Our last day in Okinawa was kind of sad. After all of the
amazing things we were able to do, it was at bit depressing to leave it all
behind and go back to school. That was pretty much the weird thing about having
a short vacation in the middle of the school year. Actually traveling to a new
place and being a complete tourist really took most of us off of our game but I
regret absolutely nothing. Once we checked out of our hotel we went over to a
nice little street near Naha Airport called Kokusai Street which is pretty much
reserved for souvenir shopping. All of the usual generic items like keychains,
t-shirts, trademark snacks and things like that were littered up and down the
way and I did not really see too many things I was willing to buy for any
particular person.
I did pick up a few boxes of chinsuko – tasty little cookies
– along the way, and then my companion Megan and I stumbled upon a record
store. On the window outside they were advertising the release of a new album
from a band called Oz. I remembered hearing them on TV one day in our hotel
room and decided that now would be as good as any time to buy their CD. Even
though it cost me about $25 it did come with a decent amount of songs and a DVD
of their main music videos. At around 13:15 we went into Sam’s Sailor Inn to
have our lunch prepared right before our eyes. The prep cook at our table was
pretty good at what he did which was clearly indicative of how much one must
practice in order to perform for a crowd of hungry people.
When all is said and
done, I believe the one thing I will miss the most about our trip was being
able to enjoy the onsen every night after a long day of travel. Towards the end
I think everyone got a bit tired of one another, something that is completely unavoidable
when you are in a location that does not have much public transportation
readily available to escape one’s companions. Nevertheless, I really think that
many of us grew closer to one another for the better and I am glad to have had
the opportunity to do so.
The weather has finally cleared up a bit though we are still
lacking in sufficient sunlight to call it a great day. Nevertheless, the show
must go on!
11:15 – A short distance from Hotel Miyuki Beach (our hotel)
we drove up to the unbelievably gorgeous Manzamou Cliffs. Part miraculous view
of ocean, part scene from the jungles of Jurassic Park, this place was beyond
breathtaking. I had a lot of fun playing photographer here working with
aperture and shutter speed (nowhere near in expert fashion but enjoying myself
nonetheless) and using Ms. Pigit as subject matter once more. There was one
area on a hill near the cliff that was basically a large crater and I saw the
opportunity for one of those amazing Dragonball Z shots people have been doing
a lot lately but by the time I found it everyone had basically already boarded
the bus . . . so I bought a dress instead! It was a really pretty
tangerine/light orange summery number that I cannot wait to wear back in the
States. In continuing with the photog bit, I took to making my friends pose for
me using the black and white setting on my camera. Pretty good huh?
12:00 – After narrowly escaping an accident with several
other busses we made our way to Ufuyah – a former residence and current
restaurant – where we lunched on traditional Okinawan cuisine. Unfortunately
for many, the rocky nature of the bus ride pretty much offset their appetites
so in favor of not getting sick we ate what we could and carried on. I did have
a chance to eat a really yummy ice cream called Blue Wave, a lovely pineapple
and Ramune flavored treat, and I purchased a nice little bottle of
pineapple/grape wine that I will be taking back to the States.
13:00 – The Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium was one of the
highlights of the day. This awesome place offered many interesting marine life
sites for us to see. I must admit that of all the aquariums I have been to,
this one had some of the largest sea creatures I have ever laid eyes on. Huge
whale sharks swam languorously throughout the tank while large manta rays
seemed to fly like great majestic sea birds around all of the smaller animals.
Later on I saw live manatees for the first time, played with big sea turtles
through the glass of their tanks, and saw a dolphin show while snacking on yet
another tasty ice cream cone flavored with brown sugar and vanilla.
17:15 – Heading towards Meio University, we were greeted by
a student welcoming party and brought to the gym where we would be taught a
basic Eisa performance at their traditional dance workshop. It was very nice of
them to prepare this especially for us; they seemed just as excited to show us
their work as we were to learn. After they did their initial performance they
separated us into groups to play various roles in our own performance. Some chose
to play the small hand drum, others the larger drums you have to sling over
your shoulder, the last group being the dancers. The steps were fairly simple
but the hand gestures required much more finesse. All in all, the whole lot of
us seemed to be having a blast and I am glad that form of interaction was added
to the trip because it was so much more than your typical tourist venture. The students
were so kind and really made me feel more involved in a part of the Okinawan
culture.
20:00 – Our dinner was quite a surprise in that we had our own little BBQ
session. Each table had its own burner where we could cook our meats and
veggies. We had pork, chicken, corn, eggplant, cabbage, and some other
delicious things to nom on. After a long day of traveling around, this was most
definitely a welcome diversion.
This day was pretty much like being caught up in scary
monsoon like rainy weather. We drove around once again in the tour bus our
coordinator booked but the streets in many of the areas are very narrow which
makes it that much more concerning. There were several occasions when we nearly
crashed into other tour busses while trying to avoid the lakes that were
forming on the flooded roads. Even so, we set out to have a fun day of
historical and cultural excitement.
10:15 – We arrived at the Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial
Museum which commemorates the tragedies that occurred during the Battle of
Okinawa in World War II. It was a very solemn and sad walk through the museum;
just seeing the horrific acts done to the Okinawan civilians really brought us
back down to earth. Having never personally witnessed the likes of any war and
only having a mild interaction with the wars occurring in present times, I was
once again humbled by what I saw there much like when I visited the Hiroshima
Peace Museum three years ago. And yet, even though the content of the event was
very sad, I felt a great sense of beauty just being there and having the
opportunity to learn more about the Okinawan people’s struggles at that time. I
especially loved the fact that when going through the museum and reading the
facts and figures they did not seem to be inhibited by the fact that Okinawa technically
belongs to Japan. There did not appear to be any particular bias or sugar
coating used to explain what happened in Okinawa, which I greatly
appreciated.I later took a stroll
through the gravestones erected to commit to memory the extensive loss of life
after the Battle of Okinawa which was just as humbling as the museum itself.
11:45 – Still fighting the rain, we made our way to Okinawa
World. Initially I believed this place to be some sort of theme park and was
very much ready to be the first one in line for a rollercoaster. That being
said, I was quickly made aware of the fact that this place was actually a
cultural theme park, no rides included. Despite this slightly misguided
thought, we were treated to an amazing traditional Eisa dance performance. It involves
drummers and sanshin players who dance around doing flips and kicks with their instruments,
as well as, dancers who gracefully move around the room. There was also a short
acting bit in which two of the performers wore masks with the faces of an
elderly man and woman trying to outsmart a giant shisa (Okinawan guard creature
crossed between a lion and a dog – an important figure/decoration seen all
around Okinawa). Shortly after we feasted at an amazing buffet style lunch and
were given time to do a bit of shopping in the overwhelmingly assorted gift
shops downstairs. There were so many omiyage [お土産｜おみやげ]
or souvenirs that I could not even fathom trying to leave there without
something to remember the place by. Luckily, there was a pretty nice deal going
on for the food souvenirs that offered a discount for the varying sizes of each
product. So of course I bought a ton of the cookies and other pastries that
Okinawa is famous for in order to share with all of our e-pals and to take back
home. I even saw a sanshin and was terribly tempted to buy it but I just could
not shell out $200+ when I only gave myself that much as an overall allowance
while in Okinawa. Either way, I left there happy and with many things to share
with my family when I get home.
14:50 – I have to say this next activity was the most
exciting and the most anxiety inducing part of the trip – glass blowing at the
Ryukyu Glass company. I have never once in my life blown glass and believe me,
as cool as it looks, it was also rather scary. Not only are you handling
severely hot glass that could potentially leave you with terrifying burns
should you mishandle it but you have to use both of your hands to do so. By
virtue of my last name starting with an A I was the first to go and I was
really nervous but very eager to do it. The first step was to arm ourselves
with the proper gloves and forearm cuffs so as not to burn ourselves when near
the furnaces and working the glass. They gave us what looked like the paper
wrapper that goes on the bottom of waffle cones to put over the mouth piece of
the blowing device because they put their mouths directly on them. The man
helping me prompted me to blow into the mouth piece and at first nothing happened
but then I exhaled harder and faster and the glass began to rise through the
mold that it was being held in. Next, I came around into glass blower’s
communal work station where I was instructed on how to form the mouth of the
glass cup we were to make. This process, which included using the left hand to
roll the pole holding the glass back and forth while the right hand held the
clamp that would widen the mouth of the glass as you sat in a chair, was
probably the scariest part. The furnace was about 3 feet from me and my heart
leapt when the man brought the pole from the furnace over to the chair I sat
in. I even had a close call while trying to take pictures of the other students
and I was standing so close to the chair that when the man swung the pole
around the however many degree hot glass on the end of it moved inches away
from my ankle. After that cool little to do, I took a look at the rather
expensive souvenirs in the gift shop. I understand that these items (jewelry,
home goods, etc.) were all made by hand thus the value of them is possibly
greater than something machine-made but I could not honestly afford anything
worth buying if I really wanted it. I did leave there with a really cute
necklace and the ticket to receive my own glass once the company sends it to us
at the IES Abroad Center. Just before we left we saw some cute little figurines
around the base of trees outside the building.
The following blog posts are a brief overview of the
happenings during the study abroad groups’ four day visit to Okinawa [沖縄｜おきなわ](what happens in Okinawa, stays in Okinawa ;]).
Enjoy!
9:54 – Boarding the plane to Okinawa, woo!!! Everyone pretty
much got here at a reasonable time except for two people – Hannah and Tom.
Hannah is a bit lax in her participation so that’s that, but Tom literally has
an issue with timeliness and can at times seem rather dense. But,
unfortunately, despite our program coordinator’s distinct instructions stating
not to go to Narita Airport but to Haneda and the various text messages giving
precise directions as to getting to said airport, he STILL went to the wrong
place and he is still trying to come along with the group . . . by buying
himself a ticket . . . that’s more expensive than the entire trip itself. So
sad. But aside from those mishaps, look what I saw from the plane . . . MOUNT FUJI!!!
13:45 – We have successfully arrived in Okinawa and are
currently at Shuri Castle – home of the Ryukyu Kingdoms’ ancient capital.
Before it was claimed as a prefecture of Japan, Okinawa was its own separate independent
country. Shuri Castle, a World Heritage site, has a sizable layout with
buildings influenced, in part, by both Japanese and Chinese architectural characteristics
and had many beautiful views from the highest points on its grounds. It was
destroyed after the Battle of Okinawa but restored later in 1992.
16:45 – Our next activity led us to a local community center
a short distance from the castle where we took sanshin [三線｜さんしん]
lessons. This marks opportunity #2 for me to learn a traditional (Okinawan) instrument.
And, not to brag, but I was pretty good at it! As a group we sounded so cool in
spite of our only having been learning for an hour. It was outrageously fun and
that instrument only costs about $200!!!! I’d buy one in a heartbeat if I had
the time to learn, practice and be capable of tuning it (I was never very good
at such things when I played the violin). I had such a good time reading music
again and even though it was in a different format (top to bottom and right to
left – the way books are read in Japan) I still figured it out and it really
lifted my spirits after a day of trudging through a sea of humidity (Okinawa
was super freaking hot!).
~20:00 – After we made it to our hotel we went out to the
private beach to play in the water for a while. The water is technically off
limits at 18:00 but since we weren’t swimming we were fine until 22:00 when the
beach would close. I took that time to collect some shells and coral and just
enjoy the amazing breeze coming off of the water while everyone else walked at
the water’s edge. Just before we decided to leave the beach our friend Rebekah
was standing very still in the water and something long and black was near her
legs. At first glance no one noticed, thinking maybe it was just some debris
floating along. But its movements seemed too steady, to real and then it dawned
on us . . . IT WAS AN EEL!!! In a loud shriek of fright we all ran away from
the water vowing not to get back into it at night. After gathering our wits
about ourselves a few of us girls chose to take advantage of the free onsen [温泉｜おんせん] located within our hotel.
Now for those of you who do not know what an onsen is, it is
basically a public bath in which you wash your body prior to entering it (much
like you would/should before going into a pool). The interesting thing is you
absolutely cannot wear any clothing inside the bath. It’s birthday suit all
day. Fun right? Especially if you do not know the people you enter the bath
with very well. Of course, after such endeavors we basically knew each other as
best as we ever would. Immersing one’s self into a large pool of warm to steamy
water is the most relaxing feeling ever and I was more than happy to do it
again after a three year hiatus from being in Japan. I highly recommend
participating in this activity if ever you visit Japan because it is much more
soothing than a hot tub and should actually be included in all American health
clubs or whatever places of relaxation we have.
So after all the hilarious girl talk, we left the bath and
gathered up to play Cards Against Humanity which is basically Apples to Apples
but for truly horrible people. All of the responses one could possibly use were
some of the most disgusting and despicable and awful things to say about
certain topics/historical events or people/situations. But we LOVED IT! That was
some of the most fun I’d had in quite some time with a large group of people I consider
friends.
