'
The first weekend I was there, I saw portions of the small cities that could have been the back drops for scenes from some of the Indiana Jones movies, with crowded back alleys and who knows what! This past weekend, we headed out again. North of here by maybe 25 minutes are islands that can be reached by long bridges. We headed out towards one of them after doing errands. We ended up at one small island with a few tiny fishing village areas, where the boats are built with modern materials in traditional styles, and pulled up on metal tracks set on cement ramps. Another area had a small village with kids playing near older traditional Okinawan houses. Jim had explored this area before and he managed to find again a jungle-type area with large volcanic outcrops and a long set of cement steps up to a Shinto Shrine and tiny cave where obviously bones of ancestors or those killed in the war were honored. We also saw small sandy protected beach areas.
As we drove back, still on the tiny island, we noticed a small metal hut/building that said café on it. Set across the road from the water and with the wind and bands of rain from the Typhoon coming in off the water we enjoyed this café. It features Hawaiian-style food and we could look out at the storm and for the first time I could notice, far off, a long line of surf, where the waves were hitting a coral reef. Some areas of the island are not thus protected, but many are.
On a recent weekend, Jim took me to Ryukyu Mura, which is seen in the pictures. The structures and houses are older and were brought from other places all over the island. Ryukyu Mura is similar to living history places one can visit in the US. It is visited by school groups and Japanese and Okinawans, and of course some foreigners. There are demonstrations of arts, textiles, and singing and dancing. It was a successful enjoyable visit!
Since we knew we would be near the beach we had seen on the Beach Clean Up Day, we had also planned on going there to do some snorkeling. We had snorkeled years ago and were not concerned yet were uncertain as to what we would find/see. With the tide out, but coming in, and wind and rain, and being so close to the shore we did not expect to see much. We were pleased that we managed OK. This time, compared to the first time at the beach, we were able to determine the demarcation between the deeper water beyond the edge of a reef and the inner protected areas due to the wind driven waves that then crashed onto the reef.
On Sunday, we went to a traditional style Japanese bath. There were separate areas for men and women and thus we had to determine ahead of time when we would meet at the end of our visit. I am still getting used to the heavily populated ‘city' areas so close to some pockets of nicer areas. It took us a long while, or so it seemed, to reach/find where we were going. I was driving in part because I needed to practice.
When I walk in the nearby park, mostly the areas closer to the water, I pass other walkers, 95% on whom wear long pants, long sleeves, often their hands are covered as well, hats with towels suspended around the back and sides, and sometimes full face visors. Many of the older people have a different mannerism, and when I say Koni-chi-wa (good day or hello) they respond with a proper and very nice smile and response, otherwise they pretend not to notice me. The younger adults, for the most part, look as though they could have just come off a Seattle Street or other US city.
The Okinawan population here has been exposed to and is under the impact of, not only US civilians and military but to a substantial, and by now, long influx of mainland Japanese. Yet, and this is Jim's observation, and it seems so to me, the tenor and by now collective culture, even disregarding the US presence, is different from the mainland. I read that as of 2000, over 340,000 Okinawans had immigrated away from the island to places such as Hawaii, the USA, Canada, Brazil, Peru, and Argentina.. “It has been said that Okinawan communities in Hawaii and South America still possess the true Okinawan spirit, which has been almost entirely lost in Okinawa.” This spirit is typified by the feeling that everyone is a brother and that everyone helps each other. (This is from the “Okinawa Island Guide 2004 – 2005” book that has a lot of useful information).
Coral, it being plentiful, is added to the road surface material, and as such, is slippery when it rains. Thus certain sections, such as curves and on downhill stretches of road, have a different, less slippery surface and are red in color. Bus exclusive lanes, which are not exclusive all the time, are green, but a pale green and at first I did not notice this. The driver's test expects one to know a lot of detail beyond just what a sign means. This house of course is much bigger than many typical houses, though not all. Most of the light switches in this house have little lights in them so in the dark one can find them. All three bathrooms have floor drains and when they built it they must have misjudged or did something wrong as ‘unpleasant smells' sometimes come out of the drains. Thus we have then covered now with foil or plastic, under bath mats or small throw rugs. The garbage must go out in specially marked color coded clear bags.