Marty Magic Travel

Cherry Blossoms in Yogi Park

At noon, Art returns from his morning karate class. I’ve been working on waxes all morning, the day is clear and sunny and. Art suggests that we ride our bicycles to Yogi Park to see the cherry blossoms. Early in February, the Cherry Blossom Festival is held in Yogi Park but unfortunately we were in the midst of getting settled and missed the festival. For the past two weeks John has been riding a very used, mini folding bicycle. His wheelies and jumps have derailed the chain and all but destroyed the bicycle. We stop at our corner bicycle shop and buy John a folding Newton just like mine. John wishes for a more expensive, heavier duty bicycle, but we need him to choose a folding bicycle, so John is settles for the white version of the Newton. He does wheelies, rides down stairs and bounces off of curbs. We may be purchasing yet another bicycle before the end of this trip.

Our lunch stop is impromptu; a hip, amusing and odd “Dart Café.” It’s 1:30 P.M. and if there was a lunch rush, it is over. Again we are the only customers. The café is bright and small, a 15 foot bar on one side displays bottles of hard liquor as well as sodas. Several glass topped tables are centered between the bar and two electronic dart boards. Art orders us the advertised “set” lunches. We haphazardly throw darts while we wait for lunch and John and I scrutinize a tiny alcove where specialized dart sets are available for sale. I especially like the Alien and the Pirate dart sets for a mere 1,400 yen. ($12.00) John is intrigued by the (titanium?) weights that can be added to the shaft of the dart. The weight sets of 4 are cost well over $100.00 a set. The young and stylish bar tender/waiter delivers our lunch sets, beautifully arranged on small plates in a minimalist sort of French/Japanese style. John’s pasta defies gravity, piled higher than wide and topped with a sprinkling of mindfully arranged olives and diced tomatoes. Art and I order a pork and vegetable “set.” We expect a sir fry. Our small plates are delivered with a “bird nest” of shredded cabbage, (also defying gravity) a dab of potatoes salad and a small and very delicious portion of fatty pork morsels mixed with fresh vegetables. Miso soup and rice are served in separate side dishes. Ice tea accompanies all of our meals. Each of our “sets” is 650 yen and the total for the three of us is about $16.00 tax and tip included.

We bicycle to the park. The cherry blossom trees are in full bloom and line both sides of the canal. I am not the only person taking photos. I am amused by all the locals with their camera phones. A group of rest home patients, supervised by their nurses sit in the shade of the trees. In another part of the park, a group of artists are painting the cherry blossom trees and their instructor moves from one student to another critiquing the work. Most of the painters are older and John observes that this is probably a pretty good way to spend ones retirement. We are in the park an hour and as I take photographs, John races his bicycle over the bridges and does wheelies and spins near the patients in wheelchairs. If they remember his antics they are talking about him tonight!

Art leaves John and me at the park and rides off to meet a business contact. John and I bicycle a few blocks down a busy street turning off and back into the Tsuboya pottery district. I suddenly have my bearings and feel quite at home and delighted that Yogi Park is now part of my known territory. Art navigated our way to Yogi Park by an interesting and somewhat circuitous route, but the park is just a few blocks up from the covered Heiwadori market place. Our afternoon goal is to purchase John a pair of new shoes. His already well worn skate shoes are terminal; last nights “sidewalk skating” in the rain opened the holes in the soles and John was literally “walking on water.” We pop into the covered marketplace and John searches for size 12 shoes. It is hopeless and John suggests that he join the Abbott family and give up wearing shoes. (Dear Abbott family friends, I hope you are smiling as you read this?!)

We exit the market place via a side alley. John knows that I enjoy browsing in a small and beautiful dress boutique just around the bend and he tells me that we are not stopping there. Happily there is a shoe store just across from the boutique and John concedes that I may browse while he looks for shoes. Why is my son such a control freak? There are no shoes to fit John, but I find a beautiful cotton tunic that fits me. I am only able to put a deposit down on the tunic since we need our cash to purchase John’s shoes. Okinawa has a cash oriented economy. Even supermarkets do not take charge cards and only high end and chain stores accept credit cards. We exit the marketplace without finding shoes for John. John waits patiently as I walk back the labyrinth of covered stalls and pay in full for my tunic.

John and I power ride back to our apartment and arrive home a little before 5:00 P.M. My web site is still down. I work on waxes for awhile but when Art returns at 6:00 P.M. we bicycle out again in search for shoes for John. We ride up to the Shintoshin District and just off the main promenade is a huge Shoe “Box.” A “Box” is basically a large shop, usually a big chain store. The store is immense with every possible type of shoes for men and for women. It takes us nearly an hour, but we emerge triumphant with white, size 12 skate shoes for John. The light is fading when we leave the shoe store and we bicycle leisurely looking for a place to eat dinner. It’s Friday night and this fashionable district is a happening place, busy with pedestrians. Restaurants and shops glow invitingly. There are some very stylish and upscale restaurants that we would love to eat at, but bicycle “helmet hair” is most likely not the accepted attire. The mall, “Naha Main Place,” is buzzing with couples and families and we put our name on a waiting list at a Tonkatsu Restaurant. We survey the menus while we wait for a non smoking table. The Okinawan’s take their jobs very seriously. A gracious wait person comes outside and takes our order as we wait for a table. He has a computerized order pad and is sincere and meticulous in getting our order exact. Our table preference is of great concern to him. Do we want a Western Style table or a Japanese style tatami room table? We choose a Western Style table and our meal is served shortly after we are seated. The food is somewhat formula, but beautifully presented on the usual lacquered trays. We eat heartily, pay the most reasonable 4,600.yen check ($40.00) and bicycle home satiated and exhausted.

The weather here certainly differs from one day to the next. It is almost a relief waking to gray skies and drizzle. John is sick and and needs time to recuperate and I need some time to create new jewelry designs. Art has been going to Karate on Tuesday and Thursday nights, but this morning he goes to a 9:30 A.M. class at a different dojo. My morning routine always begins with e-mail and I discover that both my e-mail and website are down. I have some things to mail and walk to the post office and call home to inquire about my internet server. I am assured it will be up soon. I spend the afternoon working on a one of a kind dragon that will wrap around a piece of druzy quartz. John curls on the couch, crumpled Kleenex littering the floor and watches God Father Two. We recently discovered a nearby video rental store where the videos are 100 yen for a week. This translates to .80 cents for a movie for a week. The rates at the video rental in Shintoshin are many times more than this. If John were not sick there would not be an afternoon movie, but we take pity on his boredom and I remember that just this morning I mailed a fat packet of his home school work to his adviser back home.

At 5:30 P.M. the three of us walk uptown to Shintoshin, our goal being dinner at the Galleria Food Court and marketing on the way home. The Galleria is on the top floor of the upscale Duty Free Mall. It drizzles lightly as we walk. John is feeling better and takes running starts to slip and slide on the slick tile walkways. Two weeks ago we went to the Galleria Food Court and were confused and intimidated by the system and left without eating. Tonight it seems easy, affordable and not the least bit intimidating. It’s basically a food court with a lot of of attitude. We split up, each of us with a scan card and make our selections. I have a Thai curry over rice and fried fish with sweet vegetables. The fish concoction is too fishy, but the curry is good. Art orders Italian, and John goes for a Hamburger. Art has an 8:00 P.M. Karate class so we are pressed for time but we will eat here again when we have time to sit at leisure on the covered patio with a flowing stream and soak in the stylish ambiance. The rain is a bit heavier when we leave the Galleria. We walk to the nearest supermarket, one of three in a long strip mall in Shintoshin. We push our mini shopping cart along the aisles picking up several large bottles each of jasmine tea (Sanpin Cha) water, makings for tomorrow night’s dinner and two umbrellas. Between the rain and our heavy liquid load, we catch a taxi the mile back to our apartment. It’s about a $5.00 taxi ride. Art hurry s off to his 8:00 P.M.Karate class and I’m writing this not very excited blog of our day. My e-mail and web site are still down. Bummer!!

Mangroves, Mongoose and Black Face Spoonbills

We discover a mangrove wet land in the heart of urban Naha today! Rain was predicted for today but when we awake the skies are blue so we hop on our bicycles and head in the direction of the Manko wetlands. We ride south towards the airport, along Hwy 58, until we come to the Kokuba River and turn inland. Naha city planners have created a narrow but beautiful parkway for pedestrians and bicyclists along both sides of this waterway. The sleek monorail glides above Naha on the northern side and the park and quay follow the contours of the river on both sides. We come upon an immense cement crab facing the river shading a picnic table and picnic benches beneath its belly. We take a break and John climbs this 20 foot cement beast and I take photos. The crab is reminiscent of the huge cement dinosaurs that popped up in the U.S. during the 50’s and 60s’ intended to attract customers to “diners” and gift shops. I am delighted and amused by this riverside monument. Further on we come upon an outdoor “exercise area.” Sparkling metal and wood exercise equipment is stationed along the riverside. Art and John do sit ups and stretches. There is even an oval acupressure footpath with signs clearly instructing how to use the “bumpy nubs” on the path. An elderly man is barefoot and walks mindfully around the small oval footpath holding onto the stainless steel rail enclosing the path. A bit further on we arrive at the Manko Water bird and Wetland Center. This center is in the heart of urban Naha. The Highway contours one side and apartments and businesses encroach on the other. What used to be a natural lake is now mostly landfill. We park our bicycles and enter the center. We are one of two groups of visitors and we are greeted almost desperately by an extremely enthusiastic employee. The English version of their short 10 minute video will start soon but in the meantime the dossier shows John and me how to use a page scanner on the edges of certain bird books to produce the bird’s songs and warbles. This technology is something I have never seen before, even in world class museums, and John and I spend several minuets immersed and fascinated by it all. Upstairs is an observatory with a dozen high powered telescopes and we each choose one to scan the mangrove wetland below us.

It’s 1:00 P.M. and we are hungry so Art asks our “guide” where we might eat nearby? A minute later he hauls his bicycle outside and peddles ahead of us leading the way to his recommended lunch spot. We are in a neighborhood and he takes us to a tiny two table family owned restaurant. The place is no larger than my kitchen and there are a few paper “specials” stapled to the wall. Nothing here that costs more than 350 yen and the menu is extremely limited. The owner, woman about my age is behind the tiny counter and cooking at the two burner gas stove. Art translates our options and within minutes a plate of “Mexican” fried rice is set in front of me. Art orders shrimp friend rice and John orders a hot dog and toast. I’m desperate for protein and vegetables, but it’s as if I am in someone’s home so I eat every bite of the carbohydrate laden meal. For desert Art orders shaved ice for John and a sweet bean zenzai for himself. The woman puts ice cubes in an ancient machine that vibrates and rattles the small room. Shaved ice is the end product and John chooses three syrupy flavors to pour onto his pile of ice. The bill totals 1300 yen, ($10.50) including three small pies that Art purchases to go.

Next we bicycle to the Former Japanese Navy Underground Headquarters. I am not happy that these Navy headquarters are on the highest peak in Naha but when we finally achieve our destination, the view is tremendous. The day is still sparkling clear and sunny and I eventually catch my breath from the long ride up to the peak. After paying our entrance fees we climb hundreds of steps back down into the underground passageways of the Japanese headquarters during world war two. John is especially fascinated with the labyrinth of tunnels but over 200,000 people died in the battle of Okinawa, and I just feel sad. The resounding message here is the tragedy of war and the value of peace.

Our ride back down to Naha is a breeze, literally! Within minutes we are peddling past the wetland center and over the suspension bridge where we stop and look down onto the mangroves below. Its low tide and the marshy wetlands are exposed; mangrove roots, discarded bicycles, rubber tires and trash. The area is a strange mixture of rich natural habitat and encroaching urbanization. Gazing down from the bridge we spot a mongoose and a white heron. Overhead an osprey circles catching updrafts in the late afternoon. We find a stairway descending from the bridge down to the tidal flats but when I step onto the sand I start to sink. My fantasies of walking out into the mangroves will not be realized here. We begin bicycling home following the northern side of the river but stop abruptly when Art spots a lone black faced spoonbill in the wetlands below. There are less than 300 of these birds in existence and we watch for sometime as he “scoops and spoons” the liquid mud and sand in search of his evening meal. I take many photos and wish for a better lens on my camera.

We all arrive home at 5:00 P.M; exhausted. Yesterday, John started to feel sick and as today progressed John’s health declined. He now has what Art and I had a few days ago. I deposit John on the couch and peddle back out to the market with an empty backpack. I return with my backpack filled with groceries and cook dinner in our apartment. Art and John are watching a video as I type today’s bog. It’s been a lovely impromptu day!

I haven’t blogged for the past two days since I have been focusing on creating new jewelry designs and happily (or unhappily) the overcast weather has helped me to focus on my artistic talents. I’ve just finished carving my first wax creation in my temporary Okinawan studio. It’s a dragon guarding a beautiful fire agate that I purchased at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. I use dental tools and heated wax pens to create my designs and the different colors of wax have different working properties. I don’t have a ruler, but the piece is about 1 3/4″ across and high. It will be cast in 18K gold and the golden dragon will guard this spectacular piece of Arizona Fire Agate. The price is still to be determined but will be somewhere between $4800 and $5600.

http://www.martymagic.com/product_info.php/cPath/47/products_id/820

Starbuck Sunday, Shinto Shrines and Tsushima Maru

Most mornings I brew coffee in our apartment, but this morning Art suggests that we walk to the Shintoshin Starbucks for a Sunday coffee. It’s easier than usual to wake John with the promise of a sugary high octane drink and we walk the 15 minutes to the Shintoshin district. John grabs a breakfast sandwich at McDonalds along the way and I pop into the supermarket to pick up a bento box of sushi rolls. It’s difficult to eat well when traveling and I don’t want to be tempted by the Starbuck pastries. As a rule, I prefer to explore and sample the local cuisine but when a good cup of coffee is in order there is a Starbucks in most every international city. One of my most memorable cups of coffee was a cappuccino sipped on a blustery day at the Shanghai Starbucks. Alisha and I had separated from the “boys” and exhausted from walking, the wind and the cold we slipped guiltily into a Starbucks. The familiar surroundings, the aroma, and ultimately the rich taste and the impact of the caffeine revived and cheered us. This morning we sit for over an hour in this Starbuck bubble, pouring over Okinawa maps and guide books.

We walk home stopping in at the market for a few supplies and then grab our bicycles for an afternoon ride. Our first stop is Fukushuen, the Chinese Garden. The garden is a recent recreation of a Chinese Garden and although pretty, it lacks that authentic feel of gardens and pagodas centuries old. The pools are filled with koi and turtles and John buys fish food and sits on the edge of the water scattering pellets. The water churns with their frenzied feeding as the koi literally pile on top of each other struggling to swallow the pellets. A white crane stands on the shoreline and couples stroll along the manicured pathways. The cherry blossoms are in bloom, but it’s too early in the season for the full springtime burst of color.

We bicycle a bit further to the Naminoue beach, the only public beach within the city of Naha. It’s a small and pristine crescent of white sand, framed and protected by a seawall retainer constructed of immense cement “jack” shaped forms. Almost every public beach and harbor is framed by these perfectly arranged and interlocking cement “jack” seawalls. The freeway looms above this beach and we see our first homeless encampment in the adjoining park. There is a tidy row of camping tents and what I surmise is a communally shared cook tent. On the cliff above the beach is the Naminoue Shinto Shrine. We bicycle to the entrance and walk the path to the top of the cliff where we have a view of all of Naha. While Shinto is the native religion of mainland Japan, it’s not a native Okinawan religion. Various Shinto festivals are celebrated here and today families are tying paper prayer requests onto a line strung between two trees and dipping long handled metal cups into the flowing water fountain to drink.

Nearby Asahigaoko Park and Naminoue Shrine we come upon the Tsushima Maru Memorial Museum. This museum is dedicated to the lives lost when the passenger liner, the Tsushima Maru was torpedoed by the U.S. submarine, Bowfin on August 22, 1944. The Tsushima Maru was evacuating school children and teachers from Okinawa to mainland Japan and 1,484 people died, 767 of them children. The ship sank in 11 minutes with only 177 survivors. This small, well curated, memorial museum lists the names all those lost at sea and a great wall displays the photographs of the children. The tragedy is carefully documented by extensive diagrams showing the position of the submarine Bowfin in relationship to the Tsushima Maru and the other two evacuee vessels which made it to mainland Japan safely. All three ships were guarded by the destroyer, Hasu and the gunboat Uji. The submarines’ log of events is also documented. Strings of paper peace cranes decorate the museum, their message being to teach the importance of Peace to future generations through the tragedy of the Tsushima Maru.

We eat a 3:30 P.M. lunch at a simple soba restaurant across from the shrine. It’s starting to drizzle, so we bicycle home.

Takaaki comes by at 6:30 P.M. and plays chess for his first time with John. Takaaki drives us to an Izakaya restaurant in the Shintoshin district were we meet with Tadashi and his brother Shigeru. An Izakaya restaurant is the Japanese version of a “tapas” restaurant. Takaaki orders for the table starting us off with a shared plate of tofu and goya champuru. Goya is an Okinawan vegetable that looks somewhat like a fat spiny cucumber. Its’ taste is bitter and it is rich in vitamin C. (If one is very brave, goya juice is readily available.) On a previous visit, I made the mistake of ordering a large bowl of Goya for myself, but I am acquiring a taste for this local dish and tonight I enjoy eating a small plateful. The next plate to arrive is a dish of fried rice with a raw egg on top. Tadashi takes chopsticks and mixes the egg into the rice and we each help ourselves to a small serving. We share a plate of Okinawan fatty pork which is a bit like chunks of thick undercooked bacon. There are skewers of chicken yakatori and a small bacon pizza. A hot pot of fungi, vegetables and chicken skin is brought to our table and with difficulty I dish out 6 small bowls of the broth and veggies. We end with a plate of nigiri sushi. Throughout dinner the men discuss Okinawa.com.

Tadashi drives us home and he and Shigeru come upstairs. Shigeru meets John’s beetle Frack and holds him without hesitation. Shigeru had stag beetles when he was a boy. It’s been a great day and an enjoyable evening.

Tsuboya Shisa

After our usual morning routine spent with the computer and with e-mail we leave the apartment on foot and walk in the direction of Kokusai Street stopping at a flag store where we purchase and Okinawan flag as a gift. A bit further on is Shurei-do martial arts supply store, the best one on Okinawa. Art is looking for a karate gi but they are temporarily out of his size. Art want to visit the Tourist Information Bureau off of Kokusai Street to introduce himself and to gather information. It is just around the corner from the Starbucks on Kokusai Street and we pick up brochures and maps. We wander down Heiwadori Street (Peace Street) again and Art buys another sweet bean fish cake hot off the griddle. (They are really very delicious, so be sure to try one if you have the opportunity.)

The covered market ends at the Tsuboya pottery district which is one of my favorite areas in Naha. The main street of this interwoven district is lined with Okinawa pottery shops. Most of the buildings here are the old wood houses with red tile roofs and each gateway is guarded by a pair of Shisa. A Shisa is neither dog nor lion, but a guardian creature unique to Okinawa culture. A pair of Shisa, one with its mouth open and one with its mouth closed is sentry to most every home and business on Okinawa. They come in all sizes and styles and there are several pottery studios in this district that make them. There is a major studio on the main street where you can watch specialized craftsperson’s meticulously sculpt and incise the clay into these magical creatures. We don’t visit the studio today, but I have watched them work on several other occasions and have always felt welcome.

Today we wander uphill and discover the ruins of an immense hillside pottery kiln that was shared by the artisans of this district many years ago. Broken earthenware vessels and pottery shards are embedded in the embankment and a cat lounges lazily on the sun warmed roof tiles of the ancient building. If you poke down narrow side streets or walk off the main street along a stone path you will discover many small pottery studios and sweet spots, lush with tropical foliage. Many of these intertwined streets have walls hewn of Okinawa limestone. You will also see monstrously ugly cement apartment buildings crowding and dwarfing the ancient tile roofed houses, and expensive cars sit in the driveways of many of these ancient homes.

It’s 3:30 P.M. before we start home and we are hungry. Many places have already stopped serving lunch and are not yet open for dinner so we resort to a non-descript 24 hour Okinawan eatery. John orders an ebi fry, (fried shrimp) I order a vegetable and beef champuru (stir-fry) and Art has a tonkatsu-don (a bowl of rice with breaded pork cutlet.)

Back at home, I work on waxes until nearly 7:00.P.M. and then relax with John and his beetle Frack and watch a bizarre Japanese T.V. program. The premise of this program seems to be that the T.V. crew barges into a “victims” bedroom and puts a stag beetle on the sleeping victims’ nose. The beetle pinches on hard and the T.V. crew uses a stopwatch to time the victim to determine how long he can withstand the torturous pinch. (I am concerned that some of the beetles may get hurt with all the thrashing around and hysteria this “Beetle Fear Factor” program generates.) John thrusts Frack in my direction and I start in fear. I am not yet ready to hold John’s new pet, let alone be timed with one pinched to my nose!

Yakitori Dinner

I plan to spend a full day carving waxes, but start the morning with a brisk walk to the fish market for some exercise and to buy some fresh sashimi and sushi.

Art takes off on a long bicycle ride and John plays online chess while I work on my dragon pieces and listen to a book on tape. John tells me I need to carve a different type of dragon’s head and I think he is right. I work for over 4 hours on just the head of the new dragon. Eventually John tires of online chess, bungees his skateboard to the handlebars of his bicycle and rides to the skate park. I continue working several more hours on my dragon and try not to worry too much about John.

Art and John both return safely. Art bicycled to Chinen on the south eastern point of the island to the Sefa Utaki. This utaki or sacred site is one of Okinawa’s seven UNESCO World Heritage sites. He is exhilarated.

We have dinner plans with Rena tonight. Rena lived with us for a year in Santa Cruz, some 6 or 7 years ago and I am very much looking forward to seeing her! Back home, I would have most certainly cooked dinner at home but we want to take her out for a meal and ask her to choose a restaurant. She drives us to a district where there are dozens of yakitori restaurants dotting the side streets. Red paper lanterns denote these establishments and glow invitingly. They are primarily drinking establishments that serve small plates of skewered meats and vegetables. The first one she chooses is full so we drive to another one. These places are notoriously small consisting of just a bar and a few small tables. This yakitori has one of its 4 tables vacant. The bar is filled with customers, and the air hangs heavy with cigarette smoke and the smell of frying meats. Rena orders a number of small plates for us to share. A bowl of cabbage is brought to the table. She tells us that traditionally you eat a little yakitori, then a bite of cabbage. John inhales his portion of each plate served. We order three glasses of different kinds of sake and the waitress brings three small empty glasses on tiny saucers. She fills each glass to the brim and overflows the sake into the saucer below. We have“sake” tasting, sipping from the saucer and each of us chooses one glass. (John orders another soda.) There are many young couples out tonight and they talk and smoke and drink. Their ashtrays are filled with cigarette butts. I realize I am not in “Kansas” any more but I am enjoying every minute of the second hand smoke.

Rena calls a daiko taxi and we ask her if they are expensive? She tells us that they cost less than a regular taxi after hours. After midnight taxi fares increase. Its 11:30 before we pile into our regular taxi and head back home.

A Work Day

I wake slowly and I can tell the worst of my cold is behind me. I finish yesterday’s blog and work on Marty Magic business from half way around the world. My daughter, Alisha is doing the hands on work, but I am connected to the day to day questions and there is a lot to do today.

By 11:00 A.M. I am at work carving new dragon waxes to wrap around the gemstones that I recently purchased at the Tucson Gem and Mineral show. My work space still isn’t ideal, but I spend a productive three hours and am happy to be back in the groove. I am working on two dragon designs at once. One dragon will be cast in sterling silver and wrap around a triangular piece of chrysocolla druze quartz. The other dragon will be cast in 18K gold and be the guardian dragon around a most spectacular piece of Arizona fire agate.

During the morning and into early afternoon, Art works on his web site, Okinawa.com while John reads his novel and I carve wax. Shortly after 2:00 P.M. we ride our bicycles up to the Shintoshin district to eat lunch and we once again run into our usual dilemma. John wants to eat at McDonalds, I am craving protein and vegetables and Art wants to please us both. We end up at “Fresh Burger.” John whines that a soft drink and fries are not included in his meal. I order coleslaw and a side of chicken; not their forte. Art inhales a mediocre hamburger. We will not go there again.

After lunch, Art and John ride to return the rented videos and I go to the super market on my own. The majority of what is available are precooked, “deli” selections of salads, sushi, fried and marinated meats and sweets. All are arranged neatly in open refrigerated cases and packaged in the same way our meat selections are in the U.S. Each item is presented on a shallow Styrofoam or plastic tray and wrapped with clear plastic. The label is in the bottom right with the price per pound, and ultimately the cost of the package clearly marked. From previous experience, I know that most Okinawan kitchens are very small making elaborate dinners difficult to prepare. I surmise that because of this the supermarkets offer these vast arrays of prepared deli items. Everything looks fresh and tasty but can buy only what I can carry home in John’s backpack so choose my selections carefully, pay and peddle home.

I spend another two hours working on my dragon waxes before cooking dinner. I wash and cut the home grown potatoes and spinach given to us the other night. I sauté the potatoes in garlic and olive oil and then open a package of precut, marinated beef mixed with green onions. I add the meat to the potatoes, cook quickly and serve. John actually compliments me on my dinner, eating heartily and telling me that I cook much better in Japan. Whatever spices and marinade mixed with the packaged meat is the secret ingredient.

A little before 8:00 P.M. Art leaves for his Karate class. John watches the Japanese Version of “Do You Want to be a Millionaire?” in the company of his beetles. I am brave enough to hold the female, Frick, but am still too afraid to hold Frack. John is disappointed. Later John walks over to watch the karate class.

Rainy Day Valentine

We wake up to grey skies and rain. The weather matches our under the weather state of health and demands little of us. Art is now sick, but a day behind in the symptoms. He grimaces when I tell him he that he will feel worse tomorrow. I doubt if John will escape this bug but remains healthy so far. We spend a quiet morning in our apartment writing, doing homework and sending e-mail.

Last night was John’s first night with the beetles in his room and he tells me that they were really annoying. Apparently they are nocturnal and Frack kept pinching at a flange of plastic inside his cage and made a clicking sound all through the night. Frick scratched on the inside of her cage until John finally got up and threw some clothes over their cages. Nevertheless, John still seems to love his beetles and at this very moment is holding Frack and admonishing him gently for disturbing his sleep.

Art reads about a senior graduation art exhibition at the Ryukyu Arts University. It’s quite a distance to the Shurijo district and between our health and the rain a taxi seems to be in order. Our taxi driver is talkative and he converses with Art switching between English and Japanese. The streets are wet from rain and we pass through districts unfamiliar to me. It’s lovely to be speeding along in our taxi bubble. The rain lets up when we get to the University and we spend nearly two hours looking at the student exhibition. The show is spread between various rooms and exhibition halls and the art is remarkably good. John gets into it and has some good comments and asks good questions.

The University is below the Shuri Castle in the oldest and most picturesque part of the city. Art chooses a charming restaurant for our Valentines Day lunch. It is 2:00 P.M. and we are dining late. We remove our shoes and place them in covered cubbies before stepping up into the restaurant. The restaurant is an old, single story house with the traditional tile roof and open beam ceilings. Tatami mats cover the floors and shoji screens divide the rooms and open onto a lush and serene garden. The gravel in the garden is raked to perfection. There are no glossy pictures on the calligraphied menu and no plastic display food to choose from. Art does his best to translate the minimal menu. He orders me a tofu champuru (a mix of tofu and vegetables) and himself a bowl of soba with Okinawa pork. Our meals are delivered on simple trays with additional bowls of miso soup, cold seaweed noodles, rice and pickled vegetables. All is mindful and delicious. John has eaten three “American corn dogs” earlier and just nibbles off of our plates. Our two meals are only 1,750 yen or about $15.00.

I am feeling considerably worse but the misty day is beautiful and we take our time walking in the gardens below Shuri Castle. There are few people out today and we have the park almost to ourselves. We wind our way slowly down an old stone walkway that will eventually lead us back down to the bustle of modern Naha. The stonework is all hewn from Okinawan limestone. Stylish Mansions are on either side of the ancient stone street. We take a side path and find ourselves in an utaki. An utaki is a “spirit place,” a small, sweet and magical spot. This one is tucked behind several hillside mansions and there is a small grove of huge akagi trees (Bishofa Javanica) dripping with the morning’s rain. Sections of an old stone pathway and stone wall frame this magical spot.

We arrive at the bottom of the walkway and search for a post office and grocery store. It’s nearly 5:00 P.M. and both Art and I are feeling drained. We know that once we get back to our apartment we won’t want to leave to go out to dinner even if it is Valentines’ night. We take a taxi home and Art tells John that we will try to rent a movie for us to watch this evening. Art and John ride bicycles to the nearbye Tsutaya, a bookshop, music and video store in the Shintoshin district. They manage to sign up for a Tsutaya video card and return with two movies, Zoolander and Lost. We watch Zoolander with Japanese subtitles. Tadashi comes over at 8:00 P.M. with two cell phones for us. He has added us to his cell phone plan and we will pay him accordingly.

In spite of feeling poorly, today was a lovely day. I turn in but Art and John stay up and watch an episode of Lost. I hope I feel better in the morning.

l

Settling into a Routine

We sleep until almost 9:00 A.M. My muscles hurt from yesterday’s ride and my sore throat is turning into a cold. We spend a quiet morning in our apartment. I make coffee and send e-mail. Art goes out for a ride returning with sashimi and sushi. There is a fish market just a few minutes from us. Following Art’s directions, John and I walk the 10 minutes to the fish market. Our route is below the freeway overpass and we walk past many tombs. These family tombs are either cut into the cliff side or freestanding. They are usually about the size of a one or two car garage and have a “turtle shell” style roof. The tombs contain urns with the washed bones of the deceased. We see these tombs most everywhere; tucked between houses and apartment buildings, along road sides and cut into cliffs. The warehouse is in an industrial part of the harbor and houses about 50 stalls. It is sparkling clean and well lit. Some vendors are selling prepackaged sashimi, others whole fish, octopus, crabs, lobsters and even rock fish and fugu. I imagine that this market is predominately a wholesale outlet but I’m delighted to have the freshest source of seafood available to us within walking distance.

Back in our apartment we each attempt to get to work. Art works a bit on Okinawa.com while I organize my wax table and begin to work. I don’t have good light and the chair is too high for my desk. I wander the apartment, moving available lamps and try to adjust the height of my table to my chair. By sitting on the bathroom stool and piling three of John’s text books on top, I achieve the correct height, but I am not going to be able to work without a good lamp. Art agrees to bicycle out and buy me a clip on light while John and I set out to Heiwadori Street to purchase a beetle. I take out our city map but it is all in Japanese and will not do me much good so I wing it and we ride our bicycles down Highway 58 cutting inland in what I hope is the direction of Kokusai Street. I am right on target and we arrive at the market within 15 minutes. Yesterday we discovered that it isn’t the season for Rhinoceros beetles so John has decided to adopt an Okinawa beetle. This end of the market is quiet and John gets the attention of the beetle vendor who lethargically rises and helps John choose his beetle. The man takes several beetles out and one pinches onto his finger and he grimaces from the pain. I realize that am not going to want to hold this beetle. Naturally John wants the biggest one available and ends up choosing a species from Indonesia. The tiny plastic cages are partitioned in half and it isn’t until John pays for his beetle that the vendor points out that there is a female beetle buried deep in the bedding of the other half of the cage. The female beetle is much smaller and has no pinchers. John is delighted that he gets two beetles for the price of one.

We now need beetle food, bedding and a larger cage so John and I ride in what I hope is the direction of Shintoshin and the Pet Box. Without a map, I decide that the best approach is to follow the Monorail, so we ride along the road beneath it and soon arrive at the Shintoshin Station. We know our way around this district and it’s just a few blocks to the Pet Box and the supermarket. At Pet Box, John shows the cashier his beetles and asks if he can put the male and female together? Through sign language she communicates that they will fight, so John purchases a larger cage for Frack and decides to use the smaller cage for Frick. He chooses the necessary beetle accessories and pays with his own money. John is anxious to get his beetle condo’s set up so I allow him to bike home on his own while I go to the supermarket. This is my first solo shopping trip and I take my time choosing the food and deciphering the labels on the laundry detergent and mouth wash.

It’s late afternoon before we are all back in the apartment. John busies himself with his beetles and then sits on the couch watching preschool television, holding Frack. I hope that John will learn something from this Japanese equivalent of Sesame Street and I plug in my new clip on light sit down and do waxes to the drone of the television. I am sneezing and my nose is running and I am feeling sick. I take a cold and flu capsule. I work for an hour but accomplish little and it’s almost dinner time so I busy myself in our tiny kitchen and cook our first dinner at home. Art helps me decipher the control panel on our washing machine and I do two loads of laundry. The stacking washer and dryer are beside the sink in our bathroom and are tiny by American standards.

Art leaves to go the the Makishi Dojo to find out about Karate Classes. He returns shortly, we eat dinner and Art and John go back to the Dojo for an 8:00 P.M. class. I am drugged from the cold and flu capsule but I manage to fold the laundry and wash the dishes before falling into bed.