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!
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!
No comments:
Post a Comment