Okinawa World BudoSai  21^st – 27^th July 2004

Kam-wing Pang

 

After 19 years training in Karate, I finally got my opportunity to travel to and train in Okinawa, the birthplace (‘Mecca’) of what is now known as Karate.

Okinawa has always been a trading route between Japan and China, and to this day, you still see a lot of people traveling to Naha on their way either to Japan, China or Taiwan. Its close proximity to China and Japan means that many of the Okinawan culture, cuisines etc have had a Chinese and Japanese influence. During the Second World War, Okinawa was devastated by the conflict and many people lost their lives, half of which were Okinawans. Okinawa struggled since the war to become what it is today, but it is nevertheless still one of the poorest prefectures of Japan. With some expectations and stories of what it would be like, I set forth to find out for myself, the Okinawa of today and what it might be like to train there.

 

I went with the Singapore contingent: Chris (South African), Mal (Australian) and Moorthy (Singaporean), who left the day before me. We also had two more guys who were already there, Peter (American), and Josef (German who used to live in Singapore but now resides in Australia). So out of six of us, only one is actually Singaporean, two are actually Asian and two are actually members of IOGKF (International Okinawan Gojuryu Karate Federation) that organized the event.

The Budosai is a world martial arts event that hopes to bring many countries together to train in traditional Goju Ryu as well as getting a taste of the other Okinawan martial arts. All styles were welcomed, with about 700 people participating in the event.

21^st July – Singapore/Taipei/Naha

Woke up at 5am and it’s still dark. It’s been raining all night and I’m worried about getting a taxi because when it starts to rain in Singapore, taxis mysteriously disappear.  Had a last read of my emails (not porn) and replied to some while I waited for the taxi to arrive. I spent the night before going over stuff that I have packed, and tried to whittle down the amount of stuff to carry. It’s amazing how one can survive on one underwear, a couple of t-shirts, and a pair of shorts for 2 weeks. Lana tells me differently.

The taxi arrived and I’m off to the airport to check in to a China Airlines flight. I’ve got my holiday insurance for the trip the day before, packed it into my bags and contemplated morbidly how anyone would make a claim if the plane did one of those China Airlines special.

The plane is a small 737, and the seats are quite small even for me. So I wondered how Chris, Mal, and Moorthy survived 4.5 hours the day before on the same trip.

Landed in Taipei at around 12:30pm and walked around the airport for about 30 minutes wondering why there were no shops and why it was so quiet. Then worked it out after getting to the transfer gate and finding all the excitement was on the next level… if you can call walking around the same few shops for 3 hours excitement. Looking at bottles of cognac, Chinese books, pineapple pastries and tacky souvenirs can only produce so much thrill and exhilaration!

With time going so deathly slow, I made my way to the departure gate and caught some shuteye. Eventually, we were allowed to board and I heaved a huge sigh of relief. It takes less than an hour and a half to get to Naha from Taipei and I busied myself on the plane reading my Japanese phrase book and practicing my lines like ‘Where is the bus stop to Naha city?’ and ‘Can you please tell me where to stop for Rainbow Hotel?’ I’m pretty sure that I got a few looks from my fellow passengers as they saw an Asian with a Mohican haircut muttering Japanese to himself over and over again.

Landed in Naha International Airport at 6:45pm and the first thing that I saw out of the window was a baseball field. I wondered if that was the taste of what Okinawa would be like now. I always envisioned an idyllic town (probably from old reruns of Karate Kid II), but looking out of the window, I found myself looking at modern Japan, with monorail, crowded buildings and lots of traffic. Going through immigration was quite quick, but I wore my cap in case they didn’t let Chinese Mohicans into Okinawa for one reason or another. Through customs, they asked to search my small backpack and if I was staying with friends. I told them I was here for karate, and they asked who the Sensei (teacher) was. I mentioned Sensei Morio Higaonna and they let me pass through without searching the rest of my bags.  Nice to drop names about…

The Naha International Airport is very old and very small. I later noticed that the Domestic terminal next door is much more modern and larger with lots of shops, and facilities. The newly constructed monorail connected to the terminal allows passengers to travel to Naha and all the way to Shuri which makes it a lot less expensive than taking the taxi.

Walking out to the arrival gate, I found that Chris and Mal were already waiting for me. It was a pleasant surprise as I thought I would have to negotiate my own way to the hotel using my Japanese ‘phrasebook’. The taxi ride to Naha took about 10 minutes or so and it would certainly be much easier than taking the bus. The weather in Naha at night is pretty comfortable, if you like living in preheated ovens. Coming from Singapore, it wasn’t all that bad, but carrying a heavy luggage would probably do you in, in very short time.

The hotel is situated about 5 minutes walk from the main high street called International Street (Kokusai Dori). The hotel is 12 storeys high and the rooms themselves were clean but small compared to European standards. I stayed with Moorthy, but he was still training at the Budokan (Martial Arts Stadium) when I arrived.

I met Peter at the hotel and we all went out to a small Japanese restaurant across the road for my first Japanese meal of the week. It was a simple meal of chicken cutlet with soup and some local beer called Orion. Great little beer that I first tried in Singapore at an Okinawan restaurant. After dinner, we went to the local ‘Seven-Eleven’ equivalent called Family Mart to buy water for training the next day. Mal and I decided to get some more Orion beers and headed back for a talk about the week ahead.

It was a long day and it was good to be around some good friends in a foreign country. I slept thinking about the training due to start the next day and what it might be like.

22^nd July – IOGKF Budosai Starts

Woke up at 7am to the wake up call of my roommate, Moorthy. Being a military man, Moorthy managed quite easily to rouse me from my deep slumber. We headed down to the hotel restaurant to join the others for breakfast. It was set up like a buffet with scrambled eggs, stir-fried vegetables (with SPAM), baked fish, seaweed, rice and miso soup. There were also pickles, yummy natto beans (sticky stringy fermented beans that smells), fruits and the usual fruit juices, tea and coffee. Not bad considering some of the other hotels only serve bread rolls and some hot beverage to each guest.

Official training started in the afternoon, so we had the morning free. Chris and Mal decided to head down to the Budokan early to do some training for Mal’s grading, while Peter, Moorthy and I took it easy for the morning.

I went to the local travel agent in town, and using my minimal Japanese tried to book trips down to the small remote islands south of Okinawa called Ishigaki and Irimote. Lana and I decided to spend some time there after the Budosai.

 

The morning went quite quickly and it was nearly time to start the first day of the Budosai. 700 hundred karate-ka from all around the world congregated at the newly constructed Budokan (Martial Arts Hall) on the second floor. After a welcome  talk  by Higaonna Sensei and an introduction to the senior instructors, we lined up for our first training session led by Higaonna Sensei.
	It was going to be a warm up session (Jumbi Undo), and after the first few routines, the air-conditioned dojo was getting warmer and warmer. With 700 people stamping their feet on the sprung floor, it really felt like the whole place would cave in.
With Higaonna Sensei and the senior instructors leading the session, it was exhilarating with so many people punching and kicking. It was a sight to behold. All of us were in Okinawa for one thing, and that was to train.
Sensei Ernie Molyneux	After an hour of warm up, we broke up into smaller groups to train. I went with the all styles group, which was led by Sensei Ernie Molyneux (from England) and Henrik Larsen (from Denmark). We practised Sanchin and I was able to get more details about the breathing technique and also the small nuances of the movements. It gave me more impetus to continue my Sanchin training back at home. Sensei Ernie was great as he was open to questions and was very clear in explaining the techniques and why we do them. Sensei Henrik was able to give more medical explanations on how some of the techniques should be performed.

 

One of the main things that was explained, was the feeling while performing Sanchin such as the spear hand (nukite), where we should think of the forces being applied to it as all directional. We should imagine someone applying pressure to the hands, pushing down, pushing up, from the left and from the right.

It was somewhat of a pleasant surprise that after doing Sanchin with proper breathing, it really made one feel more alert. Although there is the usual muscle ache from dynamc tension, it made me feel strangely stronger. The Sanchin session lasted an hour and Moothy and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I found Sensei Molyneux to be a very generous person and was very willing to answer all our questions, and showed us the details in Sanchin.

After a short break, we went back to the main hall where we were given a talk by Sensei Higaonna’s Zen teacher,  Sakiyama Sougen Roshi. Luckily we didn’t have to sit in seiza during his hour long talk. There was just about enough space for all 700 of us. Josef was there and we all sat together. The Zen priest talked through Nakamura Sensei who was the translator, so the pace was quite slow. After a while, Josef and I pondered the amount of things that we could get from Japanese vending machines, we wondered if we could buy Zen from it as well. Eventually we came to the conclusion that we could, but couldn’t decide if it came in bottles with metal caps that needed a bottle opener or ones that was twist-open.

In addition to our own thoughts on Zen, the Sakiyama Roshi talked about the benefits of Okinawan karate and how the traditional Okinawan life promoted longevity and stamina. With the proliferation of Macdonalds and fast food joints, Okinawa is definitely turning from the old ways.

After the talk, it was time to prepare ourselves for the welcome party. We all rushed back to our hotels to quickly get change and maybe do some laundry. The welcome party was to be held in the Beer Dome which IOGKF had hired out. We had already pre-paid and it was a buffet style type dinner with free flow drinks. The Singapore crew got changed quickly and jumped into a taxi for the long evening ahead.

People were already arriving at an increasing pace when we arrived. We handed in our ticket, found a table and went straight to the bar. Orion beer is light and extremely refreshing after a good workout. I had the strange feeling that with 700 karate guys from different countries, the beer was not going to last long, unless they had a brewery in the backroom!

 

The place was quite small, but we managed to mingle around as the beer flowed. Chris introduced us to many of the instructors and people that he already knew, and it was a good event to break the ice. I met many of the Australian crew with Josef doing the introductions, and with a beer in my hand it was not that hard. In the course of the evening, people became more creative when going to the bar and started bringing trays in to get twelve glasses at a time. With 700 people, the bar staff was moving as fast as they could. With lots of beer and good food, it was a great evening. Nakumura Sensei had to come round to everyone to persuade them to leave. The bar ran out of beer, sake and food, so it was probably a good time to go anyway.

23^rd July – Training with the Big Boys

The morning started with announcements from Nakamura Sensei and some birthday wishes. There was even a birthday song sung as well by the 700 people there. After the morning announcements, we were split up into groups again.

Sensei Morio Higaonna and Shuichi Aragaki

 

The first training session was with Sensei Higaonna. Eventually I was able to train with someone I have heard so much about from Chris. In the hour long session, we concentrated on stance work, suri ashi (sliding feet techniques) and power training. We did suri ashi in zenkutsu dachi and neko ashi dachi. Forward, backwards, left and right. The thing that I found fascinating was that Sensei Higaonna was able to slide around like he was on ice, while my feet seemed to be permanently stuck to the wooden floor. I was lucky I didn’t fall over on my arse doing the movements.

We then did resistance training with punches and using a partner to help in the outward and backward movements of a punch. This was quite a tiring exercise and I could see how this would help immensely. Other resistance training was for shoulders and with all these exercises, you wouldn’t need to see the inside of a gym again. We then did conditioning exercises (tan ren), hitting different parts of our arms against our partners. My partner was Moorthy and he has some very bony arms. Ouch!

 

After a short break we started our next session with Kazuo Terauchi Sensei and practiced the Kata Gekisai Dai Ichi. Before we came to Okinawa, Chris, Mal, Moorthy and I spent a considerable time preparing ourselves for this trip. We practiced most of the basic syllabus of Okinawan Goju which meant doing kata, bunkai and the usual exercises like San Dan Gi. I think it really helped prepare us for sessions like this.

 

Terauchi Sensei is very strong and compact and it was an eye opener to see how he performs the kata. After seeing his opening movement of Age Uke (upper block), I am starting to see how the age uke can be such a strong block, especially when aligned properly with the rest of your body. We went over and over the kata and some special notices were made on the ashi barai (foot sweep) and the shuto uchi (knife strike). Terauchi Sensei has such a fierce face that it’s hard not to be intimidated by him. The session was excellent and his display of power in the kata was amazing.

 

Typical Japanese lunch

After an hour, we broke for lunch. Moorthy and I headed down to the local ramen shop for some noodles. Quite a number of the participants ordered Bento (lunch boxes), but going out to eat was a great idea and meant we would sample more of the Japanese/Okinawan cuisine. The place we went to was a Chinese style noodle shop, but it was more Japanese than Chinese. It was quickly filled up with the Budosai participants. The food was fresh and was a good filler after a morning of training.

Moorthy enjoying lunch

 

 

At 3pm, it was back to the Budokan for a lecture with Shuichi Aragaki, who was a student of Miyagi Chojun. He talked about his training with the founder of Goju ryu and related stories that were told to him by Miyagi Chojun. For 75 year old man, he was very nimble as he demonstrated some of the exercises that he did. It is such people that makes me continue to train and hopefully one day I will be as nimble as him when I am 75!

The open seminar for Ryuei Ryu started a hour or so after the lecture and it was led by the World Kata Champion, Tsuguo Sakumoto. Sakumoto Sensei and his female instructors first demonstrated different Ryuei ryu katas, both empty hand and with Eku (Paddle), Sai and Bo. Sakumoto Sensei explained the origin of Ryuei ryu karate and then proceeded to teach us one of Ryuei Ryu’s kata called Heiku (Black Tiger). A kata that contains some very dynamic movements typical of Shuri kata yet there are circular movements typical of Naha. If we had more time, it would have been very interesting to also go through the bunkai for the kata.

 

One of the things that was outstanding was that his instructors were very young but their techniques were very fast and ‘snappy’. Sakumoto Sensei is a very easy going guy, he is a school teacher and often joked throughout the seminar.  After the seminar, Moorthy, Josef and I went to an empty hall to get the kata video taped. It would be useful when we want to redo the kata later.

After the last session, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and went out for food and drinks. We decided to explore the city at night and eventually found that Okinawa night life is not as exciting as Singapore or Hong Kong. Or maybe we were looking in the wrong places?

 

24^th July – Karate and Rugby

Waking up to the call of Sergeant Major Moorthy was becoming routine. We went downstairs to have our breakfast, trying to look awake and ready for another day of training. After breakfast we made our way to the Budokan which was about 20 minutes on foot.

The first session was with Sensei Leon Pantanowitz from Isreal, who went through San Dan Gi with us. These are a series of preparatory techniques derived from the Gekisai Dai katas and are very useful in teaching stance transition, distance and control. As we were familiar with this because of Chris, it was great to learn a little more in detail such as sliding of the feet rather stepping. I partnered up with a German Karateka called Matthias Beschnidt who is a senior in Shotokan karate and a friend of Senior IOGKF German Chief Instructor Peter Lembke. Matthias and I had a great deal in common as we both came from Shotokan backgrounds and it was great to train with a Shotokan practitioner again.

After a short break, we went back to be led by Sensei Ernie and Henrik again. This time the session was on Yakusoku Kumite (Prearranged Sparring). The emphasis was on adaptability to changing circumstances. Not all sparring goes according to plan, even in a prearranged setup, so it was important to improvise as things change. It was fun to go through the techniques as the general attitude was the same as how Chris taught us. The point of the sparring was to practice techniques that would inflict the greatest amount of harm to your opponent. This meant we got to practice things like eye gouging and joint breaking. Obviously, we didn’t do it for real, else we would quickly run out of partners, but the intention is there.

 

Afterwards we broke up for photo taking. Each country and their members were to have their photos taken with Higaonna Sensei and the senior instructors. After waiting for a long while, we finally were able to get a photo. I think I must have stood out with my Mohican!
	The ‘Singapore’ Contingent Moorthy Punniya, Peter Shane, Josef Christek, Chris De Wet, Mal Brailey, Kam-Wing Pang

 

We went back to the hotel to change and a number of us skipped the Zen Seminar in the afternoon. I personally didn’t want to suffer two hours of sitting on my knees even if it meant enlightenment. So instead, Chris, Peter, Mal and I went to the hairdressers up the road to get our head shaved. For me, I had a nice trim for my Mohican which was looking the worst for wear after a few days. Moorthy went to the seminar and told me afterwards that it was a challenge to sit in seiza position for so long, especially as he already suffers from knee problems.

Peter with Sensei Anichi Miyagi

Chris and Mal’s family arrived and they headed over to the airport to pick them up. I went back to the Budokan for the early evening talk by Anichi Miyagi, Higaonna Sensei’s instructor and one of the last students of Chojun Miyagi.  One of the things that came out of the seminar was that Chojun Miyagi understood very well that the training of students had to be in a structured manner and patience is needed from both teacher and students as karate had to be learnt from one step to another. I previously read Higaonna Sensei’s book on the history of Goju Ryu Karate but actually listening to Anichi Miyagi is a different experience as we got to hear first hand his perspectives on Chojun Miyagi as a person and as a teacher.

 

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and met up with Mal and Chris’ family and headed over to Akabanna restaurant which served authentic Okinawan dishes. Moorthy didn’t come with us, and stayed on behind at the Budokan to learn more from instructors in Shorin ryu and Kyokushinkai. I have lots of respect for Moorthy as he usually stayed on in the evenings at Budokan to learn from any teachers there. He made many friends in Okinawa and really made good use of his time there.

The Akabanna restaurant is near Kokusai Dori and quite small. The staff doesn’t speak English so it was useful that I had my phrasebook out. Lana previously passed me some recommendations of restaurants from Hong Kong magazines and I basically chose the dishes right from the article. The food was pretty good and a lot of the dishes involved pork. It was good to unwind in a good restaurant.

Afterwards, I went walking along Kokusai Dori with Josef, Mal and Lynda looking for a drink. We came across a Sports Bar and went in. The place was apparently hired out, but we were allowed to use the private room which was fine with us. They had Rugby on and it was South Africa vs. New Zealand. Chris would loved to have been there. It was a perfect end to the evening with beer in hand and Rugby on TV.

 

Outside the party  was full of men in suits and women showing very large tattoos. It looked like a Yakuza convention. After the beer, we walked around and did a bit of window shopping, and even met some of the guys from the Budosai in one small bar. Naha being invaded by 700 international karate-ka, you’re bound to bump into one or two of them.

25^th July – Master’s Demonstration

Sunday was a rest day and after breakfast, we made our way to the Chojun Miyagi Memorial which was next to the Fujian Park near the Old Chinese Quarter.  The memorial is nicely done and has some comments from the Fujian association. After being almost eaten alive by mosquitoes we took some photos and headed over to the Fujian Park for a short walk. The park is a typical Chinese garden built by Fujianese, with fountains, goldfish and little pagodas. It was rather strange to be walking in a Chinese garden in Okinawa.

Breakfast at Rainbow Hotel

Chojun Miyagi Memorial

View of Naha from Fujian Park

 

For lunch we headed over to another recommended restaurant that serves really delicious Tempura noodles. It was also good to go to an air-conditioned restaurant  after walking in the heat. The noodles and tempura were freshly made and although a little expensive, it was well worth the price.

Hot tempura soba with soup

Cold tempura soba

 

After a short rest back at the hotel we headed over to the Budokan for the Master Demonstration which was basically demonstrations from various Goju practitioners and also instructors from other styles. Some highlights:

 

Sanchin -  performed by the IOGKF members. It was an amazing sight to see so many people doing Sanchin together in the hall.
	Sanchin Shime – performed by Senseis Katsuya Yamashiro, Morio Higaonna and Anichi Miyagi. Having your body smacked by Higaonna Sensei’s hand is probably not the most enjoyable thing in the world.
Hojo Undo – performed by the IOGKF members. Different types of Hojo Undo using traditional equipment or empty hand.

 

Kumite – performed by Uechi stylist Kiyoshi Shinjo. I first saw him in a video on Okinawan karate and he is very tall for an Okinawan. As well as kumite, he also showed breaking of wooden boards and bats using his thumb, toes and shins. One amazing guy!

Seisan – performed by Takeshi Kamimura. His performance really showed the meaning of muchimi and sticking to the floor whilst being fluid and graceful.

After the demonstration, we went back to the hotel to freshen up and I had to get ready to go to the airport to pick up Lana (who was by then 4 months pregnant with Abigail). I was quite tired from the heat and was quite prepared to just lay back for a hour or two. Chris, on the other hand had other ideas and said he had gotten a few guys plus the Singaporean contingent to do a SMARS session.

 

SMARS stands for Singapore Martial Arts Research Society and we are made up of different types of people from different martial arts background getting together to try and understand our own experience and training through sparring. We have people from Kung Fu, Jujitsu, Judo, Karate, Wing Chun, Boxing, Muay Thai etc.

 

We went to the Budokan and met two IOGKF members from Australia and one from Denmark who wanted to try out what we did for SMARS. The training was a typical Sunday session that we have in Singapore, instead this Sunday it was in Okinawa. We started with standup fighting with contact levels dependent upon the two participants, after sparring with all partners we would start on the grappling section where each round lasted around 5 minutes. Then we would end it by mixing the standup with groundwork.  In one half of the hall, some Tae Kwon Do guys were training, and we invited them to train with us but they politely declined. It was a great session in any case, and I was glad that Chris dragged me out of the hotel for it.

I left the Budokan after about an hour (the guys were still at it) and hurriedly caught a taxi to the airport. Lana’s plane arrived on time and we headed back to the hotel to prepare for dinner with Chris, Mal, Josef et al.

Dinner was at a Japanese teppanyaki place, but from the outside you would have thought it served American food of fries and burgers! The food was great, and the chefs made a great show of cooking our food.

26^th July – Kanazawa and Tomoyose

Morning training today was especially early. Instead of starting at 10am, I had to be at the Budokan at 9am for training. So after a quick breakfast, I headed off to join the IOGKF seniors for training with Hirokazu Kanazawa Sensei of Shotokan Karate. Kanazawa Sensei is famous for his technique and winning the All Japan Karate Championships three times in a row. I got to the Budokan and met up with Matthias and we settled down to start the session.

Kanazawa talked initially about what he thought was the most important thing he learnt in all his years of training and that it was breathing. He made special emphasis on how breathing affects both your health and your training.  We then practiced some one step sparring drills and other techniques.  The session was only an hour long but relatively enjoyable since we were able to train with one of the legends of Shotokan Karate.

 

After a short break I rejoined the others for a session with Terauchi Sensei going through the bunkai for Gekisai Dai Ichi. It was again quite impressive to see Terauchi Sensei perform the bunkai, and without control it was easy to see that he can really damage his opponent. I would not want to get in his way!

 

We broke up again and rejoined with the everyone in the main hall with the senior instructors. Sensei Higaonna talked about the week and thanked everyone for making the Budosai what it was. We then trained with Sensei Higaonna leading. We were in Shiko dachi and started punching forever. Every time the energy level dropped, Sensei Higaonna would shout ‘Moichido’… and we would reply ‘Hai’. His ability to give us an extra push was incredible. The atmosphere was electric and everyone gave everything they had. By the end of the training I was drained but surprisingly felt great!

After a short lunch, we gathered back for the Open Seminars. I had signed up for Shohei Ryu (Uechi) with Sensei Ryukou Tomoyose. The first thing that struck me was that all the instructors were quite old, the youngest being mid-40s. Some of the instructors present were Shigeru Takamiyagi, Kosuke Yonamine, Hirokuni Yamashiro, Sakae Uechi. This was good, as they were all very experienced and high in calibre. Sensei Tomoyose and Takamiyagi gave a small talk about the history of Uechi Ryu. We then saw some kata performances by the Uechi instructors and some of the IOGKF guys were then asked to perform the same kata. It was great to compare the two styles and some of the differences in the kata between Goju and Uechi.  Apparently both Goju and Uechi Ryu came from Fuzhou in Fujian province of China and some say the same Chinese master. But the kata changed along the way to Okinawa. Some of the bunkai and Yakusoku kumite were shown along with Goju’s. It really made for some interesting demonstration.

 

Afterwards, we split up into small groups and each instructor led the groups in Sanchin Kata. I had done some Uechi with Wayne Otto and my interest in Sanchin kata meant that I had practiced the Uechi style as well with it’s spear hand and short breathing techniques. Actually being led by a senior instructor in Sanchin was an amazing feeling. We stripped off our Gi top and after being shown the kata, the instructor asked for a volunteer. I jumped up and volunteered.

 

 

Afterwards we went back to the hotel for a long shower and prepared for dinner. Mal and Lynda joined us for dinner at a small Okinawan restaurant that served some wonderfully nice and somewhat weird Okinawan delicacies. One dish was some small raw fish (whole) on top of blocks of tofu. The restaurant was like a wooden hut and very quaint. Our next table was a group of women and men whom we later found out worked at the local fish market. They even shared some of their sashimi with us as the restaurant actually didn’t serve that. With sake and good food, we talked about the past week.

27^th July – Naha Discovery & Sayonara Party

Lana and I decided to discover a bit more of Naha and the surrounding area, so we planned out the day doing the tourist thing before the evening Sayonara party. Some of the things we saw:

 

 

-          Naha Wet and Dry Market : Fresh seafood, dry pickles, and pig faces were on sale. We bumped into the same people at the restaurant the evening before at the fish stalls. They had some beautiful live seafood on sale which made us hungry, so we headed upstairs to the food stalls to eat some sashimi and noodles. The prices here were a lot cheaper than in town and the fish obviously were very fresh.

 

 

-          Tsuboya Pottery Lane : One of the few places not destroyed in WWII. This street near the Heiwa-dori shopping arcade is full of small pottery shops. There is even one with a very old and now unused kiln that was used to make pottery.

 

 

-          Shuri Castle : Shuri was once the capital of Okinawa and the castle was the palace for the royals. Shuri Castle was designated a national treasure of Japan in 1928, then was totally destroyed during WWII. It was restored and opened to the public in 1992. The castle has major Chinese influences as Okinawa was once the vassal state of China.

 

-          Mountain bun shop : a little shop that looked more like a hut near the castle served some traditional Okinawan buns with red bean paste filling. Served with some tea, it was an enjoyable rest. The shop was operated by a very old woman who spoke no English, but she knew what we wanted. Not really a challenge as that was all she served.

-          Foam Tea : a famous little craft shop also near the castle sold the famous foam tea. It was basically green tea but looked like a cappuccino gone wild.

 

The sayonara party started around 7pm and we got there a little later. Food was already served and we headed over to the beer. It was time to watch some traditional Okinawan culture such as drumming, dancing and singing. Some of the member countries also performed songs and dances. Singapore opted not to perform, as there was only one Singaporean and we didn’t really want to sing the National Anthem. I made contact again with those I met during the week and passed on contact details so that we could keep in touch. Josef and I had a few cups of sake and enjoyed chatting about the good times in Singapore and how he was doing in Australia. It was a good evening but it was also sad, as this would be when I have to say goodbye to all the people I met, and especially old friends like Josef and Mal who were heading back to Australia. It would probably be a while before I would meet and train with these guys again.

 

Lana and I started packing our stuff for our trips to the last frontiers of Japan.

29^th July – 1^st August – Ishigaki and Irimote Island

Lana and I extended our stay after the Budosai to go a bit further off the beaten track. We went to two islands in the south, one called Ishigaki and another called Irimote.

Our flight to the islands were scheduled to leave at noon, so we quickly had breakfast and made sure we were all packed before leaving. Arriving at the domestic airport by taxi, we checked in using their automatic check-in machines and bumped into Sensei Higaonna who was sending Sensei Kanazawa off.

 

Having not been able to get a picture of both while at the Budosai, I decided to ask if I could take a photo. Sensei Higaonna and Kanazawa were happy to allow me this opportunity and even asked where we were heading. We told them that we were heading south to the islands and they commented how lovely it was there and hoped we would enjoy the trip.

 

Ishigaki is a small village island and we spent a couple of days there wondering around the quiet village, going snorkeling, eating some famous Ishigaki beef that literally melts in your mouth. We visited a house of a samurai where an old man explained to us in detail the history of the house and the occupants… all in Japanese which we didn’t understand at all. He was probably telling us what he had for lunch!

Pig Face for lunch?	Miyara Donchi (Samurai’s House)
Famous Ishigaki Beef	More beef

 

We stayed at some cheap accommodation which were basically wooden huts with outside amenities. It was cheap but came at a price. After our first night on the island, we walked back to the huts along the quiet and darkly lit streets. As we opened the door, a massive cockroach was inside waiting to greet us. Obviously Lana would not enter the hut until she was sure that I had got rid of it. Being a firm Buddhist (NOT), I proceeded to persuade our little friend to leave by spraying it with Japan’s best insecticide. After some comforting, Lana came into the hut and we had a short night’s sleep with the lights full on and the insecticide spray next to the bed.

                                                           

Accommodation on Ishigaki

Snorkeling in Ishigaki

 

We went to Irimote by boat and landed on the island famous for its mangrove and forests. It is regarded as Japan’s last frontier and it has only one road on the north side of the island. For other parts, you would have to charter a boat or walk. It is also famous for the Irimote wildcat which is similar to a domestic cat but is rarely seen and usually comes out at night. We stayed at the Hoshisuna-no-Hama (star beach) resort, where the sand is made up of very small star shaped coral. We even took some of this back with us. There were excursions that we went on, that led into the mangroves and forests which was interesting and we always enjoy our hiking, even though it was pretty hot and sunny. 

Star Beach

Irimote Mangroves

 

In the evenings, there is really little to do, so we went to the local onsen (hot springs) for a bit of a soak. We though the island was small, but by the time we got to the onsen, it was very late. It was enjoyable though to sit in the hot spring watching the night sky and relaxing in the quiet evening.

After a couple of days, we went back to Ishigaki to catch our return flight back to Naha for a couple more nights before flying out.

Okinawa was a great trip and with karate training (I wished we could’ve trained more) and sight-seeing, this is one destination that deserves a return visit.

(More Photos at: http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=cere9u2f.96njva7n&x=0&y=-mrbbf)