April 13, 2001

Welcome to Okinawa. Naha appears to be a city much like any other in Japan, save for the decidedly more tropical/exotic feel and rather large number of American military personnel flexing their pecs as they walk down the street. After finally managing to locate a guest house - the owners of which (a family of 4, I think) seem very friendly and have invited me to sup with them this eve - I took the opportunity to just walk around and try to get a feel for the place. Sitting in the Helios Pub, drinking a glass of microbrewed Pale Ale, I feel that I could quite easily spend the entire four days just slumming it up and not doing much of anything. But it's still early.

Getting here, on the other hand, has been a true test of my patience and resolve. From arriving at the check-in counter at Fukuoka Airport, I've had nothing but problems and setbacks until arriving at Kashiwa-ya (the aforementioned guest house). I foolishly brought up the fact that I had received someone else's ticket as a gift, and would it be possible to change the name? Apparently not. I ended up phoning Tetsu and giving the woman behind the counter my phone. After a very tense 15-minute conversation, she finally acquiesced to refund the first ticket and let me buy a new ticket (same flight, same seat, new name) for an additional 25000 yen. Yikes. Well, I bought it, met a very nice stewardess, arrived in Okinawa and headed up to the car rental agency - pausing only to make a rabbit for a friendly child.

I'd forgotten my International Driver's License. The woman behind the counter was even less willing to help than the woman in Fukuoka was. Not a very pleasant welcome. I moved on to the Information Desk and was promptly handed a sheaf of paper containing maps, bus schedules, brochures and advertisements. Sitting outside waiting for the bus, I wondered just what I had gotten myself into this time - feelings very similar to the time I found myself in Akita prefecture without a flight home, as my travel agent assumed I wanted a one-way ticket. But that's a whole other kettle of fish. Anyway, the bus ride was short and I soon found myself standing on a very busy street with no idea where to go. Wandering around, I came across an Okinawan Tourist Centre and popped in to try my luck.

The woman behind the counter was friendly - a nice change of pace - and listened to my sorrowful saga with interest. She made a few phone calls and found a company that would rent me a car with only a copy of my IDL. Bliss. I phoned Furukawa-sensei and told him where he might find my IDL and asked him if he might fax me a copy. I gave him the number and got directions to the nearest mobile phone shop, as my phone's battery was on its last legs. Lugging my luggage a kilometre and a half down busy sidewalks at two in the afternoon in Naha is hot. Doing it three times is not a pleasant experience at all. Why, you ask? Upon arriving at the shop, my phone rang - it seems the fax number I had given Furukawa-sensei was no good. Back to the Tourist Centre, double-check the number, call Furukawa-sensei and then back to the phone shop to pick up my phone. After sorting all that out, I proceeded to try all the guest houses for which I had received flyers, but to no avail. Luckily, one of the owners gave me directions to Kashiwa-ya where I am currently lodged - with a dinner date in an hour and a half.

More to come.

April 14, 2001

Well. Okinawa is nowhere near as big as everyone here makes it out to be. Preliminary inquiries suggested it would take 3 to 6 hours to get to Nago, the other big city on the island. Made it in just over an hour - and I wasn't even speeding. Also found time to round the entire northwest coast of the island; lots of beautiful beaches, forests and generally very scenic scenery. I'm kind of wondering why I rented the car for 2 full days - I probably won't need it that long. Not too much to report for today - save the vegetarian restaurant that I almost ate at.

Driving up through Motobu and Nakijin, I spotted a sign for the Nakijin Castle Ruins. I figured; what the hell, haven't seen any of the man-made attractions yet... I'll check it out. Along the way I passed a sign that read: "HERB Vegetarian Restaurant" - I couldn't resist. Ended up driving along a treacherous dirt road for 3 km, arriving at a beautiful house nestled in a small valley. Unfortunately, the restaurant was closed for the weekend and the cooks were away at a hanami but there were a few people inside, one of whom got up to come to the door.

I found myself face to face with an older-looking man with a short, neatly-trimmed beard and purple hair - why oh why did I not take a photo? He spoke impeccable English and he explained that the restaurant was closed on weekends for worship. Sigh. Guess I'll have to explore for 3 more years before I find another vegetarian establishment. Driving away, I wondered just what kind of worship they were into and briefly entertained notions that I had stumbled across an Aum sect before passing a sign for the Okinawa Baptist Beach Camp. Oh. Baptists. No wonder the place was closed. Kept on driving and I currently find myself in the sleepy town of Nago. I figure everyone's at the beach. Whilst I attempt to figure out what to do about tonight, I'll take the opportinity to relate the tale of last night's festivities.

Met a bank accountant at Helios after finishing up last night's entry - guy named Yonamine, nice fellow. Chatted with him for an hour and change, periodically interrupted by marines bumming smokes. I didn't realize how funny that is until right now. Anyway, left Yonamine with a promise to meet him there on Sunday, should I maek it back with any time remaining (he's the one who told me it would take 6 hours to get to Nago... I can't even imagine how he drives).

Back to Kashiwa-ya for a basashi (that's "Raw Horsemeat Party") - which didn't get underway until 10:30 or so; and I'll freely admit I was a little annoyed, as I kind of wanted to check out some of the Naha nightlife. However, once things got started, I was anything but annoyed.

Before proceeding any further, a brief introduction of the players (with my sincerest apologies for not having taken any photos - I don't know what I was thinking...):

• Hiroshi: owner of the establishment and possessed of the best English language ability in the place
• Mama-san: real name unknown, but friendly and easy-going
• Tatsuhiro: the feverish baby who likes goats
• Atsushi: employee, musician and all around nice guy
• Goro: the longest-term resident of the place (pushing 10 months), television broadcaster and boyfriend to Asami
• Asami: young woman who laughs more than she speaks, employed as a "worker-ha-ha-ha" (whatever that means), girlfriend to Goro
• Miki: the cook, I think - she & I mostly exchanged jokes, having only one semi-serious converation about the Portugese language
• Kanda: the guy with the towel on his head
• MR. Satomi: the insane air-guitar-playing, divorced-with-two-kids, can't-go-back-home, hey-lets-go-out-drinking curator of the Kochi Prefectural Makino Botanical Garden
• Four other gentlemen whose names I didn't catch

Basically just like sitting down with a big family for dinner - a few drinks, a few laughs; great fun. We carried on until about 2AM, when MR. Satomi (everyone had to call him 'MR.' for some reason... emphasis on the first syllable: 'MIS-ter'), who had been rambling on about all sorts of crazy things which Hiroshi assured me I was not alone in not understanding, decided it was time to sing some of his favourite Bob Dylan and Neil Young songs - at maximum volume whilst playing air-guitar (all solos included) - made all the more hilarious by the fact that he was dressed in a T-shirt, boxers and the toilet slippers. All this would have been fine, except Mama-san and Tatsuhiro were trying to sleep upstairs. We had to shut him up or get him out of there.

Initial attempts at shutting him up were quite entertaining: he would sit seiza, bow and apologize then jump up and start playing air-guitar again, silently mouthing all the words for a few minutes until he got excited and started singing aloud again. Eventually Goro, Asami, Kanda and I all went to try and knock MR. Satomi out with alcohol. It took us until 4:30 in the morning, MR. Satomi still in his boxers and toilet slippers as we went from bar to bar, singing all the while. Definitely an otsukaresamdeshita.

Later

Nago turned out to be an awfully sleepy town - as were most of the towns I passed through on my way back to Naha. I didn't mean for that to happen, but it did. Sitting in Helios again thinking about the huge tracts of urban nothingness that I passed through today. I felt an overwhelming sense of loneliness overtake me just after I left Ishikawa, prompting to press on all the way to Naha. Joss was right: the northern half of the island is definitely gorgeous, but camping all by my lonesome just didn't seem all that appealing today. I'm planning on heading back up to one of the beaches on the road to Nago to crash out in the car at some point, but we'll see what happens. Today does not bode well for the 3 months I'm going to spend on the road come August; but at least I'll have destinations to head for at that juncture. Realized I'd forgotten my toothbrush this morning (as opposed to my shaving brush, which is what I ususally forget to bring), which resulted in a delightful brushing-my-teeth-at-the-back-sink of a convienence store somewhere in that urban wasteland I mentioned earlier. I may not have met anyone new today, but I guarantee at least one person will be talking about me for a couple of days.

Oh, before I forget: there is a disparaging lack of onsens and sentos on this island. Where is a poor boy supposed to bathe around here? I bounced back and forth between Kin and Ishikawa for a good half-hour looking for one. Stopped at the police HQ in Ishikawa to ask for directions - they sent me to Kin. Arriving in Kin, I was sent back to Ishikawa. Harrumph. Eventually located a small run-down public bath house (with much ado) and had a relatively pleasant soak in a tub of bright green water with a couple of grandpas to keep me company. Fantastic; a true hard-core bathing experience. Here's hoping I can find another one tomorrow.

Found out why the bar is called 'Helios': the owner likes the image of the sun helping wheat and barley to grow - they being the primary ingredients for the brewing processes. Sadly, almost no one ever makes the connection between the name and the Greek god. Although expecting your average Japanese citizen to be well-versed in classical literature is kind of like expecting your average Canadian to know who Natsume Soseki is. Still, it's nice to know that there are people who do know these things and don't simply pull words out of the dictionary to use as names.

Wow. A young woman (who I just discovered is the bartender's cousin) just ordered a shot of Spiritus for her boyfriend. Guess they're not so close.

April 16, 2001

After leaving Helios last night, I wandered back to my car (conveniently but illegally parked a couple of blocks away) and passed by an interesting-looking bar called "Savoir". Ended up sitting down and drinking Booker Noe's with the head bartender for an hour or so before heading out to Miyuki Beach (up by Onna) to crash out in the car. I arrived at the beach at about 12:30 and found a semi-isolated spot to park and settled in for an uncomfortable evening in the car listening to music and drinking whiskey just because there wasn't much else to do.

I awoke the next morning and thought I had permanently bent my spine for the first 2 hours of the day. I continued my trek northwards and ended up at Sesoko beach - at the reccomendaion of Yamashiro-san, the bartender at Helios. Nice beach. I located a semi-isolated spot and whiled away the morning frolicking in the ocean and scaling a cliff face that lined the beach. Decided I was burnt enough at about 2PM and drove back down to Naha, where I spent an hour or so circling the back alleyways of Matsuo Ward seeking the one true path to the guest house I had stayed at before. I reckon Theseus had it easy - those streets are positively labyrinthine. I eventually gave up, parked the car, walked to the guesthouse and begged for help. Ten minutes later, I was sitting in my room wondering why I hadn't done so in the first place. Quick shower, a little omiyage shopping and back over to Helios to meet Yonamine-san for another round of microbrews.

Stuck around for a good 3 hours chatting about everything under the sun. I eventually escaped (talking to a banker for 3 hours usually requires and escape, no matter how nice a guy he is...) and made my way over to Savoir for another round of bourbon - Elijah Craig this time, and ended up talking to the newest member on staff the whole time, as the bartender was busy making scores of drinks for a wedding party that seemed bent on getting completely destroyed. Japanese weddings - nothing but fun, if you ask me.

Fourty-two minutes 'til departure. Despite periods of loneliness - and a rash of strange dreams about Kaori, for some reason - I close the book on my Okinawan adventure. In three days, I think I've done pretty well for myself: found some nice hangouts, got plenty of R&R and met a bunch of good people. I think this trip has basically reaffirmed my desire to return to Japan in the very near future. I think I fit in pretty well over here, but who knows? That's a topic best left for another day.

A Dr. J Manifestation 2001
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