Zamimi, Japan 10/30/06

Zamimi, Japan 10/30/06
- Okinawa Islands -

It’s a quiet, overcast day here on the island. Well they are all quiet days here or at least the 4 days that I spent here were. Our new "local" friend, Joost (Yost), says it’s off the peak season right now but judging by the facilities on the island I can not imagine that the busy time is anything like the high end tourist time that I am accustomed to.

They have been lazy days here for me but that’s not to say we have not done anything. There has been lots of sitting or lying around reading books but that only fills in the gaps between self regulated activities. We spent most of one day at a beach perched on some lounge chairs as a base for the day. At our leisure we went snorkeling on the reef that sits just a few meters from shore. I also strapped on the Teva`s and went exploring some, up and over the rock ridge that surrounded the beach. In between, the exploring and snorkeling I would just lie around and read. Ahhhh, very nice! I wrapped up that day with another great run. This time my route looped around most of the island on the West side. It was another amazing run with gorgeous views. A run that you try to commit to memory so you can recall it when I am one day stuck on a treadmill in some gym.

The guest house we are staying at, Sendoron, serves breakfast at 8 a.m. and dinner at 6 p.m. everyday. Other than that our days have had no structure. We play all day like kids and then get home in time for dinner. I squeeze in a workout and "shower" up by 6 p.m. each day just in time to join the other guests in the dinning room. I do so love a routine. Odd I know for all my self proclaimed spontaneity. I will also admit to looking forward to eating the great food but would really like to find a chair waiting for me. I am reminded at every meal, as I sit on the floor shifting around constantly to keep blood flowing to my legs; I really need to do more yoga. My flexibility sucks!

After plenty of beach time on the previous day Dave finally talked me into renting scooters. I was very reluctant to do so. I have always preferred renting bikes. Partly because of the physical activity but also because of Key West. Since my first visit there I have been annoyed at the drunk meatheads zipping all over the island and constantly honking their tiny high pitched horns. It drives me nuts! It`s a small, quiet island. Why do you need to zip around it?

I kept telling Dave I hated scooters on Islands plus I really didn`t think there was more to see that I had not already seen on one of my runs. I finally gave in. There are two places that have a handful of scooters to rent on the island. We tried the first one but no one was there. I don`t mean it was closed I mean literally no one was there. The door was wide open; keys were sitting in the scooters, we stood around, we looked around. I yelled a few "sumimason" (excuse me) but no one appeared in any direction for blocks. Did I mention how great this island is?!

We found a nice lady at stop 2 that had us write our names and address on a piece of paper. We paid her 3,000 Yen each (about $30) and off we went. No deposit. No credit card. No insurance waiver. No map. No instructions. Just handed us a helmet as we got on the scooters.

I stated it verbally to Dave afterwards but will put it in writing here. I was wrong. The scooters were a blast! No, I will not be renting them in Key West anytime soon but on this little, hilly, island with no other tourists zipping around honking their horns it was perfect. I think Dave and I covered every section of the paved road on the island and even some of the dirt parts too. It took less than 3 hours.

Our last couple nights have been at "Churashi Qpa-ku" which as I am told is a play on the words Jurassic Park; a Japanese play on words obviously, to match the 6 foot x 8 foot metal T-Rex skeleton that sits on the deck of this open air bar. We had set off in search of a place called Urazum described in the short 2 paragraphs that the Rough Guide dedicated to this island as the place to "repair to" but as we approached the guide book recommended place we heard the unmistakable sound of people drinking around the corner. The Urazum place was quiet so we followed the noise. It was coming from a place surrounded by a fence with flashing Christmas light. Perfect!

We stepped onto the deck to see about 10 guys to our left eating and drinking around a bbq. A private party it appeared. The only other group was a round plastic table of about 5 guys drinking, smoking and laughing. Everyone was Japanese and you could tell right away that the table of 5 were all divers, fisherman, etc. Locals. It was in the biz night! As we stood at the front of the deck a white guy in the back looked up with a surprised look on his face and said, "Hey, how ya doin?" I think we were just as surprised as him to see a white guy standing there. That's when we met Joost.

The night proceeded like so many others I don`t know why they continue to amuse me so much. Within a few beers the table of locals invites us to join them. With the assistance of Joost, our Dutch bartender/manager/only employee and a few English speaking girls that arrived soon after us, we laughed and drank the night away with all of them.

After our first round of beers, after joining the locals table, Dave apparently felt comfortable and decided despite the HUGE language difficulties to ask a question that he posed to me a few days earlier. I didn`t know the answer and apparently it occupied his thoughts ever since. I almost spit my beer out when Dave said "Have you guys seen the Karate Kid Part II? Wasn`t Mr. Myagi from one of these islands? You know when he fought Sato." There was some confusion at first. A lot of words in Japanese were exchanged around the table until I finally heard the word Karate Kid which was then repeated by all of them. "Ahhh, yes, Karate Kid!" Followed by the easily recognizable Crane form. I laughed out loud and so did everyone else.

You would think that would be enough of a comic break through but no Dave persisted. In the middle of the laughing he jumped in "No, no. No crane. Part 2. Number 2. The drum!" Already on the Karate Kid subject a few of them quickly jumped to number 2 and demonstrated The Drum maneuver almost knocking some beers on the table. Eventually Joost did some translating for us and Dave`s question was answered. Yes, Mr. Myagi was from Okinawa but Pat Morita the actor was born in the US so they don`t really take much pride in it.

So there you have it. You put a bunch of guys around a table drinking beer and even if they don`t speak the same language the conversation will still be about something stupid. I`ll leave out the full details of when they broke out a digital camera and started taking close up pictures of all of our arm pits to see which one looked more like a vagina. Ahhh, you gotta love life in the islands, no matter which islands they are. They also taught me some island slang and toasts but I was only left with a headache in the morning and not the linguistics leason from the night before.

Joost closed up shop around 10 p.m. and the crowd was thinned down to just us 3 white guys, 4 dive captains, and the 2 girls visiting from Tokyo. We moved to under the awning that covers half the deck in an attempt to keep the noise down for the neighbors. After another round of drinks that became impossible so we all moved into the little shipping container that Joost lives in. Beer ran out so Dave and I switched to the local drink Awamori. I cut mine and Dave's with some water but it still went down hard. Kind of like vodka mixed with sake. Boy that sounds delicious! I can`t imagine why we didn`t like it! Not able to stomach another drink we headed home around 1 a.m. I smiled the short 2 blocks home and it wasn`t all because of the alcohol. I love making new friends!

Our new friend Joost even set up a solo dive trip for us that we went on this morning. Yep, I am finally a scuba diver. It was just a little 35 minute dive with Joost, Dave, and a dive captain that is friends with Joost but I loved it. I still need to get certified and plan to do so in Thailand but Joost's friend walked me through everything and then eased me through each step until he was comfortable with me not freaking out and off we went. I loved it!

We have spent the rest of today hanging out with Joost at Jurasic Park. Him in his hamick, Dave reading at the table next to me, me writting away pausing now and then to talk and laugh. Joost had his mini disk playing an impressive assortment of music from around the world. Some Dutch, some Okinawa, some Belgium, The Stones and Marley thrown in too. Joost had never heard of Jimmy Buffett so I hooked up the iPod and gave him a quick crash course. Lets hope I come back one day to find a bunch of drunk Japanese dive boat captains singing along to Why Don`t We Get Drunk.

Our only pause this afternoon has been to help Joost haul the trash to the incinerator over the hill. Who could pass up a trip to the dump?! Joost even came back with a beat up accordian. "What a find!" he said. If it wasn`t for the Dutch accent I would have thought it was MJ standing there! We leave today on the 4 p.m. ferry. A night in Naha, a flight back to Nagoya, and then another flight the day after that. Dave to Chicago and me to Bangkok. I am glad we had this one last lazy day to hang out in Zamimi before quickly ending the Japan section of my trip.

MJF