It’s about three feet long and the floral motif is a gettō, the leaves of which are used to wrap food offerings at graves. I also have some nice incense made from crushed gettō. This is the hanging I mentioned in a previous post while I was in Okinawa. I took me a lot of time to pick it out and I didn’t mind paying about $250 for it. The colors and motif are perfect for my study. It also has the distinction of being the first thing we’ve hung that required making a hole in the pristine wall. I have a couple other spots where I’d like to hang small pictures, but have no idea what. In the meantime I’ll enjoy the gettō above the iMac and perhaps burn some incense to make the scene complete.

One bit of tropical kitsch involves a ladder attached to a coconut palm tree that has an “Okinawa” sign on it. You are encouraged to climb up and pretend those are real coconuts (they’re plastic, and one had a big hole in it). Dad here knows it’s plastic, but the daughter will now grow up thinking she saw real coconuts.

I was bummed that one half of the gardens was closed; there’s a palm tree over there imported from Taiwan which has machine gun bullet holes in it. I wanted another photo of it.

After the Gardens, I zipped over to nearby “Anpo no mieru oka” (the hill from which the Japan-US Security Treaty can be seen), a spot along the perimeter of Kadena Air Base from which one can view the runway.

Ever since Kadena Town built a 5-story visitors building across the road after US authorities threatened to raise to wall after 9/11, hardly anyone — even the airplane freaks who hang out with high-powered lens and radios to intercept air traffic communications — come to Anpo no oka any more. The new building has an observation deck and, better yet, four cameras on the roof that feed video monitors inside the town museum where you can zoom in on four different spots on base. Very cool.

This is all going into the “bases as tourist sites” chapter of the book. After that I went over to Yomitan Village where I lived for 6 months here, only a short walk to the East China Sea:

By the time I had done a quick around the park and beach there, I got hungry and picked up lunch at the nearest Family Mart (curry bun and miso rice ball) and headed from the pottery village within Yomitan. I didn’t find any pieces that grabbed me, but it’s always nice to walk around the studios and the famous big old noborigama (hillside kiln), so I turned the trip into a photo shoot:

And then it was back to my room, picking up a whole garlic chicken at Jimmy’s in Ginowan for dinner and lunch the next day. Between that and the kimchee I had my room stunk.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I figured I’d end up going to Wa-no-Ichi one night. After two nights of economizing with takeout sushi from the supermarket, I decided to treat myself to local pub food. I’d been to Wa-no-Ichi before and liked the atmosphere (built out of a quonset hut) and food (“Okinawan” food with a twist and decently priced, although they make up for that with a “table charge” — ¥300 — and a live charge — ¥500). I had jiimaami dofu (a soft peanut flavored tofu), umi budou (sea grapes), mozuku tempura (because John Purves, whom I visited today, said I had to), gurukun (a popular local fish) age (deep fried), and goya beer:

It was all good.

Before that I spent a couple hours visiting with John Purves and his wife Rachel Stevenson at the Kin Town Community Center.

The town was holding a “Culture Festival” and John and Rachel had works on display: Rachel had a website on her activities in and take on Kin, while John had a jointly authored translation/interpretation of an 18th-century text by Sai On about “the secrets of forestry” that’s going to be published in The Ryukyuanist next month. Do check out Rachel’s lovely website and download John’s article once its posted on The Ryukyuanist website.

Continuing backwards with my day, I lunched in Mihama (more precisely, in “American Village” i.e. American Strip Mall). I wanted to take some photos of this America-themed destination for tourists as much as for the Americans at the nearby bases. It’s changed a bit from 10 — even 5 — years ago. For one, my favorite cafe is gone, taken over by a Freshness Burger franchise. Big bummer, because I wanted my usual grilled chicken panini and latte there. I settled for souki (pork rib) soba instead.

It’s only getting bigger too, with a “phase two” opening soon:

For the most part the area is harmless and rather silly, although there are bars where trouble has occurred before, such as the rape of a Japanese woman by an airman from Kadena AB in the parking lot several years ago when I lived here. Rachel mentioned that at least in Kin — site of Camp Hansen, the base of the three Marines who raped the schoolgirl in 1995 — there is a midnight curfew in effect for all American military personnel.

Speaking of American military personnel, today’s plan was to do base-related things besides American Village. I was going to go to the spot along Kadena AB’s perimeter where you can see over the fence onto the tarmac and watch jets take off and land, but I was running short of time. That will be on the agenda for tomorrow. Time was short because before getting to Mihama I wanted to go to Kakazu Park, another base-watching spot, this time offering a view (but a bit distant) of Futenma, the Marine Air Station that you should know about if you’ve been paying any attention to the news of President Obama’s visit to Japan yesterday. The “base realignment” mentioned centers on transferring Futenma’s functions elsewhere — where elsewhere is the sticking point. The U.S. wants to move it to a heliport up north in Henako, the locals there don’t want it. Secretary Gates (whom I’m NOT liking) basically threatened Japan (Okinawa) with a no deal to move 8,000 Marines to Guam unless the Henako facility is agreed to. It’s pretty much a mess and I imagine nothing substantive will happen for a long time. In any case, back to Kakazu. The observation platform dedicated there in January 1964 is one of my favorite pre-Reversion sightseeing spots in Okinawa. It’s this (now worn down) globe with slices taken out (for viewing on the separate floors) and a spiral staircase going up the center.

Note the chasm between Okinawa and mainland Japan, suggesting a true separation between the two — that surely must have been intended, but by whom? Was the design under American direction? I don’t know nor do I think I can find out. There’s graffiti inside the walls and it’s clear that kids hang out here — there were three (junior?) high school guys just sitting around talking when I got there.

The view of Futenma is better had at several other spots in Ginowan, including the upper floor of Okinawa International University, which abuts the base, but from Kakazu you can appreciate the vastness of the base with respect to the city of Ginowan, which is donut shaped because of the base at its center.

Finally, backing up to the morning, I spent part of that at the Ujizome Kumiai (trade union) Center gallery on tiny Senaga Island in Tomigusuku to score some sugar-cane-leaf-dyed items, especially a tapestry for my new study. And that I did, plus a few small items for the family. Ujizome is a special dying process done with sugar cane leaves and it renders beautiful bright (and dark) greens, as in these tapestries (not my photo; this is from another gallery website):

I did NOT get a goya motif, which might surprise you. I actually went looking for the sugar cane motif pictured near the center here. They didn’t have it, but instead, another caught my eye because of the modern angles done in shades of green. It has a flower motif at the center, a gettô, which I need to research because Rachel immediately recognized the name from a local song that she says is always sung at memorials. The clerk at the Kumiai had some cut and dried geto she showed me when I asked about the flower motif. I photo of it now won’t do it justice. You’ll see it hanging on my study wall once I get back….

UPDATE: Info on gettô, or Alpinia zerumbet. It’s in the shell ginger family and its leaves are used to wrap rice balls in (the store clerk actually told me that part). That probably means they are used to wrap food offering at tombs on memorial days.

I had a hard time deciding on what kind of burger, so I just went with what the cashier guy recommended–a super something or other. It was a good choice with the onion rings.

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I was late joining the group because I didn’t know where we were supposed to meet. I apologized and the others were cool about it. One guy took photos of me with my little camera without me asking. This was inside the cave, with our guide Mr. Chinen giving explanations on the right.

Once out the other side, Mr. Chinen continued about the plight of the wounded and the nurses (many from the Himeyuri Corps, but not exclusively). He talked a lot and very quickly — hard to keep up with him.

It was very much worth the trip — both the opportunity to see part of the tunnel complex and to see the just-opened new Haebaru Bunka Sentaa (Culture Center).

It’s much bigger and brighter than the old building and was funded primarily by the town. All of the exhibits were put together by the employees at the Center — no pros were hired. Taira Tsugiko, whom I met nine years ago — is one of the curators and she gave me a nice personal tour of the “Okinawan Daily Life” section of the exhibit. The main part of the Center is, of course, about Haebaru in war and postwar times, but Taira-san said that their idea is to show not just the war and not just the good things about the town, as this serves as their city museum. There is a real commitment on the part of the town and the people who work and volunteer at the Center. The Director said they basically run at a lost but even so, it’s important to continue their mission. I agree. I liked their attitude. It’s a good place.

Posted via email from goyaboy’s digital dump

Posted via email from goyaboy’s digital dump

Posted via email from goyaboy’s digital dump