The weather looks pretty shaky but it’s holding on at the moment. I hope it stays this way (at least) until I safely get back. Last day of June… crazy hot.
Since last week we have started this new seasonal topic titled BLAST IN JAPAN SUMMER 2006 and it features summer festivals and fireworks going on all across Japan during summer vacation (namely July and August). We haven’t really covered the whole of Japan yet cuz we only have Kanto region (the periphery of Tokyo) and Kansai region (periphery of Osaka & Kyoto), but we are going to introduce our visitors the exciting events in Japan for July and August in advance to summer break (and we’d better rush cuz vacation’s nearing!). So those of you living in Japan or considering of traveling to Japan some time soon, do come have a look!! :-) Oh, and if you have any suggestions on what you would like to know or want us to search for you, suggest us here or give me an e-mail via Japan Mode! I wish I had some efficient and effective way of doing marketing.
But this blog is not a place to do market research as much as it’s a place for me to write about Okinawa’s islands… and so the story goes on.
All of us staying at the little B&B had dinner together at the terrace on the top of the inn building.
The food in Okinawa is a bit different from food elsewhere in Japan in many aspects, and I guess the most different point that I noticed was the color. One of the reasons for this is because the colors of the fish are different… it’s not very usual for me to see fish in vivid green and blue spread out on the table. The other thing is that they use a lot of pork. It is even said in Okinawa “eat everything but a pig’s hoofs and oink” and they really do so by cooking from its head to the very tips of its feet. And last but not least, Champloo, some stir-fried vegetables with rather hard Okinawan tofu.
There was nothing to complain about. I mean, the food was wonderful itself but with the marvelous sunset and cheery people around you… how better could it be?
The other guests at the B&B at this time of year (and this was in mid-May) coming all the way to this tiny isolated island were mostly divers, and they told me stories after stories how wonderful the sea of Kerara is. What I noticed is that because they go deeper than my 4 meters, the inside seascape they see is so much different from what I learned that day. It sounded like they know a totally different world under the calm sea. I have never experienced real diving yet, but I feel like I would feel more comfortable without wearing anything heavy in that sea. Although, I’m pretty sure I’d be like “This is awesome!” when I really go diving down to deeper level, lol.
I guess it’s so different… like perhaps the difference is as big as comparing curry and ramen :p I can’t choose either one, I have to have both. Don’t you have that kind of food in your culture?
Anyway, because of the hunger that came from playing around in the water all day long I ate so much more than my limit, so as soon as I got back to my room I lied down and a strangely comfortable kind of fatigue covered my body.
I was tired but felt really good… it was the kind of tiredness that you get after you do something meaningful and I felt as though my body was melting away into the floor.
After a while, my friend suggested we go out to see some noctiluca. Have any of you seen noctiluca before? It’s written in Japanese, night – light – bugs.
Next week I will tell you about the amazing night in the isolated island that makes you feel eternity.
But I don’t know… maybe I’ll get back to soccer again cuz there’s France against Brazil… :-D
30 June, 2006
29 June, 2006
The Timeless Island 4
The weather has been more than nice these couple of days. It’s good we have some sun, but the sun obviously brought some heat. Now the outside temperature is suddenly above 30C (86F) for two days in a row, and it can be so tomorrow. I’m not very sure about the weather forecast… at one place I hear the sun is going to hide again but somewhere else says tomorrow will be just like today. Well, if it’s going away, I’ll surely miss it.
When it gets this hot and humid, the body temperature of other people around you on the train gets really annoying. If it’s going to be hot anyway, I’d prefer the baking hot to steaming hot. My mind is completely away from the craziness of Tokyo and making trips to Okinawa these days. Writing about it makes me want to go there more, and because I want to go I keep writing… vicious circle.
I feel like in the islands where you can’t see the end of the sky, sunset goes much slower. The sky gets dark even before I see the sunset in this skyscraper-crowded city of Tokyo. So, back to Okinawa.
As we rested our tired bodies under the shade around sunset, we heard the B&B’s daughters voice calling out to us, “Are you there?” We shouted back “Yeah we’re here” and headed towards her voice.
Like on the way to the beach, we got on the back of the pick-up truck so it didn’t matter if we were drenched or were covered with sand. Maybe that’s why she brought us there with a pick-up truck.
“I was thinking it’s about time you’re worn out.”
The daughter said. She came at the right time, I mean, if we decided the time earlier then we wouldn’t have had enough fun and if we had set the time later we would have had to wait for long. Her guess was truly impressive. I think if I were to set the time for her to pick me up, I would’ve done the latter and would’ve been exhausted. Even then, I think we swam for about 6 hours all together :P
After we got back to the B&B we took some time to rest. Even though we were resting I was over-excited and kept talking about the marvels of the sea that I had encountered during the day, and he listened to me with a favorite yet kind smile. It was true, there was an Okinawa I didn’t know.
We were informed that we still had 2 hours till dinner, so we decided to go out for a walk in the never-sinking sunset. Of course there wasn’t a convenience store, but the island was so small even to have its own supermarket so we bought some juice in a little store and enjoyed the timeless atmosphere of the tiny island.
Before I knew I was humming to myself. I had a strange feeling of wanting to sing… the slow flow of time and the relaxed happiness made me want to sing so much. Strange, but very comfortable. I was filled with a warm feeling.
Soon we started to smell something good from the nearby houses and my stomach was growling.
“Let’s go back, I’m getting hungry.”
Isn’t this great? Nothing binds you and you’re just free to move around and do things as you feel.
I‘m starting to feel a bit sentimental now as I write this, even sad. Why, cuz I’m getting hungry but I can’t go home :-(
That’s it for today. We have just a bit more to go.
When it gets this hot and humid, the body temperature of other people around you on the train gets really annoying. If it’s going to be hot anyway, I’d prefer the baking hot to steaming hot. My mind is completely away from the craziness of Tokyo and making trips to Okinawa these days. Writing about it makes me want to go there more, and because I want to go I keep writing… vicious circle.
I feel like in the islands where you can’t see the end of the sky, sunset goes much slower. The sky gets dark even before I see the sunset in this skyscraper-crowded city of Tokyo. So, back to Okinawa.
As we rested our tired bodies under the shade around sunset, we heard the B&B’s daughters voice calling out to us, “Are you there?” We shouted back “Yeah we’re here” and headed towards her voice.
Like on the way to the beach, we got on the back of the pick-up truck so it didn’t matter if we were drenched or were covered with sand. Maybe that’s why she brought us there with a pick-up truck.
“I was thinking it’s about time you’re worn out.”
The daughter said. She came at the right time, I mean, if we decided the time earlier then we wouldn’t have had enough fun and if we had set the time later we would have had to wait for long. Her guess was truly impressive. I think if I were to set the time for her to pick me up, I would’ve done the latter and would’ve been exhausted. Even then, I think we swam for about 6 hours all together :P
After we got back to the B&B we took some time to rest. Even though we were resting I was over-excited and kept talking about the marvels of the sea that I had encountered during the day, and he listened to me with a favorite yet kind smile. It was true, there was an Okinawa I didn’t know.
We were informed that we still had 2 hours till dinner, so we decided to go out for a walk in the never-sinking sunset. Of course there wasn’t a convenience store, but the island was so small even to have its own supermarket so we bought some juice in a little store and enjoyed the timeless atmosphere of the tiny island.
Before I knew I was humming to myself. I had a strange feeling of wanting to sing… the slow flow of time and the relaxed happiness made me want to sing so much. Strange, but very comfortable. I was filled with a warm feeling.
Soon we started to smell something good from the nearby houses and my stomach was growling.
“Let’s go back, I’m getting hungry.”
Isn’t this great? Nothing binds you and you’re just free to move around and do things as you feel.
I‘m starting to feel a bit sentimental now as I write this, even sad. Why, cuz I’m getting hungry but I can’t go home :-(
That’s it for today. We have just a bit more to go.
28 June, 2006
The Timeless Island 4
The very first word that was given to me this morning as I entered the office was “congrats!” from one of my seniors. Yes, thank you thank you woohoo All-French!
Like I told you yesterday, because there was no ground wave broadcasting of that match in Japan I couldn’t watch it, but I was too excited to be asleep and I got up at 5:00am… it’s something that rarely happens to me.
So I was like, ok I think the god of soccer wants me to keep my eyes on this match, so I turned on my PC and “watched” live on FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 official web site cuz they have this nice live written reports.
When I started “watching” it was at the end of the second half and was a 1-1 draw so I thought it was going to go into extra time, but then suddenly Vieira scores! Geez, I have never in my life been so excited staring at words and sentences, lol. But soon after that, a yellow card was given to my favorite Zidane, but right after that it said “Goal Zidane”.
??????
I couldn’t comprehend what was going on but I did understand that he threw in another score for France, which at this point was a definitive score for France to proceed to the quarterfinals… and so I screamed even though it was early in the morning.
Then my cell phone suddenly gave a loud ring. Who is this at this time of day?
I wondered for a moment and looked at the display which showed my younger brother’s name. Excitement came back as I got the phone thinking “maybe…”, and just like I thought he shouted at the phone “Oh my god that was risky! Zidane did an awesome job!”
Apparently he had cable so he watched the match live, and all he told me was cries of excitement after excitement. He went, “Holy, I couldn’t sit still on that one!!” and we shared the joy of victory over the phone (fyi my brother is a big fan of Italy) but gradually I grew jealous that he could watch it where I couldn’t so I was like, “hey, didn’t you ever think that your brother might have been asleep?” but he replied “oh that never matters”.
Well I can keep on going forever with France vs. Spain. Like brother like younger brother, huh?
So the All-French are going to play against the champion of champions Brazil next match… but all I can remember is that stunning heading of Zidane’s that lead France to champion in World Cup 1998. I just know it’s going to happen again!!
Okay, let’s go back to the timeless island tomorrow, m(__)m
Like I told you yesterday, because there was no ground wave broadcasting of that match in Japan I couldn’t watch it, but I was too excited to be asleep and I got up at 5:00am… it’s something that rarely happens to me.
So I was like, ok I think the god of soccer wants me to keep my eyes on this match, so I turned on my PC and “watched” live on FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 official web site cuz they have this nice live written reports.
When I started “watching” it was at the end of the second half and was a 1-1 draw so I thought it was going to go into extra time, but then suddenly Vieira scores! Geez, I have never in my life been so excited staring at words and sentences, lol. But soon after that, a yellow card was given to my favorite Zidane, but right after that it said “Goal Zidane”.
??????
I couldn’t comprehend what was going on but I did understand that he threw in another score for France, which at this point was a definitive score for France to proceed to the quarterfinals… and so I screamed even though it was early in the morning.
Then my cell phone suddenly gave a loud ring. Who is this at this time of day?
I wondered for a moment and looked at the display which showed my younger brother’s name. Excitement came back as I got the phone thinking “maybe…”, and just like I thought he shouted at the phone “Oh my god that was risky! Zidane did an awesome job!”
Apparently he had cable so he watched the match live, and all he told me was cries of excitement after excitement. He went, “Holy, I couldn’t sit still on that one!!” and we shared the joy of victory over the phone (fyi my brother is a big fan of Italy) but gradually I grew jealous that he could watch it where I couldn’t so I was like, “hey, didn’t you ever think that your brother might have been asleep?” but he replied “oh that never matters”.
Well I can keep on going forever with France vs. Spain. Like brother like younger brother, huh?
So the All-French are going to play against the champion of champions Brazil next match… but all I can remember is that stunning heading of Zidane’s that lead France to champion in World Cup 1998. I just know it’s going to happen again!!
Okay, let’s go back to the timeless island tomorrow, m(__)m
27 June, 2006
The Timless Island 3
After so many days of rain and thick clouds, the sun is peeking out in Tokyo day. After all, there is nothing better than the sun. I checked the weather forecast and it says that it won’t rain for a couple of days… but that also means that it will rain the following days :-( Many clothing brands are starting summer clearance this weekend and I was looking forward to them… too bad. Although, maybe, I’ll have some chances of going around the stores smoother than on sunny days cuz people might not want to come out of their houses…!
OK, back to the exciting island story :-)
Being wrapped by the Okinawa seawater… if I exaggerate that feeling, it was as though the mother earth was hugging me.
I wasn’t sure if it was because the fish were fearless or if they were accustomed to being fed from mal-mannered divers, dozens of fish in brilliant colors came to me like we were friends. Yellow, blue, white solid ones, white and black striped ones, big ones tiny ones… many swam around me. And right in front of my eyes were clown fish like Nemo and the huge yellow sweetlips.
I popped my head out to breathe fresh air, dived and breathed and dived so many times enjoying the sea. There were times when I swam as fast as I could to get away from a sea serpent, and also times when I was drawn to the charm of the crabs with bonbons in their claws (they’re actually seaweed).
And the Sata Andagi… man, they were so good after swimming! Even though I had my snorkels on, my mouth was salty anyway. Well the mild sweet taste of the brown sugar of the doughnut created a marvelous balance with the salt, and the sugar just soothed down the fatigue.
Together with the doughnuts I had this tea called Sampin Tea. It’s jasmine tea and is the most common tea you can get anywhere in Okinawa. If you leave your juice and soda out even in the shade, it gets luke warm and kind of nasty to drink but the warmness of the tea and moreover the fragrance of the tea was very relaxing.
As we relaxed we could tell that the sun was ready to go down… but I think I’ll stop here for today.
Tonight we have the World Cup match between France and Spain!! But I can’t watch it cuz it won’t be on terrestrial TV :-( You can imagine what tomorrow’s blog is gonna be like!
The picture is of Sampin Tea. I think it just came out in this area for the first time this year. They kind of sell it in bottles like this outside of Okinawa this time of year, and it really makes me want to go back to Okinawa again. Well, I guess that’s what they want!
OK, back to the exciting island story :-)
Being wrapped by the Okinawa seawater… if I exaggerate that feeling, it was as though the mother earth was hugging me.
I wasn’t sure if it was because the fish were fearless or if they were accustomed to being fed from mal-mannered divers, dozens of fish in brilliant colors came to me like we were friends. Yellow, blue, white solid ones, white and black striped ones, big ones tiny ones… many swam around me. And right in front of my eyes were clown fish like Nemo and the huge yellow sweetlips.
I popped my head out to breathe fresh air, dived and breathed and dived so many times enjoying the sea. There were times when I swam as fast as I could to get away from a sea serpent, and also times when I was drawn to the charm of the crabs with bonbons in their claws (they’re actually seaweed).
And the Sata Andagi… man, they were so good after swimming! Even though I had my snorkels on, my mouth was salty anyway. Well the mild sweet taste of the brown sugar of the doughnut created a marvelous balance with the salt, and the sugar just soothed down the fatigue.
Together with the doughnuts I had this tea called Sampin Tea. It’s jasmine tea and is the most common tea you can get anywhere in Okinawa. If you leave your juice and soda out even in the shade, it gets luke warm and kind of nasty to drink but the warmness of the tea and moreover the fragrance of the tea was very relaxing.
As we relaxed we could tell that the sun was ready to go down… but I think I’ll stop here for today.
Tonight we have the World Cup match between France and Spain!! But I can’t watch it cuz it won’t be on terrestrial TV :-( You can imagine what tomorrow’s blog is gonna be like!
The picture is of Sampin Tea. I think it just came out in this area for the first time this year. They kind of sell it in bottles like this outside of Okinawa this time of year, and it really makes me want to go back to Okinawa again. Well, I guess that’s what they want!
26 June, 2006
The Timeless Island 2
YYYEEESSSS!!!!!!
France goes to tournament, France goes to tournament!!
Whoh my god, I can’t tell you how nervous I was during the first half of the match! But as a result, all of the players concentrated very well for the goal and scored two precious points. Geez, I was sooo happy Saturday, I must have had this odd grin on my face all day long…
But can’t be happy forever! This is only the beginning of the tournament, and the first enemy of the Frenchmen is the Gran Armada!! This is going to be another match that keeps your heart pounding for 90 minutes. Imagine it, we might be able to see the genius MF duel between Zidane and Xavi…!
Hold it, me, this is going to be another soccer blog :P
I MUST tell you the beauty of the isolated island in the south.
Last Friday I gave my blog the title “The Timless Island” but I realized I hadn’t written anything about time in the sentences. Messed up the structure… soccer…, lol.
Anyway, so we cut through the thick green in the center of the island… and oh my god, I don’t know how to describe the sensation then! Everything I could see, everything that came into my sight was in a zillion shade of gorgeous blue and white. The water, the sky… Gee, I was truly shaken!
The shoreline was so long that I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if somebody told me that this was half of the 12.3-km-perimeter of this island of merely 300 residents.
As I was stunned and lost in words, the daughter of the B&B who brought us to the beach called to us “I’ll be back before sunset” and drove off on the pick-up truck.
For a moment I thought, “What time is sunset?” but it was washed away from my mind by the glamorous waves of the sea that spread in front of me.
I ran across the baking hot sand and splashed into the water. The stinging cold water suddenly wrapped every inch of my skin, and the unique saltiness of the seawater penetrated my body to the bones. By the time I get this deep but comfortable “this is sea” feeling, the heat of the sun piercing through the water takes away the chilliness from me.
What striked me the most was the clarity of the water. It looked clear enough from a distance, from above, but I didn’t know how so clear it was until I dived into it. The clarity almost filled me with awe, and the underwater world that spread below me was vivid with the colors of the coral reef.
Only then I knew why the sea looked like jelly… the same white of the beach continued underneath the water, and that porcelain white bed of sea stretched forever with flowers of coral.
I’m just so sorry that I can’t depict the marvel of this sea with my writing ability… I can’t even express here 1/10 of its beauty.
“Why do you come all the way to Australia whereas you have Kerama in Japan?”
This was a word said by an Aussie to a Japanese who went to Australia to dive, and I got to know this story later but it tells us how famous the beauty of Kerama is worldwide.
When I was swimming in the water off the main island Okinawa, I had fins simply to swim there and not to dive, but this time I was so emotionally moved and was tempted to put on my fins and actually dive to have a closer look at the deeper parts of the sea.
My ears kept popping and I couldn’t breathe in much air in my lungs, but I was coming closer to the white shiny bottom for sure.
I reached the bottom which was about 4 meters deep, flipped around and lied down facing the water surface… and this really strong sense of liberation and strange illusionary feeling hit me right through.
What is this!?
I will never forget that feeling.
I have never in my life felt so close to the nature… it was as though I was inside my mother’s womb again and was feeling that subconsciously. It was a very strange feeling.
I didn’t feel like myself, yet I felt like there was nothing else but me and my individuality, and I felt very warm like someone was wrapping me softly, but again I felt very free.
So, it goes on and on. Are you tired of it?
BTW, the weather today is of course, rain. We have had so much rain since April so it feels like a very long rainy season we’re having this year. Now the front is running wild in Kyushu and it’s like the repetition of Okinawa again all over. I hope it goes away soon…
France goes to tournament, France goes to tournament!!
Whoh my god, I can’t tell you how nervous I was during the first half of the match! But as a result, all of the players concentrated very well for the goal and scored two precious points. Geez, I was sooo happy Saturday, I must have had this odd grin on my face all day long…
But can’t be happy forever! This is only the beginning of the tournament, and the first enemy of the Frenchmen is the Gran Armada!! This is going to be another match that keeps your heart pounding for 90 minutes. Imagine it, we might be able to see the genius MF duel between Zidane and Xavi…!
Hold it, me, this is going to be another soccer blog :P
I MUST tell you the beauty of the isolated island in the south.
Last Friday I gave my blog the title “The Timless Island” but I realized I hadn’t written anything about time in the sentences. Messed up the structure… soccer…, lol.
Anyway, so we cut through the thick green in the center of the island… and oh my god, I don’t know how to describe the sensation then! Everything I could see, everything that came into my sight was in a zillion shade of gorgeous blue and white. The water, the sky… Gee, I was truly shaken!
The shoreline was so long that I wouldn’t have been surprised at all if somebody told me that this was half of the 12.3-km-perimeter of this island of merely 300 residents.
As I was stunned and lost in words, the daughter of the B&B who brought us to the beach called to us “I’ll be back before sunset” and drove off on the pick-up truck.
For a moment I thought, “What time is sunset?” but it was washed away from my mind by the glamorous waves of the sea that spread in front of me.
I ran across the baking hot sand and splashed into the water. The stinging cold water suddenly wrapped every inch of my skin, and the unique saltiness of the seawater penetrated my body to the bones. By the time I get this deep but comfortable “this is sea” feeling, the heat of the sun piercing through the water takes away the chilliness from me.
What striked me the most was the clarity of the water. It looked clear enough from a distance, from above, but I didn’t know how so clear it was until I dived into it. The clarity almost filled me with awe, and the underwater world that spread below me was vivid with the colors of the coral reef.
Only then I knew why the sea looked like jelly… the same white of the beach continued underneath the water, and that porcelain white bed of sea stretched forever with flowers of coral.
I’m just so sorry that I can’t depict the marvel of this sea with my writing ability… I can’t even express here 1/10 of its beauty.
“Why do you come all the way to Australia whereas you have Kerama in Japan?”
This was a word said by an Aussie to a Japanese who went to Australia to dive, and I got to know this story later but it tells us how famous the beauty of Kerama is worldwide.
When I was swimming in the water off the main island Okinawa, I had fins simply to swim there and not to dive, but this time I was so emotionally moved and was tempted to put on my fins and actually dive to have a closer look at the deeper parts of the sea.
My ears kept popping and I couldn’t breathe in much air in my lungs, but I was coming closer to the white shiny bottom for sure.
I reached the bottom which was about 4 meters deep, flipped around and lied down facing the water surface… and this really strong sense of liberation and strange illusionary feeling hit me right through.
What is this!?
I will never forget that feeling.
I have never in my life felt so close to the nature… it was as though I was inside my mother’s womb again and was feeling that subconsciously. It was a very strange feeling.
I didn’t feel like myself, yet I felt like there was nothing else but me and my individuality, and I felt very warm like someone was wrapping me softly, but again I felt very free.
So, it goes on and on. Are you tired of it?
BTW, the weather today is of course, rain. We have had so much rain since April so it feels like a very long rainy season we’re having this year. Now the front is running wild in Kyushu and it’s like the repetition of Okinawa again all over. I hope it goes away soon…
23 June, 2006
The Timeless Island
Whoa! Brazil is definitely the champion! I’ve got nothing to complain about regarding the JPN-BRA match. I even feel refreshed when the opponent is just too strong.
Until the last match Japan only had one goal which wasn’t exactly a shot-like-shot of Nakamura’s, but Tamada’s shot against the Brazilians was surely a beautiful one.
This is only the third time for Japan to come to the World Cup stages. We’re still newbies right?
What matters more is France. It’s last match in the first stage, against Togo starts late tonight. France was the champion of World Cup 1998, and has good players like Zidane and Henry! What is the problem if the fact that France still struggling through first stage isn’t a problem!?
God I can’t sleep tonight. I simply cannot close my eyes tonight.
Next Monday when I come back to this blog, will I be smiling or crying…? It’s all up to the French!
Okay, let’s get back to my little story of Okinawa.
I, with a new item, am heading to the isolated island of Okinawa.
Okinawa contains several isolated islands. The largest one is Ishigaki Island located further south from main island Okinawa, and is actually big enough to hold an airport of its own. Ishigaki has peripheral small isolated islands. When you hear of an “isolated islands tour” it’s most likely a cruise around these islands.
The island we headed for was not one of the Ishigaki islands. We took a jet boat from Naha Port for about an hour to the Kerama Islands.
Soon after we left the port on the jet boat, we were surrounded by the stunning beauty of the sea blue. The sea around main island Okinawa too is pretty enough, but the island holds a fair sized population, has some factories and boats come and go so the corals are actually dying around in the area. So even though it’s pretty there, the prettiness isn’t as breathtaking as the sea that was surrounding us.
This was the first thing that shocked me.
I grew up near an sea which was quite clear but the water around Okinawa main island was clearer. I guess that before I realized I was assuming that this was the clearest sea. The water away from the main island was like pure and clear jelly, and I could hardly believe it was the sea. It was that beautiful.
By then my eyes had forgotten to blink being so drawn into the awe of the sea, and of course I had completely forgotten to turn on the 8mm video recorder I brought in my heavy luggage.
I forgot to tell you that I have a passion in filming, especially using 8mm cameras. I like its unique touch and taste that no others have, so I bring it with me on whatever trips that I feel to be important or memorable. Maybe I’ll talk about it on another occasion.
The boat sped to a little island called Akashima in the Kerama Islands. My friend didn’t work on this island but on another neighboring island Zamamito, but he wanted me to see the sea of Akashima so that’s how we decided to stay here for the night.
We were welcomed at the port by the daughter of the little B&B we decided to stay. After leaving our luggage at the B&B and greeting the innkeepers we headed straight to the sea. The daughter chuckled at our over excitement and handed us some Sata Andagi (deep-fried doughnuts) saying, “It’s especially good after coming out from the sea.”
The blue spread right in front of the B&B but we had to make a short trip to get to the main beach, so even though it was a tiny island the B&B owner took us on the back of his pick-up truck to the beach. This too was the first time for me to sit in the back of a truck so I was already pretty fascinated by the “wild” experience, plus because there was no ceiling above me it felt really free.
This is getting long again (well I don’t even know how long this is going to go on) so I’ll stop here, but are any of you actually enjoying my Okinawa story? At least I thought it’d be better reporting the weather of Tokyo which is more or less the same everyday :P
I don’t know if I’ll keep on going, but I suppose there’ll be a blank cuz I would probably be writing about France in World Cup.
Have a great weekend guys!
Until the last match Japan only had one goal which wasn’t exactly a shot-like-shot of Nakamura’s, but Tamada’s shot against the Brazilians was surely a beautiful one.
This is only the third time for Japan to come to the World Cup stages. We’re still newbies right?
What matters more is France. It’s last match in the first stage, against Togo starts late tonight. France was the champion of World Cup 1998, and has good players like Zidane and Henry! What is the problem if the fact that France still struggling through first stage isn’t a problem!?
God I can’t sleep tonight. I simply cannot close my eyes tonight.
Next Monday when I come back to this blog, will I be smiling or crying…? It’s all up to the French!
Okay, let’s get back to my little story of Okinawa.
I, with a new item, am heading to the isolated island of Okinawa.
Okinawa contains several isolated islands. The largest one is Ishigaki Island located further south from main island Okinawa, and is actually big enough to hold an airport of its own. Ishigaki has peripheral small isolated islands. When you hear of an “isolated islands tour” it’s most likely a cruise around these islands.
The island we headed for was not one of the Ishigaki islands. We took a jet boat from Naha Port for about an hour to the Kerama Islands.
Soon after we left the port on the jet boat, we were surrounded by the stunning beauty of the sea blue. The sea around main island Okinawa too is pretty enough, but the island holds a fair sized population, has some factories and boats come and go so the corals are actually dying around in the area. So even though it’s pretty there, the prettiness isn’t as breathtaking as the sea that was surrounding us.
This was the first thing that shocked me.
I grew up near an sea which was quite clear but the water around Okinawa main island was clearer. I guess that before I realized I was assuming that this was the clearest sea. The water away from the main island was like pure and clear jelly, and I could hardly believe it was the sea. It was that beautiful.
By then my eyes had forgotten to blink being so drawn into the awe of the sea, and of course I had completely forgotten to turn on the 8mm video recorder I brought in my heavy luggage.
I forgot to tell you that I have a passion in filming, especially using 8mm cameras. I like its unique touch and taste that no others have, so I bring it with me on whatever trips that I feel to be important or memorable. Maybe I’ll talk about it on another occasion.
The boat sped to a little island called Akashima in the Kerama Islands. My friend didn’t work on this island but on another neighboring island Zamamito, but he wanted me to see the sea of Akashima so that’s how we decided to stay here for the night.
We were welcomed at the port by the daughter of the little B&B we decided to stay. After leaving our luggage at the B&B and greeting the innkeepers we headed straight to the sea. The daughter chuckled at our over excitement and handed us some Sata Andagi (deep-fried doughnuts) saying, “It’s especially good after coming out from the sea.”
The blue spread right in front of the B&B but we had to make a short trip to get to the main beach, so even though it was a tiny island the B&B owner took us on the back of his pick-up truck to the beach. This too was the first time for me to sit in the back of a truck so I was already pretty fascinated by the “wild” experience, plus because there was no ceiling above me it felt really free.
This is getting long again (well I don’t even know how long this is going to go on) so I’ll stop here, but are any of you actually enjoying my Okinawa story? At least I thought it’d be better reporting the weather of Tokyo which is more or less the same everyday :P
I don’t know if I’ll keep on going, but I suppose there’ll be a blank cuz I would probably be writing about France in World Cup.
Have a great weekend guys!
22 June, 2006
A Whole Lot More to Come, OKINAWA!
“The real Okinawa? What do you mean?”
To my wonder my friend replied with a far gaze.
“If you want to know it, see it. I’ll take you.”
He once used to work in one of the isolated islands of Okinawa, and wanted to take me there. So comes my third trip to Okinawa.
I didn’t know what made his eyes twinkle so much with confidence and admiration, and I had no idea how his Okinawa was different from mine, but I was somehow attracted to his words and confidence.
I was born and raised in the countryside of Shikoku, an island which is also a chunk of four prefectures. My house was right by the sea so naturally I learned to play in the water since I was little and I loved doing so. When my friend said he would take me to Okinawa, it has been quite a while since my last visit and plus because it was about a year since I came out to this gigalopolis Tokyo and I was getting sick of this place, it might have been the right time to go back to some ocean.
But let me say just one thing.
The excitement that stirred inside myself then was fate. I was bound to set foot again on the soil of Okinawa.
And so the next month, May, we flew to Okinawa.
Because we took an unbelievably cheap tour ticket to Okinawa – 3 nights 4 days, with accommodation for one night, rent-a-car plus round-trip plane ticket all for 30,000 yen – we had to stay at this designated hotel on the main island, disabling us from staying on the isolated island on the second day.
The first day of the trip was an ordinary sightseeing course with the car we rented. We sped from Naha to the northern shores, but we couldn’t close our eyes from the cobalt blue water on our way, so we stopped the car, took off our clothes and dived into the beautiful water.
May is season-wise right before the rainy season so there weren’t many people swimming then, but the air was hot enough for us to really have fun in the ocean so we had a blast as though the place was a private beach.
Suddenly my friend asked me, “Did you bring your fins?” and I was like, “No.” Then he dashed to the car and brought a pair saying excitedly, “You have to have them. It’ll be so much different.”
So I wore them right away and put on my snorkel and paddled into the water again.
Whoooom!
I can’t describe the excitement then. I was like, I am swimming!! Every kick gave me a strong push deeper into the water and it felt sooo good. I couldn’t believe I could swim without fins before.
When I came out from the water and trampled the sandy shore, my friend gave me a wide grin.
“Told you.”
Thanks buddy. I went to get my own immediately.
So now, I with a new toy am about to continue my exploration to an isolated island.
To my wonder my friend replied with a far gaze.
“If you want to know it, see it. I’ll take you.”
He once used to work in one of the isolated islands of Okinawa, and wanted to take me there. So comes my third trip to Okinawa.
I didn’t know what made his eyes twinkle so much with confidence and admiration, and I had no idea how his Okinawa was different from mine, but I was somehow attracted to his words and confidence.
I was born and raised in the countryside of Shikoku, an island which is also a chunk of four prefectures. My house was right by the sea so naturally I learned to play in the water since I was little and I loved doing so. When my friend said he would take me to Okinawa, it has been quite a while since my last visit and plus because it was about a year since I came out to this gigalopolis Tokyo and I was getting sick of this place, it might have been the right time to go back to some ocean.
But let me say just one thing.
The excitement that stirred inside myself then was fate. I was bound to set foot again on the soil of Okinawa.
And so the next month, May, we flew to Okinawa.
Because we took an unbelievably cheap tour ticket to Okinawa – 3 nights 4 days, with accommodation for one night, rent-a-car plus round-trip plane ticket all for 30,000 yen – we had to stay at this designated hotel on the main island, disabling us from staying on the isolated island on the second day.
The first day of the trip was an ordinary sightseeing course with the car we rented. We sped from Naha to the northern shores, but we couldn’t close our eyes from the cobalt blue water on our way, so we stopped the car, took off our clothes and dived into the beautiful water.
May is season-wise right before the rainy season so there weren’t many people swimming then, but the air was hot enough for us to really have fun in the ocean so we had a blast as though the place was a private beach.
Suddenly my friend asked me, “Did you bring your fins?” and I was like, “No.” Then he dashed to the car and brought a pair saying excitedly, “You have to have them. It’ll be so much different.”
So I wore them right away and put on my snorkel and paddled into the water again.
Whoooom!
I can’t describe the excitement then. I was like, I am swimming!! Every kick gave me a strong push deeper into the water and it felt sooo good. I couldn’t believe I could swim without fins before.
When I came out from the water and trampled the sandy shore, my friend gave me a wide grin.
“Told you.”
Thanks buddy. I went to get my own immediately.
So now, I with a new toy am about to continue my exploration to an isolated island.
…to be continued.
21 June, 2006
End of Rainy Season!!
Woohoo! I’d been telling you all the time about rain and soccer, but the rainy season is finally over!!!
…Only in Okinawa, though.
Tokyo is raining today as usual. This is so upsetting.
The news (or maybe the Met office?) announced that this tsuyu front that’s been bringing rain across the country passed through Okinawa quicker than the past years. They say that the temperature in Okinawa’s prefectural capital Naha City was as high as 30.2 degrees Celsius (let’s see, that’s about 86F?) at 10:30am on Tuesday June 20th.
Oh my beloved Okinawa…
Now that the rain is all gone, it’s the best time of year to spend time there.
In the past essay I told you that Okinawa’s suffering severe damage from rain, and even though the rainy season was shorter than the usual years the total rainfall in the end was twice as much of that than usual. At least it passed away faster… I wouldn’t even want to imagine how worse the situation could become if the rain lasted longer.
Maybe I should tell you my little story about my encounter with Okinawa since I tell you so often how much I love the place.
My first visit to Okinawa was rather late and it was when I was 20 years old. Despite my obsession with Okinawa now, the first visit was somewhat automatic and did not happen because I had a long desire to go there. It just happened to be the location for a summer camp of a university club that I belonged to (“camp” is just nominal, it was like any student group trip).
The places I visited then were tourist spots all on Okinawa main island like Naha and Nago, but the unique Ryukyu culture and atmosphere, the beauty if the water and marine resorts, and marine sports like canoeing and banana boats (kind of like tubing except that the tube is shaped like a banana) soon captured my heart.
The following year when I had the authority to decide where to have that year’s summer camp, I went for Okinawa right away.
Nonetheless, I did not know that my decision without deep consideration was a failure as a result.
Summer camps include quite a number of people and planning this out was not too different from choosing a package tour from the travel agency. I was extremely excited about the trip, but in the end it turned out to be pretty much the same as the previous year. And you know, when you’re about the age of 20 you’re constantly looking for new excitement, so that year I was already bored of Okinawa.
I did not have any chances or intentions to visit Okinawa for some time since then.
About two years ago, I was talking to my friend about my experiences in Okinawa and my impression just in a light conversation. His reaction was not something I had expected at all. With a serious face he told me that, “You don’t know the real Okinawa. You’re really losing out on this.”
“The real Okinawa?”
It was this same year that I got to know the true beauty of the islands.That’s all for today. Look forward to the following story :-)
…Only in Okinawa, though.
Tokyo is raining today as usual. This is so upsetting.
The news (or maybe the Met office?) announced that this tsuyu front that’s been bringing rain across the country passed through Okinawa quicker than the past years. They say that the temperature in Okinawa’s prefectural capital Naha City was as high as 30.2 degrees Celsius (let’s see, that’s about 86F?) at 10:30am on Tuesday June 20th.
Oh my beloved Okinawa…
Now that the rain is all gone, it’s the best time of year to spend time there.
In the past essay I told you that Okinawa’s suffering severe damage from rain, and even though the rainy season was shorter than the usual years the total rainfall in the end was twice as much of that than usual. At least it passed away faster… I wouldn’t even want to imagine how worse the situation could become if the rain lasted longer.
Maybe I should tell you my little story about my encounter with Okinawa since I tell you so often how much I love the place.
My first visit to Okinawa was rather late and it was when I was 20 years old. Despite my obsession with Okinawa now, the first visit was somewhat automatic and did not happen because I had a long desire to go there. It just happened to be the location for a summer camp of a university club that I belonged to (“camp” is just nominal, it was like any student group trip).
The places I visited then were tourist spots all on Okinawa main island like Naha and Nago, but the unique Ryukyu culture and atmosphere, the beauty if the water and marine resorts, and marine sports like canoeing and banana boats (kind of like tubing except that the tube is shaped like a banana) soon captured my heart.
The following year when I had the authority to decide where to have that year’s summer camp, I went for Okinawa right away.
Nonetheless, I did not know that my decision without deep consideration was a failure as a result.
Summer camps include quite a number of people and planning this out was not too different from choosing a package tour from the travel agency. I was extremely excited about the trip, but in the end it turned out to be pretty much the same as the previous year. And you know, when you’re about the age of 20 you’re constantly looking for new excitement, so that year I was already bored of Okinawa.
I did not have any chances or intentions to visit Okinawa for some time since then.
About two years ago, I was talking to my friend about my experiences in Okinawa and my impression just in a light conversation. His reaction was not something I had expected at all. With a serious face he told me that, “You don’t know the real Okinawa. You’re really losing out on this.”
“The real Okinawa?”
It was this same year that I got to know the true beauty of the islands.That’s all for today. Look forward to the following story :-)
20 June, 2006
Japan Dragging Down Japan
Like I’ve got nothing else to talk about, I’m going to talk about the World Cup again.
This is all because I want you to read the following, the fact that’s been bugging me ever since the Cup started.
I have written here I assume you know that Japan had lost to Australia on the first match and managed to end it a draw against Croatia. But I haven’t really told you that there is a common factor to both these matches, and that’s the hours of the match.
Among all the matches of Group F (that’s where Japan belongs) there are precisely two matches that start at 15:00 German time and those two are both matches of Japan. This would be 22:00 in Japan time.
Don’t you think this says something quite obviously, perhaps something like “it’s the easiest to get high audience rate at this time”?
I know you’re probably like, “So what? Isn’t that better cuz you don’t have to worry about the match while you work and you don’t have to stay up late at night?”
It is indeed good for us, but maybe not for the players. From what I see in the previous matches, 15:00 in Germany this time of year looks like it’s baking hot and Japanese players aren’t that tough to begin with. It’s definitely not the best time of day for them to run around and concentrate for 90 minutes.
That doesn’t mean though that I deny the lack of Japan’s decisiveness and the ability to control the match, but what made me aware of this “3 o’clock matter” was manager Zico’s interview after the match.
“Japan’s strength can’t come out under the scorching heat. Two matches under such condition was definitely not a preferable thing for Japan, but as long as the media wants it, it can’t be helped.”
He said this with a very stern expression.
With regard to World Cup Soccer, an advertising company called Dentsu dominates the broadcasting rights. If Dentsu forced the matches to be carried out at this time for the sake of audience rate… I understand that the other team (Australia and Croatia) had to play under the same condition and even that alone makes me feel unhappy, but Japan had to do this twice in a row…
I think that if my (and Zico’s) assumption is true, it’s not too much to say that all was for the benefits for the ad company and media’s money business and maybe Zico wanted to tell that too.
http://germany2006.nikkansports.com/japan/jp051210-0068.html (Japanese)
This article from last year clearly states that the hours for the two matches were intentionally changed for TV broadcasting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/japan/5044540.stm (English)
And this article from BBC clearly shows Zico’s upset.
It’s not always a wrong thing to adjust the time so that people back in their home countries can enjoy the excitement real time.
But if the team loses because of the time adjustment… that’s what you call tail wagging the dog, huh?
GAMBARE NIPPON
(GO FOR IT JAPAN)
After hearing Zico’s comments, I don’t think I can readily accept this phrase repeatedly appearing on TV.
P.S.
None of the Japanese media really make remarks of this topic and Zico’s interview translated into Japanese is “toned down” to something blurrier.
Hmm, I know I’m supposed to introduce good sides of Japan but this isn’t really impressive. Is this something that can happen in other countries too?
This is all because I want you to read the following, the fact that’s been bugging me ever since the Cup started.
I have written here I assume you know that Japan had lost to Australia on the first match and managed to end it a draw against Croatia. But I haven’t really told you that there is a common factor to both these matches, and that’s the hours of the match.
Among all the matches of Group F (that’s where Japan belongs) there are precisely two matches that start at 15:00 German time and those two are both matches of Japan. This would be 22:00 in Japan time.
Don’t you think this says something quite obviously, perhaps something like “it’s the easiest to get high audience rate at this time”?
I know you’re probably like, “So what? Isn’t that better cuz you don’t have to worry about the match while you work and you don’t have to stay up late at night?”
It is indeed good for us, but maybe not for the players. From what I see in the previous matches, 15:00 in Germany this time of year looks like it’s baking hot and Japanese players aren’t that tough to begin with. It’s definitely not the best time of day for them to run around and concentrate for 90 minutes.
That doesn’t mean though that I deny the lack of Japan’s decisiveness and the ability to control the match, but what made me aware of this “3 o’clock matter” was manager Zico’s interview after the match.
“Japan’s strength can’t come out under the scorching heat. Two matches under such condition was definitely not a preferable thing for Japan, but as long as the media wants it, it can’t be helped.”
He said this with a very stern expression.
With regard to World Cup Soccer, an advertising company called Dentsu dominates the broadcasting rights. If Dentsu forced the matches to be carried out at this time for the sake of audience rate… I understand that the other team (Australia and Croatia) had to play under the same condition and even that alone makes me feel unhappy, but Japan had to do this twice in a row…
I think that if my (and Zico’s) assumption is true, it’s not too much to say that all was for the benefits for the ad company and media’s money business and maybe Zico wanted to tell that too.
http://germany2006.nikkansports.com/japan/jp051210-0068.html (Japanese)
This article from last year clearly states that the hours for the two matches were intentionally changed for TV broadcasting.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/world_cup_2006/teams/japan/5044540.stm (English)
And this article from BBC clearly shows Zico’s upset.
It’s not always a wrong thing to adjust the time so that people back in their home countries can enjoy the excitement real time.
But if the team loses because of the time adjustment… that’s what you call tail wagging the dog, huh?
GAMBARE NIPPON
(GO FOR IT JAPAN)
After hearing Zico’s comments, I don’t think I can readily accept this phrase repeatedly appearing on TV.
P.S.
None of the Japanese media really make remarks of this topic and Zico’s interview translated into Japanese is “toned down” to something blurrier.
Hmm, I know I’m supposed to introduce good sides of Japan but this isn’t really impressive. Is this something that can happen in other countries too?
19 June, 2006
Ghost Town
It is so disappointing that the rain just doesn’t stop these days. It’s even more upsetting that my precious weekends have to be rain all the time.
Even the day before yesterday which was a gorgeously sunny and hot Saturday, showered in the evening so I – having been out since noon – had to buy another umbrella to add to my ridiculously big collection of plastic umbrellas at home :-(
Yesterday too was another drizzly Sunday continuing from the night before, but because I was out in a car with a friend I didn’t suffer too much from this rain.
Well of course, rain is not exactly what I want to write about today.
What I want to talk about is no doubt the World Cup from yesterday, furthermore not so much about the matches but about the Cup’s influence to people here.
Yesterday Japan was playing against Croatia. Both my friend and I wanted to watch the match so we got on our way back home well in advance of the match but the traffic was pretty bad and it was already past kick off when he dropped me off near my house.
I was desperate to watch the match but at the same time I had some errands I had to run so I first went to the bookstore. This place is usually packed with people reading books, comics and magazines all the time, but last night it was empty. The emptiness was so weird that it was like in a comic book, and the staff also looked pretty hollow staring into space.
So this is the World Cup, I thought.
Well the match last night had crucial significance cuz both Japan and Croatia couldn’t offer a loss in order to make it through the 1st stage. Of course I wanted to watch it, but after seeing such an unusual state of the bookstore, I was thinking maybe I want to take advantage (well, more like “enjoy”) of this unusualness of the neighborhood.
An empty town where people have suddenly disappeared… isn’t that exciting like in a movie!?
I was like, ok, the workers and I are the only beings left in this town (I know it’s ridiculous) and so then I went into the convenience store.
The convenience store greeted me with the live coverage of the JPN-CRO match on radio. This place usually has pop music but apparently switched to soccer in this emergency situation. Hoho, isn’t this fun. I could almost feel the anxiety and boredom of the staff in a store where the customers have disappeared.
Even though the other people are gone, I have to throw something into my stomach to survive (and to live for those who disappeared!) and so I get food for myself.
I felt that the staff was sort of kinder than usual, cuz he asked me “This one is good as it is, but would you like to have it heated?” where he would normally ask, “Would you like it heated?”!!! I kindly asked not to but maybe he missed having people around. Well, he did warm up my heart!
I leave the convenience store and as I thought, there was not a single person around on the streets.
Where have they gone? Have they disappeared? Why am I alive? It was a situation that made me feel that way.
Then that I was building up my imagination, I suddenly heard a scream.
“AAAAHHHHHH!!”
So there’s someone out! And what does that scream suppose to mean!?
……
Yes of course, soccer. Japan must have been in a huge pinch.
Okay, time to run home.
So I get back home and discovered that the scream was from when Japan accidentally gave Croatia a PK :P
The match ended with an exhausted 0-0 draw. Hope is not lost, but the chances are the slimmest cuz the next match is against world champion Brazil. Brazil had made its way out of the preliminary already beating Croatia and Australia, but would not give us an easy match anyway.
If there is a chance of winning (and I emphasize the “if”), it would be the members Brazil chooses for the next match. If the champion is considering of preserving the stronger players for the tournament, maybe they will bring forward the other players, but what are the chances?
All I can tell is that the day of the next match will have another ghost towning phenomenon, lol.
Personally, the 1-1 draw between France and S.Korea shocked me more than the draw of Japan and Croatia. Come on France! You have to make it to the tournament!
Even the day before yesterday which was a gorgeously sunny and hot Saturday, showered in the evening so I – having been out since noon – had to buy another umbrella to add to my ridiculously big collection of plastic umbrellas at home :-(
Yesterday too was another drizzly Sunday continuing from the night before, but because I was out in a car with a friend I didn’t suffer too much from this rain.
Well of course, rain is not exactly what I want to write about today.
What I want to talk about is no doubt the World Cup from yesterday, furthermore not so much about the matches but about the Cup’s influence to people here.
Yesterday Japan was playing against Croatia. Both my friend and I wanted to watch the match so we got on our way back home well in advance of the match but the traffic was pretty bad and it was already past kick off when he dropped me off near my house.
I was desperate to watch the match but at the same time I had some errands I had to run so I first went to the bookstore. This place is usually packed with people reading books, comics and magazines all the time, but last night it was empty. The emptiness was so weird that it was like in a comic book, and the staff also looked pretty hollow staring into space.
So this is the World Cup, I thought.
Well the match last night had crucial significance cuz both Japan and Croatia couldn’t offer a loss in order to make it through the 1st stage. Of course I wanted to watch it, but after seeing such an unusual state of the bookstore, I was thinking maybe I want to take advantage (well, more like “enjoy”) of this unusualness of the neighborhood.
An empty town where people have suddenly disappeared… isn’t that exciting like in a movie!?
I was like, ok, the workers and I are the only beings left in this town (I know it’s ridiculous) and so then I went into the convenience store.
The convenience store greeted me with the live coverage of the JPN-CRO match on radio. This place usually has pop music but apparently switched to soccer in this emergency situation. Hoho, isn’t this fun. I could almost feel the anxiety and boredom of the staff in a store where the customers have disappeared.
Even though the other people are gone, I have to throw something into my stomach to survive (and to live for those who disappeared!) and so I get food for myself.
I felt that the staff was sort of kinder than usual, cuz he asked me “This one is good as it is, but would you like to have it heated?” where he would normally ask, “Would you like it heated?”!!! I kindly asked not to but maybe he missed having people around. Well, he did warm up my heart!
I leave the convenience store and as I thought, there was not a single person around on the streets.
Where have they gone? Have they disappeared? Why am I alive? It was a situation that made me feel that way.
Then that I was building up my imagination, I suddenly heard a scream.
“AAAAHHHHHH!!”
So there’s someone out! And what does that scream suppose to mean!?
……
Yes of course, soccer. Japan must have been in a huge pinch.
Okay, time to run home.
So I get back home and discovered that the scream was from when Japan accidentally gave Croatia a PK :P
The match ended with an exhausted 0-0 draw. Hope is not lost, but the chances are the slimmest cuz the next match is against world champion Brazil. Brazil had made its way out of the preliminary already beating Croatia and Australia, but would not give us an easy match anyway.
If there is a chance of winning (and I emphasize the “if”), it would be the members Brazil chooses for the next match. If the champion is considering of preserving the stronger players for the tournament, maybe they will bring forward the other players, but what are the chances?
All I can tell is that the day of the next match will have another ghost towning phenomenon, lol.
Personally, the 1-1 draw between France and S.Korea shocked me more than the draw of Japan and Croatia. Come on France! You have to make it to the tournament!
16 June, 2006
The Rainy Season Dismal
I have written about the rainy season so many times in this blog and on Japan Mode. And again, I write here about it to tell you the misery Okinawa is experiencing because of the heavy rainfall right now.
Okinawa is a prefecture located southernmost of Japan and is consisted of a number of islands. See Japan Mode for information on Okinawa itself. Ever since my very first visit there I fell in love with it: it is the only and last place in Japan where amazing nature and unique atmosphere (it used to be a different country many many years ago) remains today. It is absolutely stunning.
Very sadly, my most favorite place on earth is suffering devastating landslides the heavy rain had caused.
I heard on the TV news that an apartment building built on top of a hill is about to collapse because of severe landslide, and that its parking lot has already sunk due to land sinking. In the same news they also said that the land is literally sliding 14mm (slightly shorter than 1/2 inch) in one day. That’s only 1.4cm, it’s like the width of your fingernail. But according to specialists in architecture, even 1cm could do serious harm to houses.
If you think about it, well yes, a relatively small piece of land is bearing enormous pressure of a building quite tall, so it’s not a huge surprise to know that 1cm can kill an apartment (although we call them ‘mansion’ here). But one centimeter…
The long rain during this season is not like typhoon with wind that has great power and speed. But by raining quietly little by little for many days it can become a huge threat to our daily lives. Power of nature, huh?
So the story about elevators yesterday, today’s rain, and many other unhappy news… where has Japan’s “safety myth” gone???
It’s been raining since last night here in Tokyo. It seems like it has temporarily stopped at the moment, but I hear this weekend is going to be rainy and next week, too. Can’t tell you how jealous I am to see Germany on TV so sunny and dry!
Okinawa is a prefecture located southernmost of Japan and is consisted of a number of islands. See Japan Mode for information on Okinawa itself. Ever since my very first visit there I fell in love with it: it is the only and last place in Japan where amazing nature and unique atmosphere (it used to be a different country many many years ago) remains today. It is absolutely stunning.
Very sadly, my most favorite place on earth is suffering devastating landslides the heavy rain had caused.
I heard on the TV news that an apartment building built on top of a hill is about to collapse because of severe landslide, and that its parking lot has already sunk due to land sinking. In the same news they also said that the land is literally sliding 14mm (slightly shorter than 1/2 inch) in one day. That’s only 1.4cm, it’s like the width of your fingernail. But according to specialists in architecture, even 1cm could do serious harm to houses.
If you think about it, well yes, a relatively small piece of land is bearing enormous pressure of a building quite tall, so it’s not a huge surprise to know that 1cm can kill an apartment (although we call them ‘mansion’ here). But one centimeter…
The long rain during this season is not like typhoon with wind that has great power and speed. But by raining quietly little by little for many days it can become a huge threat to our daily lives. Power of nature, huh?
So the story about elevators yesterday, today’s rain, and many other unhappy news… where has Japan’s “safety myth” gone???
It’s been raining since last night here in Tokyo. It seems like it has temporarily stopped at the moment, but I hear this weekend is going to be rainy and next week, too. Can’t tell you how jealous I am to see Germany on TV so sunny and dry!
15 June, 2006
What Makes Life Safe?
The first thing that comes on TV news these days is most definitely the big scandal of Schindler Elevator.
For those who don’t know about this news, let me briefly explain what the issue is all about. There was a fatal accident in one of the apartment buildings that have elevators made by Schindler. It happened when a high school boy tried to carry his bike on the elevator. He was fine until the doors opened at the floor he was getting off at, but things went wrong when the elevator didn’t stop going up - while the doors were still open. The boy, who was just about to set his foot out of the elevator, couldn’t get himself completely out when the elevator started to rise, got his chest caught and was crushed to death.
This happened on the 3rd of June. Now, the happening - and moreover Schindler’s post accident comment - has turned into a huge social problem.
The accident happened not because of the structure and design of the elevator, but is due to the maintenance’s error by oversight.
This comment given right after the accident, before making any disclosure at all, before conducting thorough investigation, seemed nothing but an excuse for the elevator maker, claiming they have no fault and all is to be blamed on those in charge of maintenance.
Of course, the maintenance side has its own say, not only against Schindler and this particular accident, but also against the elevator industry as a whole. For the elevator maker who wants to do maintenance on their own and make profit out of it, the maintenance operators who specialize only in maintenance are in a word business competitors. What happens is that the makers take a perfunctory attitude towards the maintenance side not providing the guideline or parts requested. When things come to the worst, they don’t even do the business transfer sufficiently.
Well, what do you say? No wonder there are accidents, huh?
Nearly TEN days after the fatal accident had occurred, the CEO of Schindler came out over to Japan and held a presentation (explanatory) meeting. SO slow. That should have been done nine days earlier.
The slow care and the buck-passing, the absence of the highest authority (and responsibility) at the meeting held for the residents of that particular apartment… all of these made the issue a vicious snowball and a controversy.
I never even gave a thought about checking the elevator producer and maintenance company when I use the elevators, but today when I took one I had a close look. There were the names of the elevator maker and maintenance company and they were different names.
I don’t know if the accident has something to do with it or not, but this morning I saw the maintenance people come over and check the elevators.
Anyhow, since elevators are something many of us use more than once a day, I do hope the makers and the maintenance companies sort out the troubles going on between them and pay more attention to what happens to the people who use them. I do believe where the responsibility lies is a significant point, but people engaged in business like this, I hope they look further ahead and each acknowledge the responsibility they bear to users.
For those who don’t know about this news, let me briefly explain what the issue is all about. There was a fatal accident in one of the apartment buildings that have elevators made by Schindler. It happened when a high school boy tried to carry his bike on the elevator. He was fine until the doors opened at the floor he was getting off at, but things went wrong when the elevator didn’t stop going up - while the doors were still open. The boy, who was just about to set his foot out of the elevator, couldn’t get himself completely out when the elevator started to rise, got his chest caught and was crushed to death.
This happened on the 3rd of June. Now, the happening - and moreover Schindler’s post accident comment - has turned into a huge social problem.
The accident happened not because of the structure and design of the elevator, but is due to the maintenance’s error by oversight.
This comment given right after the accident, before making any disclosure at all, before conducting thorough investigation, seemed nothing but an excuse for the elevator maker, claiming they have no fault and all is to be blamed on those in charge of maintenance.
Of course, the maintenance side has its own say, not only against Schindler and this particular accident, but also against the elevator industry as a whole. For the elevator maker who wants to do maintenance on their own and make profit out of it, the maintenance operators who specialize only in maintenance are in a word business competitors. What happens is that the makers take a perfunctory attitude towards the maintenance side not providing the guideline or parts requested. When things come to the worst, they don’t even do the business transfer sufficiently.
Well, what do you say? No wonder there are accidents, huh?
Nearly TEN days after the fatal accident had occurred, the CEO of Schindler came out over to Japan and held a presentation (explanatory) meeting. SO slow. That should have been done nine days earlier.
The slow care and the buck-passing, the absence of the highest authority (and responsibility) at the meeting held for the residents of that particular apartment… all of these made the issue a vicious snowball and a controversy.
I never even gave a thought about checking the elevator producer and maintenance company when I use the elevators, but today when I took one I had a close look. There were the names of the elevator maker and maintenance company and they were different names.
I don’t know if the accident has something to do with it or not, but this morning I saw the maintenance people come over and check the elevators.
Anyhow, since elevators are something many of us use more than once a day, I do hope the makers and the maintenance companies sort out the troubles going on between them and pay more attention to what happens to the people who use them. I do believe where the responsibility lies is a significant point, but people engaged in business like this, I hope they look further ahead and each acknowledge the responsibility they bear to users.
14 June, 2006
Another Wacky Building in Harajuku
This morning I went out to Aoyama for a different job from Japan Mode.
Although I hadn’t been there recently, the townscape seems to have not lost its unique atmosphere with the designed modern buildings of name brands especially Prada and Cartier.
I was with a couple of other colleagues and by the time we finished that job for the morning it was past noon so we decided to find a place to have lunch. And suddenly, we found this bizarre building.
This is it.
I’ve always thought that the Prada and other buildings in this neighborhood are weird, but this one was truly bizarre. I was just stunned to have found this.
Because only the brand new building was there and it seemed like no stores have filled in the empty spaces so it is actually kind of exciting to see what kinds of brands and stores and possibly restaurants and cafés are going to be there.
There are a bunch of Japanese brands geared toward young Japanese women around, so perhaps this building is going to be another fashion building. You never know.
Speaking about “you never know”, I did watch the FIFA World Cup match between France and Switzerland although it started from 1:00am Japan time. And I think some of you already know, the match ended with a draw :-( Attacks not strong enough, I guess. This may not be the right place to write about soccer soccer and soccer, but I sure hope my most favorite player Zinedine Zidan (who by the way announced his retirement right after the World Cup) will show us a lot of plays so splendid that some depict them as his dance with the soccer ball.
Although I hadn’t been there recently, the townscape seems to have not lost its unique atmosphere with the designed modern buildings of name brands especially Prada and Cartier.
I was with a couple of other colleagues and by the time we finished that job for the morning it was past noon so we decided to find a place to have lunch. And suddenly, we found this bizarre building.
This is it.
I’ve always thought that the Prada and other buildings in this neighborhood are weird, but this one was truly bizarre. I was just stunned to have found this.
Because only the brand new building was there and it seemed like no stores have filled in the empty spaces so it is actually kind of exciting to see what kinds of brands and stores and possibly restaurants and cafés are going to be there.
There are a bunch of Japanese brands geared toward young Japanese women around, so perhaps this building is going to be another fashion building. You never know.
Speaking about “you never know”, I did watch the FIFA World Cup match between France and Switzerland although it started from 1:00am Japan time. And I think some of you already know, the match ended with a draw :-( Attacks not strong enough, I guess. This may not be the right place to write about soccer soccer and soccer, but I sure hope my most favorite player Zinedine Zidan (who by the way announced his retirement right after the World Cup) will show us a lot of plays so splendid that some depict them as his dance with the soccer ball.
13 June, 2006
FIFA World Cup Germany 2006 - Japan 1st Match
Woohoo, the worldly festival FIFA World Cup 2006 has finally begun!
I don’t know how big of an event it is in other countries, but I’m sure for those living in cultures where soccer is a national obsession you can’t concentrate on studies and works for the next several weeks! Soccer is becoming bigger and bigger in Japan and I am one of those soccer freaks.
So Japan had its first match yesterday (June 12) against Australia and the result was… just devastating. We were winning for the first 84 minutes by 1-0 but wow, how could Australia just throw in THREE points in the last TEN minutes!? Well the only successful shot by Japan was no means magnificent… it appeared rather like a lucky accident to me which NAKAMURA’s supposedly a pass kind of rolled across the goal line. There weren’t many shots attempted in the first place and most of them lacked decisive power…not to mention the fact that Japan never really had enough strong decisiveness :P
What surprised me the most was the audience share of the match last night (it was on air 22:00-24:00). It was aired on NHK (kind of like a national broadcasting center) and they say that the average share was 49%, with the highest going above 62%! So I guess that means 2/3 of the Japanese people had their TVs switched on NHK at one point and more or less half of the population was watching the match on average.
And these rates only reflect those of terrestrial broadcasting which means that if you count satellite and cable, the percentage goes higher!
Surprising it is, although it’s not the highest. The average viewership for Japan - Russia in the last World Cup Korea Japan 4 years back went beyond 60%. I wonder what it’s going to be like for the following matches against Croatia and Brazil :-)
Of course I was one of those glued to the TV screen last night, but as a matter of fact, I’m more of a fan for France rather than Japan so I’m more excited about the match today between France and Switzerland!! I sure hope they won’t fall off the preliminaries like the last time…Go for it France!
And congrats to the Aussies for the first ever win in FIFA WC :-D
Oops, almost forgot that my essays are supposed to focus on Japan :P
I don’t know how big of an event it is in other countries, but I’m sure for those living in cultures where soccer is a national obsession you can’t concentrate on studies and works for the next several weeks! Soccer is becoming bigger and bigger in Japan and I am one of those soccer freaks.
So Japan had its first match yesterday (June 12) against Australia and the result was… just devastating. We were winning for the first 84 minutes by 1-0 but wow, how could Australia just throw in THREE points in the last TEN minutes!? Well the only successful shot by Japan was no means magnificent… it appeared rather like a lucky accident to me which NAKAMURA’s supposedly a pass kind of rolled across the goal line. There weren’t many shots attempted in the first place and most of them lacked decisive power…not to mention the fact that Japan never really had enough strong decisiveness :P
What surprised me the most was the audience share of the match last night (it was on air 22:00-24:00). It was aired on NHK (kind of like a national broadcasting center) and they say that the average share was 49%, with the highest going above 62%! So I guess that means 2/3 of the Japanese people had their TVs switched on NHK at one point and more or less half of the population was watching the match on average.
And these rates only reflect those of terrestrial broadcasting which means that if you count satellite and cable, the percentage goes higher!
Surprising it is, although it’s not the highest. The average viewership for Japan - Russia in the last World Cup Korea Japan 4 years back went beyond 60%. I wonder what it’s going to be like for the following matches against Croatia and Brazil :-)
Of course I was one of those glued to the TV screen last night, but as a matter of fact, I’m more of a fan for France rather than Japan so I’m more excited about the match today between France and Switzerland!! I sure hope they won’t fall off the preliminaries like the last time…Go for it France!
And congrats to the Aussies for the first ever win in FIFA WC :-D
Oops, almost forgot that my essays are supposed to focus on Japan :P
12 June, 2006
So, I’m back to the regular routine!
SAM, sorry about the “what day is today” thing. I had tough schedule and projects to finish up but then at the same time I wanted to put up something everyday, so. Well…enough of excuses. I’m really happy to know that there are people like you who tell me they like what I write :-) Thanx a ton! I’ll try to keep up writing good stuff, so pls check back.
Anyway, Tokyo region “officially” entered the rainy season (what we call TSUYU here) last Friday, and so we had a very rainy Sunday yesterday. I thought it wasn’t supposed to rain so much.
Rainy season for me is really more than enough nuisance. Really brings me down.
I used to live on the second floor (“second” in the Japanese sense which I think “first” in many European cultures? I’m not too sure) before and the rainy season wasn’t that big of an event at that time, but now I live on the first floor (ground floor) and for the first time I realized how much difference it can make. Since it’s solid ground underneath the flooring of my room, I can actually feel the moisture from beneath.
Besides I can feel the wetness in the air with my skin, I can see adverse influences in other aspects.
First of all, a lot of things get moldy. This was really shocked when I first realized this.
Come to think of it, I never really knew humidity before I came to Tokyo. Like I said just before, I lived on a breezy second floor before I came here, and I’m originally from Kagawa, the prefecture with the least rainfall in the country where the dam dries up literally every summer.
And what’s this!? I left a piece of bread out for a day and it’s got mold!
The worst part is that, like I wrote, the humidity comes from beneath, from the smallest gap of the house. It rises from the floor and sneaks in from beneath the doors and windows. Closing the windows on rainy days hardly makes life better this season. My room gets stuffy and moldy anyway. Ugh.
Well, for this humidity Japanese people from the ancient days have squeezed their brains and invented all kinds of things and ways to live through this season. For instance, the architectural materials used for many of the old Japanese houses are kinds like clay wall and plaster in which at humid times absorb moisture and release moisture at dry days. The roof tiles were placed so that there were gaps in between each tile to release moisture outside naturally.
Japanese houses are the crown of knowledge, technique and labor of Japan to live in Japan.
But sadly, the day I’ll have such house seems pretty far from now.
I guess I’ll have to live with the small and enclosed cement compartment…
Next time I move, I know I’m not moving into a room on the first floor.
The picture is of hydrangea, a flower you’ll see across Japan this time of year.
One of the very few pleasures of this season, huh?
Perhaps the next volume of origami on Japan Mode would be this flower, ajisai :-)
Anyway, Tokyo region “officially” entered the rainy season (what we call TSUYU here) last Friday, and so we had a very rainy Sunday yesterday. I thought it wasn’t supposed to rain so much.
Rainy season for me is really more than enough nuisance. Really brings me down.
I used to live on the second floor (“second” in the Japanese sense which I think “first” in many European cultures? I’m not too sure) before and the rainy season wasn’t that big of an event at that time, but now I live on the first floor (ground floor) and for the first time I realized how much difference it can make. Since it’s solid ground underneath the flooring of my room, I can actually feel the moisture from beneath.
Besides I can feel the wetness in the air with my skin, I can see adverse influences in other aspects.
First of all, a lot of things get moldy. This was really shocked when I first realized this.
Come to think of it, I never really knew humidity before I came to Tokyo. Like I said just before, I lived on a breezy second floor before I came here, and I’m originally from Kagawa, the prefecture with the least rainfall in the country where the dam dries up literally every summer.
And what’s this!? I left a piece of bread out for a day and it’s got mold!
The worst part is that, like I wrote, the humidity comes from beneath, from the smallest gap of the house. It rises from the floor and sneaks in from beneath the doors and windows. Closing the windows on rainy days hardly makes life better this season. My room gets stuffy and moldy anyway. Ugh.
Well, for this humidity Japanese people from the ancient days have squeezed their brains and invented all kinds of things and ways to live through this season. For instance, the architectural materials used for many of the old Japanese houses are kinds like clay wall and plaster in which at humid times absorb moisture and release moisture at dry days. The roof tiles were placed so that there were gaps in between each tile to release moisture outside naturally.
Japanese houses are the crown of knowledge, technique and labor of Japan to live in Japan.
But sadly, the day I’ll have such house seems pretty far from now.
I guess I’ll have to live with the small and enclosed cement compartment…
Next time I move, I know I’m not moving into a room on the first floor.
The picture is of hydrangea, a flower you’ll see across Japan this time of year.
One of the very few pleasures of this season, huh?
Perhaps the next volume of origami on Japan Mode would be this flower, ajisai :-)
09 June, 2006
08 June, 2006
What day is today? 6/8
June 8
School Security Day, Children's Safety Day:
because this day in 2001 happened the cruel incident of Osaka schoolchildren murder and wound.
School Security Day, Children's Safety Day:
because this day in 2001 happened the cruel incident of Osaka schoolchildren murder and wound.
07 June, 2006
What day is today? 6/7
June 7
Mothers Competition Anniversary: the day the competition was held in 1955 under the slogan of,"Mothers who bring life to this world wishes to raise and protect the life."
Mothers Competition Anniversary: the day the competition was held in 1955 under the slogan of,"Mothers who bring life to this world wishes to raise and protect the life."
06 June, 2006
What day is today? 6/6
June 6
Day of Ikebana, Day of Culture Lessons
It is said in Japan that people who start cultural lessons on June 6th of your 6th year of life will mark great proficiency
Day of Ikebana, Day of Culture Lessons
It is said in Japan that people who start cultural lessons on June 6th of your 6th year of life will mark great proficiency
05 June, 2006
What day is today? 6/5
June 5
Environment Day
Not a Japanese special day but a worldly one. The day Declaration of Human Environment was made and UNEP was established in Stockholm, 1972.
Environment Day
Not a Japanese special day but a worldly one. The day Declaration of Human Environment was made and UNEP was established in Stockholm, 1972.
02 June, 2006
What day is today? 6/2
June 2
Yokohama Port and Nagasaki Port Opening Anniversary
Both ports were opened in 1859 in accordance to the
conclusion of the US - Japan Treaty of Friendship and Commerce
Yokohama Port and Nagasaki Port Opening Anniversary
Both ports were opened in 1859 in accordance to the
conclusion of the US - Japan Treaty of Friendship and Commerce
01 June, 2006
What day is today? 6/1
June 1
Radio Wave Day
Radio Wave became available to the public this day in 1950.
Radio Wave Day
Radio Wave became available to the public this day in 1950.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)