A Descent Into Okinawan Culture

Monday 11/5/2007

We started out by visiting Shuri castle. I once saw Japan's two grand champion sumo wrestlers do a kind of exhibition at Shuri castle. Today, the only sumo like visitors were Ian and I. The castle was the capital of the independent kingdom of the Ryukyu islands until it was taken over by the Japanese in the late 19th century. We then traveled to the Souther most parts of Okinawa, driving on the left hand side of the road (most of the time). We visited Gokusendo a large underground cave about a quarter of a mile long. There were stalagtites wider than me and stalagmites taller than Amber. We visited several exhibitions of Okinawan arts and crafts. Glass blowing, sugar making, beer brewing, fruit growing, and pot kilning were all viewable. We tried a sample of the many fruits of Okinawa including starfruit, dragon fruit, oranges, pineapple, mango, passion fruit, and bananas. We did not sample, however, the strong liquor with snake venom additives.

The last exhibition was a snake museum with a focus on Okinawa's world renowned venomous snake, the Habu. In on demonstration the presenter bumped a Habu with a balloon filled with cold water. It did not react. When he bumped it next with a balloon with warm water, it struck it fast and the balloon popped. Amber jumped! The snakes speed was impressive.

We finished of our souther sight seeing with a visit to peace memorial park and war museum. The grounds were beautiful and the marble slabs with the names of civilians and military mebers that gave there lives lent a somber note to the air. The ocean view was spectacular.
We went to dinner at CoCo Curry a restaurant both Ian and I had enjoyed while missionaries. The food was better than the memory. Amber was a new CoCo Curry convert. The mission is over, but the work continues.