Okinawa: The Highs and Lows
Trip Start
Jul 23, 2005
1
27
61
Trip End
Aug 17, 2010
Naha, Japan
Wednesday, January 4, 2006
So, as many of you know, Okinawa is a semi-tropical island that was the last major (and very bloody) battle in WWII. Most of the historical landmarks and a large portion of the native citizenry here were wiped out when the Americans made their final push toward victory. However, mother nature is a very resilient creature and the majority of the landmarks have been reconstructed from photos or drawings and the people seem to be doing quite well also. While there is still some anti-American sentiment here (due mostly to out of control servicemen`s behavior), the majority of the people that I came into contact here with have been extremely helpful and friendly.
I arrived on New Year`s Day at about 6:30 in the evening. It was warm and humid (as you would expect) and that island feeling was in the air. The kind ladies at the information booth helped me figure out what bus would get me closest to my hostal and off I went...I managed to navigate all of that fine, with the bus driver letting me know what stop to get off at. I had some trouble locating where it was so I asked some girls on the street and they walked me down to where it was *supposed* to be.
Well, it wasn`t there at all. The building it was supposed to be in was locked up and dark with only a lone security guard watching tv in the lobby. I walked around for a while and asked some more people but no one could help me. Finally, I asked a parking lot attendant guy and he was on the money. He called the hostal for me and got directions (it ended up being about 15 minutes farther northwest), hailed a cab for me, and told the driver where to go. What a righteous dude.
So I finally made it to the place and got myself checked in. I had been suffereing from a cold the last couple days so I could have stayed in and got some rest. Instead though I decided to walk down to Kokusai-dori, which is the main hangout street in Naha, and see what was happening...I asked for some directions from a store clerk and he kept telling me it was far, far away. I couldn`t imagine it was that far so I just started walking in the direction I thought it was. Turns out it was less than a mile away.
Things were kind of slow since it was the day after New Year`s but there were still a lot of shops open and people walking around. I stopped in at the Helios brewery and had my first red ale since I left the states. It was actually pretty damn good and it made me wish that Hokkaido had a decent brewery...After that beer though I was pretty well worn out so I headed out, into a rainstorm. I couldn`t tell when I was in the bar but by the time I got to the end of the street it was pouring and the wind was whipping. I had left my jacket at the hostal because it was really nice when I left so I ended up standing in the small doorway of a shop and shivering my half-wet ass off for about a half-hour until it let up enough for me to walk back.
The next day I headed back to Kokusai-dori. I had gotten up and out about 9 but that was way too early for anything to be going on. I dinked around until 10 when the tourist office opened and got myself a map and some bus and ferry info. From there I walked down the covered shopping arcade, Heiwa-dori, and ended up in the pottery district of Tsuboya. It`s a really old part of town and is filled with narrow winding paths that lead up and over hills and into people`s workshops. There were pottery stores scattered all over the place and I went crazy snapping photos of all the ceramic dragons that decorate people`s houses. The sun had finally broken open about this time so it finally felt like I was on a tropical island.
Not much else was going on that day though. I took the Okinawan monorail (take that Seattle!) down to Onoyama park on the banks of the Kokuba river and walked around there for a while. The natives were having a big New Year`s ceremony at the famous temple there. The place was packed with people and they were all buying strips of paper and tying them to rope latticeworks that were set up for the purpose. I don`t know if they were prayers for their ancestors or if they were fortunes for themselves. It was a madhouse though so I snapped some photos and got out of there.
Yesterday I rented a bike from my hostal and rode out to Shuri-jo Castle Park. It is a World Heritage Site and is a pretty impressive place to check out. As I mentioned before, it was also destroyed during WWII. However, before that, it had burned to the ground at least 2 previous times and had been rebuilt...From the walls of the castle you can see 360 degrees all around Naha and the surrounding towns. If you`re thinking that it`s a lush, heavily forested tropical paradise then you are wrong. As far as I could see into the haze it was nothing but poured concrete buildings painted white. You wouldn`t think they could fit that many people onto an island but you would be wrong.
You have to pay 800 Yen to actually get into the palace proper. When I arrived there were a couple of actors that were perched high atop it dressed as the king and queen. I don`t know how long they had to sit there and remain motionless but it looked like torture to me. I followed the rest of the crowd on a tour of the temple...The first building had photos of what it used to look like. Before you could enter the reconstructed temple though you had to take off your shoes. They conveniently gave you plastic bags for this purpose.
The inside was very dark and all of the wood was lacquered a deep red. Maybe they kept the doors shut to preserve everything but I found it hard to believe that the king would want to live in perpetual shadow like that. Most of the place was empty except for a couple thrones and it really wasn`t that interesting to me...Back outside, I walked around some of the lower grounds for a while and then got on my bike and headed to Shikinaen Royal Gardens.
This is the place that the royal family used to use to entertain the visiting dignitaries from China. It`s really a beautiful place (all completely restored of course), with a large pond and lots of different gardens to walk through. You could also walk all through the house that they used to use. It`a a traditional Japanese house so there is no front door proper and all the sliding doors open to the outside. It was really a great place and seemed to be in total harmony with it`s natural surroundings.
Later on that day I ended up meeting an Kiwi who lives and works in Naka as an IT guy. We ended up hitting the bar up later on in the evening and made some plans to hopefully go rock climbing, or at least some car touring, when I get back.
Today was a pretty slow day with me just haging around town. I had seen all there was that I wanted to see so I just took it easy...Tonight I take the overnight ferry to Ishigaki-jima, which is an island about 400 kilometers southwest of here. Then another ferry to Iriomote-jima and I will have reached my final destination. While I am there I hope to do some kayaking and jungle hiking. We`ll see if that happens.
