Today I had arranged for some more outings to explore the island. A common vote from the people I surveyed was that they wanted to just go on some local explorations - or a tour of our own city, Yomitan. To my surprise I became the "leader" of this tour.
I invited Pastor Joslin and Kathy to join us as well, so all in all 9 of us "gaijin" were wandering around town for most of the day.
In the morning, before it got too hot, we went up to the pottery village to show folks around. These are some pictures of the group by the kiln.
After the pottery villiage, I we went to two of the caves in town where people hid during the war. The first cave is easily walking distance from school. We have to wander through some sugar cane fields and take some tiny little paths to get to the cave. This cave is one where at the end of the war everyone lived. Apparently, the Americans came by and encouraged anyone hiding in the caves to come out. They said they would not harm anyone. Then, the Okianwans in the caves had to decide whether to trust them or not. In this cave, everyone listened to the Americans and came out. Therefore, when any destruction in the cave took place (apparently to expose potential hidden Japanese soldiers or officials) all civilians were saved.
The second cave is one further down the hill towards the ocean. (For those of you who lived here, it is behind Kanahide) In this cave, unlike the first, everyone hiding here perished. They did not believe the soldiers when they came and begged them to come out to safety. Therefore they all died. This cave is treated as a burial site (considered very sacred in Okinawan culture) so we didn't go into this cave to explore at all.
By the time we were done with these two stops of our tour, it was lunch time. My original plan was to buy lunch at the bus by Zampa lighthouse again, however, I decided perhaps that wouldn't be as pleasing to others as it is to me. We wound up eating at a traditional Okinawan restaurant. I was able to order Okinawa Soba for the first time this month.
After lunch, some of our crew decided to call it a day. I think, in hind-sight, some of the rest of us wish we had called it a day as well. We decided to go explore Murasake Mura (a movie set just down the hill from school that was transormed into a traditional Okinawan villiage, craft center, and bug huge tourist trap.) I was hoping Yomitan residents still got in free, and deep down I was hoping it was more thrilling than I recalled. Unfortunately, I was wrong.
I think the highlight for most was when we excaped out the back gate to walk over to Gala for some "Okinawa Salt Ice Cream." I also got to see the salt factory actually making salt this time, so that was interesting as well. I also really enjoy watching the Okinawan people play their version of croquet. I wish I could play with them, but I am always told it is an "old person's game." I guess I'm grateful I am not an old person yet....
I did enjoy watching the glass blowing there, so I guess that was worth the price of admission. We also saw several banana trees in a banana exhibit in the park. Wierd, but rather interesting. Both pictures were uploaded earlier...I guess we saw them before escaping for the ice cream.
After we finished at Murasake Mura, it was time for me to be picked up by Max and Aidy. There was a surprise party planned at Peter's Place (a Chinese restaurant) for the Joslins. The whole church, or so it seemed, was there. It was a wonderful evening of fellowship.
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