Friday, May 1st--Our first morning in Okinawa dawned bright and beautiful. Our condo--though a little dirty--was cute and had enough sleeping room for us (a few of us were on the floor, but that was o.k.). The eating area, however, was too small. There were only enough chairs for four people, so......
....the kids chose to eat breakfast out on the balcony. They enjoyed being able to eat outside while looking at the view of Naha. Hard to believe that this city was flattened 70 years ago during World War II.
The monorail that we rode to Shuri Castle yesterday also went right past the balcony. It was fun to watch it whiz past. It is so cute compared to the very long metro trains in Tokyo.
We gathered our luggage and rode the monorail and then walked to the bus stop. The bus was rather expensive, but we didn't have any other means to get to the north part of the island. Our goal was to spend a few days up there. We got on our bus and watched green hills of lush, thick foliage fly past for 1 1/2 hours. The green hills were beautiful and reminded us of the jungles in Swiss Family Robinson, but it didn't change much as we made our way north. We often caught glimpses of the ocean through the trees and the water was the most beautiful and vibrant shade of turquoise.
The bus dropped us off at Nago Bus Terminal and we waited for our ride to pick us up. We had reserved a house for the next three days, and the owner said she would meet us at the bus station and take us to her house.
Soon, Kiyoko San came along. She had a friend driving a separate car so that they could have enough room to transport our large family the distance from the station to her house. She was a native Okinawan, previously married (now divorced) to an American, had lived in Ohio during her marriage, was maybe in her fifties, and quite a beautiful lady.
She showed us around her home, and then left to spend the next few days with her mom. It seemed a little strange to be living in Kiyoko San's house while she stayed with her mom, but that is what she does for a living. She rents out her house.
Kiyoko San's house had a living room, kitchen and dining area, two bedrooms, a toilet room, and a Japanese style bathroom. That meant that we showered in the middle of the room, and if we wanted to soak in the tub, it was separate. The floor of the bathroom had a drain in the middle. The tub was built out of rock and was very beautiful. Kiyoko San had one double bed, but it was a hide-a-bed opened up from a couch. The other beds were futons that we lined up on the floor for the children to sleep on. The home was very dirty, especially her kitchen, so the very first thing we did was tidy up a bit. Then we went in search of a grocery store to buy some food to last us for a few days.
Food in Japan is expensive, but food in Okinawa is downright ridiculous! It was painful to pay as much as we did for the food items that we got. Food in Okinawa is so expensive because just about everything has to be imported from Japan or elsewhere. There is very little agriculture that takes place in Okinawa. Most of their economy comes from tourism.
It was very interesting to walk around the quiet streets in this suburb of Nago. Most of the homes were very small and modest, with tires on the roofs to weigh it down during a typhoon. There was a lot of junk piled around, and things just seemed run down, old, and dirty. It seemed like the majority of the people here were very poor and were just trying to get by. This was quite a change from the views we have come to know in Tokyo. As we were walking back from the grocery store, I noticed this home. This home was super nice compared to the others, and the flowers were beautiful. I also noticed the carp flags that were on display in anticipation of Boys' Day coming up on May 5th.
After we ate lunch, we all got our swimsuits on and walked six or seven blocks toward what we hoped would be the way to get down to the beach. We had to ask several people for directions as to how to get down there. Kiyoko San didn't seem to know how to get there when we asked her. We asked the grocer, and she gave us a funny look and shrugged her shoulders. As we were walking along, we found some road construction workers, and they told us how to get down to the beach.
We asked them why the others couldn't tell us how to get down there, and they said that no one in town ever really bothers to go to the beach. I guess that it's like the mountains in western America. It's always there and you have lived next to it your whole life, so it's not that spectacular to you and you don't go out of your way to explore them. That's how the beach is for this town. It's always been there, and in their mind it just wasn't that spectacular of a place for them to bother to go down and enjoy it.
Caitlin was the first one to test out the warmth of the water. It wasn't too bad!
We set out some towels near the trees and took off our the clothes that we had on over our swimsuits.
The kids were already going crazy over all the sea shells that were scattered everywhere. Nathan tried to pick this green shell up, but it already had an owner. He quickly put it back down and the kids watched the hermit crab storm off. We soon noticed that the entire beach was crawling with hermit crabs.
The water was very shallow here and the kids could go way out and it was still just up to their knees. (When we came back to this same beach on a different day, the tide was out and this entire area had no ocean water on it.) In the background, you can see an American marine base called Camp Schwab. There are between 10-13 American military bases on this island. (conflicting reports from Kiyoko San and what's on the internet)
Besides wading in the warm ocean water, the kids were busy collecting shells that the hermit crabs had not claimed. Kirstin didn't care for the water or the sand, but she was content to sit on the towels and play with the shells.....
.....she even tested them to see if they were salty or not.
The view from the beach out to the ocean was very pleasant indeed. The kids walked from where I was standing to take this picture around that rocky outcrop in front of me while in the water. It never got deeper than their waist and because it was a small lagoon, they didn't have to deal with waves pushing against them.
On the other side of the outcrop, we found a small shrine built into the rock. There was a square carved into the rock with a metal door over it. There were some Buddha statues. Some flowers had been set near it. I thought I had taken a picture of it, but apparently I didn't because I can't find it among my pictures.
Ray wondered if, considering its position on the beach and how one could patrol the ocean from it, it was an old pillbox from World War II that has since been covered up. He left us on the beach and climbed through the thick foliage to the opposite of the rock to see if there was a similar "shrine" on the other side.
He returned very soon and told us that he had something to show us, and that we should pack up and move to a better beach just beyond the trees. We followed him through the trees.....
.....and nestled back in the rock we discovered......
....a similar "shrine" on the other side. We couldn't open the metal door, but we could look through the small hole and see that there was an opening in the rock beyond it. Considering how this opening was parallel to the opening on the other side of this rock, it is very likely that this was indeed a pillbox for either the American military or the Okinawans during World War II as a means to defend this beach. The tunnel would allow for the ability to look over the ocean in the west or east directions and also provide an escape if necessary. VERY COOL.
This beach was open to the ocean itself and was much more secluded. There were no buildings or people in sight. Just the stunning view of an Okinawan beach all around us. We decided to hang out here for the rest of the afternoon.
These are the trees that we walked through to get to this beach. Nathan is in this picture, and Logan is checking out the pillbox shrine in the background.
We were amazed and very excited that we had our very own private beach on the island of Okinawa to explore and enjoy for the entire afternoon!
We hunted for shells and also found a lot of coral pieces...... (Ray, Tayla, Chris, Logan)
......and picked up a lot of Okinawan sea glass. This is something that we had read about before coming to this island. Glass bottles will be thrown into the sea and spend years tumbling around getting broken into pieces and having their sharp edges made smooth by the waves and the rocks. The salt in the water also turns them opaque. Some Okinawans will comb the beaches looking for the sea glass and then make jewelry out of it to sell to the tourists. The jewelry is quite expensive. It is kind of romantic to think that some of the sea glass may be old soda and beer bottles from the American military during World War II and in the following years as they occupied the island. Some pieces may be that old, but most of them probably aren't. Nevertheless, we were super excited to find a bunch of them and we also that we found them in so many different colors. They were beautiful and fun to find on the beach.
Nathan climbing on the rocks.
The kids found a lot of sand dollars. Most of them were broken, but each kid found at least one whole or mostly whole one. They were all different sizes. Chris found over 60 sand dollars on the beach! He was pretty excited! Tayla found 46!
Raymond, Christopher, Logan, and Nathan exploring.
Audra and Caitlin burying Nathan in sand.
The older kids and Ray are looking for sand dollars, shells, and coral on the rocks. They couldn't stay on them too long because the tide was coming in and the water was getting deeper by the minute.
Caitlin and Audra enjoying the water while Christopher plays in the sand.
Kirstina, Raymond, and Tayla
For some reason, the sun didn't get the memo that we were having a great time on a beach in Okinawa, and it began to set to bring an end to the day. Sadly, it was time to pack up our stuff along with the sea shells, coral, and sea glass that we had found and go back to Kiyoko San's home.
What a great day! We made some great memories on this beach that we had all to ourselves! When we got back to the house, the kids took turns showering while I made yakisoba for dinner. Yum!
