Setsubun no hi

Setsubun Day accessories. Makizushi (rolled sushi), mame (beans) and oni (ogre) mask.

This visually impaired oni quickly fled outside under the hail of Yukiko's viciously hurled mame. Luckily she let him back inside shortly afterwards because it was cold out.

Okinawa: The Final Chapter

Okinawa, day 5:
Final Breakfast on Kumejima.

There's a reason why people always say "don't stare directly at the sun."

On the morning of January 2nd we took the public bus to the Kumejima airport (not much hope of finding the taxi guy) for a short flight to Naha, the biggest city in Okinawa. After checking into the Orion Hotel we went to the major sightseeing attraction 首里城 Shurijou Castle, the center of the old Ryukyus kingdom.

Castle gate

Outer wall

Stairway to one of the inner areas

Yukiko secures the stairway against any unruly hooligans

Inner Compund entranceway
Flowers spell out the kanji for shurijou, 首里城

The Main Hall

Close up of the artistry

Map of Shurijou castle

Another entranceway



We spent the rest of the day on the crowded, main street, Kokusai-dori. Due to the large number of American military bases in Okinawa there were Americans milling about everywhere. A lot of military personnel and their families. Their twangy accents and frequent calls of "y'all" seemed to indicate that most of them were from the southern states. I guess that very few of them can speak any Japanese though as the shopkeepers were always shocked and pleased that I could speak Japanese to them. When we took a taxi to the castle though the driver spoke with a very strong Okinawan accent and I could barely understand him. I just caught a few words here and there. Yukiko said she had difficulty understanding him too. I figure that Okinawan Japanese is a little like Scottish English.

1 of the numerous souvenir shops

A robotic 'sanshin', a snake-skinned, traditional 3 stringed Okinawan guitar. Not to be confused with the standard, traditional Japanese guitar, or 'shamisen', which is made from cat skins.

Actually I'm surprised the sanshins weren't made from pig skins as Okinawans certainly do love their pork. Every dish seemed to have pork in it. Even Okinawan udon has, you guessed it, pork stuffed into the noodles. Every restaurant we went to gave us small, complimentary bowls of pork. I immediately passed mine on to Yukiko and she got pretty porked out after only a few days.

Shisa for sale.

Tough to find any American influences here in Naha.

D'oh

I never expected to see the Japanese Emperor here.

The next morning we flew back to the chilly cold of Kansai, bringing our Okinawan expedition to a close.