Okinawa (沖縄) - Part 3

Ok, final part of my stories in Okinawa.

September 10th. I had scheduled a diving activity for the day. The scheduling itself deserves comment. I was originally trying to schedule a diving activity offered by the Youth Hostel. Maybe some kind of association between the YH and a diving company, who knows. On the 6th I tried to make a reservation for the 9th. It turned out that they were full for that day. I heard about that on the 7th, so I asked for the 10th and they were full as well. The only way was to look for another company.

With some help from the YH staff we found another company and scheduled it for the 10th.

So, the schedule for people without experience is: go to Kerama (one of the smaller islands around) where, after some instructions, there will be snorkeling and scuba-diving. For the scuba part, there will be one instructor with you. After lunch and moving to another location, more snorkeling (people with experience go scuba-diving) and then return. They come get you at your hotel (as long it's in Naha) and take you back there at the end.

The company's website is here. I recommend it if someone without experience wants to give it a shot, but they give instructions only in Japanese, meaning that a reasonable Japanese language proficiency is needed. Well, if even I managed to understand that there's no big problem, right? Nih...

Off with the advertisements, how can I say it... Diving is great!!! It was a great experience that really made me consider getting a diving license, even though it's a little expensive... I have to give proper credits to the place, though. The sea is very beautiful there, with many beautiful fishes and coral reefs. Even snorkeling was really good.




A relative of mine once said that diving was like exploring a new world. I think I've begun to understand the meaning now...

Ah, and it's said that foreign students attract each other. Well, it happened that on the same day I went there were a couple who were Chinese students in Tokyo. And as we all had no previous experience, we were in the same "group"... Talk about coincidences...

But the day wasn't over yet! There's something missing, isn't there? Well, actually there are lots... Anyway, I had a chance of experiencing the view of a "native Okinawan" by meeting Kazue-san, a relative of a friend. I had tried to contact her before coming, but could schedule something only on the 8th.

After eating at a sushi restaurant and visiting her house, we tried to reach some beach. The problem was that, at that time, most beaches were closing. Yeah, you read it right. Some beaches have opening and closing times. Or at least so it seems... For many Brazilians that may sound weird.

Since beaches were already out of the question, we went to a market in downtown Naha. But this time it was a market visited more by people who live there. Some kind of seafood and pork market where you can also buy something and go eat it (properly cooked) in the restaurant upstairs. Interesting system.


I also relized why Okinawans' reaction when we say what's Brazilian feijoada is made of is different than most Japanese people. They eat parts of the pork used for feijoada, something that's not usual in the main island... I think.

After that, a walk at the omiyage (souvenir) section, with many "hints" of "Okinawan souvenirs", some ice creams while waiting an unexpected rain to go away (It didn't. We went out anyway) and we called it a day.

On the next day I was going back to Kyoto, finishing that pleasant trip.

Well, it was a great trip for which I have to thank Kazue-san for guiding and treating me. Also, the Okinawa International Youth Hostel staff, who helped me to schedule many things, not only the diving.

Couldn't to go all the places I wanted to, but it might be better that way. So that I have good reasons to go back to Okinawa... no, Ryukyu, someday.

Besides, that trip made me remember how nice it is to travel alone once in a while... Including all the stupid mistakes that come with that.

Another good surprise was that I noticed I have mileage enough for one more domestic travel... Where should I go this time?

Okinawa (沖縄) - Part 2

Continuing to write about the trip to Okinawa.

September 8th. I decided to head to Gyokusendo (玉泉洞). According to my Japan guidebook it's the second largest cave in Japan, where more than 460 thousand stalactites can be observed. The largest number in Japan. Some resemble shapes like giant bamboos, wine glasses and Rodin statues.

Also, there is that a whole park was built around the cave: Okinawa World (おきなわワールド).

A scheme to attract more tourists to the place? Maybe. Although the cave itself was reason enough to draw me there, a Japanese friend I had asked for advice before didn't mention that place.

Okinawa World focus on showing traditional Okinawan culture, with Eisa dance presentations, a traditional crafts village and tropical orchards. There's even a museum showing Okinawa's indigenous snake "Habu" among other snakes of the world.


Still, for me the cave was the main attraction. The stalactites have a variety of forms, some said to be very rare.




The next stop was Shuri castle (首里城). A good place to visit, and it's quite east to get there. Although it was almost completely destroyed during the Battle of Okinawa, it was reconstructed based on the original. It doesn't have elevators or anything that spoils the fact it was reconstructed too much, which is a good thing. It's architecture is way different than other Japanese castles. Part of it reminded me of Tosho-gu in Nikko.

(Nikko is another of my backlogs that never did its way to the blog. I went there in 2005 to celebrate Christmas with other Brazilian students. I may have mentioned it a couple of times, though...)



There was still time to walk around Kokusai-doori (国際通り), Naha (Okinawa's capital)'s main "shopping street", and see some of its weird figures...


And also have some "Okinawa soba" for dinner...

The next day, I was planning to go to the beach and visit the Cornerstone of Peace (沖縄戦跡国定公園). But something made me change my plans...

It was raining. Hard.

So I had to change my plans for something duller: go around the Okinawa Monorail. So I bought the 1-day pass and was going to various stations and strolling around. When the rain became more bearable I was close to Shuri. Then I remembered an advice of A. (a Japanese friend who had gone to Okinawa some weeks before) saying that Tamaudun (玉陵) was a good place to visit. It was a mausoleum for the royal family, the Ryuukyuuan. Visiting a mausoleum under rainy weather... Perfect, isn't it?

The place is nice somewhat, but part of it was closed due to the rain... duh!

Since the rain was still bearable, I decided to play stubborn and go to the beach. And one it's said to be good: Bi-bi Beach Itoman (美々ビーチいとまん).

The Cornerstone of Peace would have been a better choice, though...

There wasn't a regular bus that stopped in front of the beach, but one stopped close enough. The only problem is that the same bus number went through various routes, one of which was the one I needed...

Guess if I rode the right bus...

I ended up at Itoman bus terminal. Which is not very close to anything that mattered. And the rain was getting strong again. I still played stubborn and was walking to that beach...

When I finally saw a sign indicating I was getting close (about 1km...) The scenario became more like "middle of nowhere"... Worse, the rain turned part of the path into something more like a swimming pool. And some cars crossing it made it even more risky to go through walking (splash damage! Literally...)... Then the rain got so strong that I had to go back looking for cover (no cover where I was or anywhere I could see ahead). The umbrella wasn't enough anymore. (What? Thought I was really simply embracing the rain?! Hah!).

That was the point where it couldn't be only Murphy anymore... I decided to quit and go back as soon as the rain weakened.

Well, the image of myself soaked finishes the fourth day. The conclusion awaits at part 3! Many good stories come in three parts, you know...

Okinawa (沖縄) - Part 1

Following the summer vacation trips, since before I went to Japan for the first time, lots of people were telling me how wonderful Okinawa is... The beaches, the people... Like the closest to Brazil you can get in Japan (uhmm... I'm excluding the Brazilian communities in Japan). So, since my return I wanted to "go see it", but with two advantages this time: a better scholarship; and lots of mileage earned from my trips between Brazil and Japan during the last two years, enough to get a free round-trip ticket. I went to Okinawa from September 6th to 11th.


Since I was redeeming mileage, it was hard to find someone to go with me. Whatever. It was a place I really wanted to go, and travelling alone has its advantages. Flexibility is probably the most remarkable one. And it was something I made use of.

First discovery: Kansai International Airport is not so close from Kyoto...

Mario once said that "you can feel the difference between Okinawa and the rest of Japan in the air as you arrive there. Especially regarding people. In Okinawa, people are warmer". It isn't that fast to notice, but it's true. From the beginning, I had a good impression... Maybe one of the cutest ones was the voice annoucing the stations of the Okinawa Monorail. The voice seemed cheerful, something not usual for the railways I've been to. The lady's slight accent when announcing stations in English is cute (no, it's not because of her Engrish)...

Then my two first mistakes appeared: the first one was believing that something that's "close to the station" would be easy to find even without a map... The second one was believing that the neighboring islands could be visited in one-day trips. The only way to do that is using airplanes, which means expensive. So much for visiting Kume Island... I had to discard that.

Another thing that I was told, but you really figure that out when you're at the place: cars are a good thing to have in Okinawa. The problem is that I was travelling alone and my Brazilian driver's license is no good in Japan. So I had to trust public transportation, a.k.a. buses.

Well, how bad could it be? I mean, since it's the main public transportation system, there should be lots of buses around, right?

Not exactly.

I was going to visit the Okinawa Ocean Expo Park, which includes Churaumi Aquarium (that has the largest acrylic window in the world). But in Okinawa, as well as in most of Japan, bus fares are paid when you get down the bus and it depends on the distance you've rode. Longer distances have larger fares, which I think it's quite fair. Anyway, as I was riding a bus, I noticed that I didn't have enough change to get there. I decided then to get off somewhere, buy some food in order to have some change ready and ride the next bus. When I heard that the bus would stop in front of Meio University I knew where I would get off.

Explaining: Meio University is a "sister university" of Londrina State University (where I went for undergrad) and they have an exchange program that sends students from one university to another every year. I've met both Japanese and Brazilian students who went through that program, and I thought it would be a good opportunity to know the University.

But then I had two surprises: the first one was the next bus would be there only in two hours!!!

Well, that left me with lots of time to spend, and I spent most of it looking for the university... I mean, I saw the sign indicating the university and walked around for a while looking for other structures related... without finding any! Surprise number two. Is that university like Hogwarts, being hidden from "muggles" and requiring some password or anything to get access!?!? I managed to see a pineapple park (!?!?) and a handmade glass factory in the meantime, though.

In the end, I managed to get to the park. And it's sure something! It even has a beach (エメラルドビーチ) inside the complex. I also realized why so many people say Okinawa's Churaumi (美ら海水族館) it's better than Osaka's aquarium (海遊館)...




(Interlude: I've been to Osaka's Kaiyukan two years ago, but guess it's one of my backlogs that I completely forgot to write about. It's well worth going, though.)

There was still time to stroll sound a bit, so I went to see some sort of "Dolphin Theater" (オキちゃん劇場).


A surprise still awaited me at the Native Okinawan Village (おきなわ郷土村). In one of the houses, there were some ladies teaching basics of shamisen. That was a Japanese instrument I still hadn't played, so I gave it a try. And, although I may look Japanese, my broken language skills usually reveal that I'm not in no time. Asked where I came from, I said I was from Brazil. And she mentioned she has relatives who emiggrated to Brazil and have been there ever since. They still keep in touch, though... Then another of the ladies there mentioned the same thing (both families went to Sao Paulo area) and some other people there mentioned having been there as well... Call it karma if you want... Haha! That made me wonder how my family lost contact with their relatives in Japan...


And that was one day. To avoid making this post too long, I'll break it in parts. Stay tuned for part 2!

Prazer Gifu

So, continuing the summer vacation trips, On August 25th and 26th there was the "traditional" Gifu BBQ. Most known by the Portuguese name of "Churrascada de Gifu" (although the official name of the event became "Prazer Gifu").


The rendezvous point was Gifu station. Not so far from Kyoto, although I had some problems because I scheduled myself looking at timetables for weekdays, and it was a Saturday. "Baka Gaijin" strikes again, but nothing I wasn't used to.

Still, I was surprised to see some known faces... especially some I know from my hometown in Brazil (Londrina) and didn't know that were in Japan; and some I've met two years ago, while living in Himeji. Nice surprise right at the beginning.

Nice reception, too. There was an association backing the event... I know its name only in Portuguese, though (Associação Nipo-Brasileira de Gifu). They and the Brazilian exchange student in Gifu (Fê) did a great job. As we arrived at Entokuji (a temple), there was a Japanese lyric presentation... I forgot the name of the lady, but I remember that she was all in for the other activity that followed:

Samba and forro. So obvious that there would be an event where the Brazilian students teach the Japanese people there some samba... Not my speciality, though. Even so, I have to admit that I was missing some forro... Weird, huh? But I found out that I'm a little rusty...

They also lend some yukata for us to wear! Nice! After that, to the BBQ! Although I can't say that I was missing Brazilian style BBQ (check Shirahama post, for example), it's always great! In my humble opinion, better than Japanese "yakiniku"...

An observation: since most Brazilians were wearing yukata, there was an unusual situation during the BBQ, where most Japanese people were dressed "normally" and most Brazilians were in yukata... Haha!


During the BBQ there were other presentations. One I think it's based on a tale of a avaricious man... It was funny, especially because of the actor himself.


After, some belly dance presentation. The funniest part was when they invited some people to dance with them... Why only men were there?? Hah! Pure laughs...


We still had time to some bon odori (and Matsuri Dance) before going to the Nagara river to see some cormorant fishing. We couldn't see it well, but it's pretty interesting. They use fire to attract the fish, so the cormorants catch them. The "ducks" are avoided to swallow the fish because they have rings around their necks. After, they regurgitate their catch to the fisher.


As we went there and to the public bath by bus, I can only imagine the despair of the bus driver and other passengers as a large group of noisy foreigners invaded the bus... Or even in the public bath.

The night wasn't over yet as some spent almost the whole night playing "Mafia" game. I was tired, so I wasn't in that group...

Next day, going up all the way to the Gifu Castle. Some went up by cable car, others climbed their way up. I was in the former group, especially because I spent part of the morning running from some kids... For those who know me while I practiced judo, just remember how some kids used to try to pile on me. It was exactly like that, except that now my physical endurance is in a worse condition...

Although the castle itself isn't impressing (especially for someone who have lived in Himeji), the view from there is nice.

After that, some of us still went to the house of the Brazilian exchange student in Gifu (a huge one for Japanese standards...) to chat and play cards before leaving Gifu...

An excellent time with very nice people. AND with BBQ! What else one needs for a weekend?

There are also posts at the b2007 site and at celsosakuraba's photo log. Both in Portuguese, but with more pictures.

Here and There...

Yeah yeah... I'm still working on my travel posts backlog. Hope to post some soon...

Well, in Japan many foreigners wonder about some strange things here. Fashion and some behaviors are the most common to babble about. But in some situations they (we) may be more alike than we think...

I think that Engrish is something pretty well known. In case it's not, from the Wikipedia article: "Engrish refers to grammatically incorrect variations of English, often found in East Asian countries. While the term may refer to spoken English, it is more often used to describe written English, for which problems are easier to identify and publicize. Engrish has been found on everything from poorly translated signs, menus, and instruction manuals to bizarrely worded advertisements and strange t-shirt slogans".

T-shirt slogans... Very often foreigners see Japanese people with T-shirts or some other clothing with things written in English or other language that's... just not right. Think about lines like "spank on me", "don't worry, be sex" on your clothing and you may get the idea... The Engrish.com website has lots of examples.

But, on the other hand, using Japanese/Chinese ideograms is quite popular nowadays in many Western countries (and beyond, maybe). And we see more a less the same aberrations again... T-shirts with weird combinations of characters or simply with characters that aren't even true Chinese/Japanese ideograms. I've seen a tatoo of the ideogram for strenght (力)... the only problem is that it was mirrored!!

This Japan Times article shows some examples of how people make terrible mistakes with kanji that pair with , if are not worse than, Engrish.

Guess we can't make fun of people who wear Engrish clothing after all... And I started to double check the meaning of anything written on my clothing... or anywhere else.

-----

Sometimes I write about the "Dark Side" of Japan. I think it may be interesting for some friends who have never been to Japan and may still have the image usually taught from those who emigrated to Brasil decades ago.

But, although Japan may not be the wonderland some people may think, with cases like a rape aboard a train full of other passengers who saw it coming (no pun intended), it still has many points where it could be considered "superior" to Brazil.

Some recent facts in politics made me think about that... In Brazil and in Japan there were some scandals involving members of the government. So, what happened?

In Japan we had a Minister of Agriculture that commited suicide on May and now the Prime Minister Shinzo Abe resigned and was hospitalized the next day.

In Brazil...? A senator denying all charges against him, although the improbability of his innocence. And he was absolved by the Senate... not of all charges, but that first step makes it unlikely he'll be convicted of any of the remaining charges.

As for the "Dark Side" in Brazil, maybe more than drug dealers or urban violence, I think that impunity and corruption are the worst of all...

Otakus + SF3 + Rocks

I've been absent for a while, huh? Sorry for the lack of updates. I have my reasons, but it surely wasn't because of lack of what to write about. While my queue is growing, I still won't talk about any of the subjects there now.

For now, to keep the blog rolling, I'll put some videos.

First one I received from Kazu. It's an "otaku fight"... very funny indeed. And, as Kazu said, "a situation where one could use 'manga Japanese'"...



Then, the final match of a Street Fighter 3 championship. Have you ever been close to lose a match and managed to turn the tables and win? What about winning gracefully; a "technical victory"? I had my share of those, but surely not like this one...



Last but not least, a German short movie about how rocks' perception of time is different than ours... Nominated for the Academy Award in 2003