free mini eisa performance in front of ticket-takers at ryukyu mura

today is our last day to see anything! too quickly this trip is almost over. the alarm was set for 6am but i got up and showered at 6:30am. we bought food at the supermarket then took the bus to ryukyu mura around 8:20am. ryukyu mura is a folk village attraction where you can see how okinawans lived roughly 200 years ago. think of it as the okinawan williamsburg, (that place where you can experience life in colonial america). this is another one of those places i went to as a kid living in okinawa that wasn't really exciting then but now it's been so long and we have guests so i wanted to go.i am happy to report that they have improved the facilities! at the front portion, where you do not yet have to pay for admission, is a gift shop, cafe, place where you can have your photo taken in traditional dress, and also a performance stage. if you're really hurting on funds, you could come to this section only to experience a bit of okinawa for free.

rope used in world's largest tug-o-war

we watched the free mini eisa performance and the sisters and i took a photo with the performers before we went into the paid admission area, though entrance was free with our festival badges. you walk around the village in a counter-clockwise direction, viewing old style homes, each of which have a different craft on display. one of them may be about textiles and clothing, another may be about music where you watch a performance or at another house you can try to play sanshin (shamisen), and so forth. the very first thing you encounter before the houses though is a giant rope on display. it has a sign that it is the rope used in the famous annual tug of war in naha, which is the largest in the world. i don't know if it is the rope used every year or if it was used before but not anymore. we just missed this annual festival actually. it took place the day we arrived in okinawa. my cousin said the traffic had just started to die down from the festival when he left to pick us up.

my mom sitting in one of the houses

the old style houses are made of wood with a tiled roof and can be pretty much fully open. when the sliding doors are fully open, you can see right into the house and to prevent neighbors eyes from wandering over all the time, there is a stone wall built around the house, as well as an additional smaller wall inbetween the home and entrance gate. this prevents anyone walking by from directly being able to see inside. you would have to enter the gate and go around the wall to see inside the home. the house is built about 1 foot or less above the ground. you can sit down right at the edge so that neighbors visiting never actually enter a home and see the private rooms. the kitchen adjoins the house but is slightly closed off to the rest of the house because of all the smoke that is generated by cooking with wood fires. the kitchen may have various stoneware for making tofu and other food. my mother became very nostalgic in the kitchen and talked about how this is the kind of house she grew up in.

okinawan traditional dance

the village now has a parade with dancing and a short martial arts performance. i don't think they did this when i was a kid. this is a great way to sample okinawan culture as the parade combines various festivals held throughout the year. you would never normally see all this in one day in one place. it starts with a mock royal procession with a couple playing the king and queen of the ryukyu kingdom. they sit on their throne and have attendants who shade them. to the side are a couple of musicians/singers who provide the musical accompaniment. their brochure lists that the performances in the parade vary throughout the season. we saw: usudeku dance (priestesses drumming), miruku parade (bodhisattva of happiness), lion dance, juri parade (okinawan geisha riding on wooden horses, held in january), mamidoma dance (folk harvest), eisa dance (held during lunar obon festivals in august), a solo martial arts performance with a long stick (sorry that i don't know the proper name of such things), and the mandatory traditional dance of females wearing the big hanagasa hat and yellow clothing (pictured). towards the end there is a kachiashi, which is when everyone is supposed to get up and dance along and the workers there will come to you and make you get up and dance. hence, i got up and danced too. during the kachiashi, a little old lady was dancing with a large alcohol bottle balanced on her head (this performance was also done in one of the houses). my mom decided to join along and put her juice cup on her head and danced too.

a little blurry but that's what a habu looks like

after the parade was over, we walked over to the see the habu show. times have changed and animal rights are now part of japanese society so the live fighting between a habu snake (highly poisonous pit viper that lives on the okinawan islands and taiwan) and mongoose is no longer allowed. now you watch a computer animated video, in 3-D no less! i saw there was a fee to view the video but i didn't see anyone pay and they let us in for free. i'm not sure if it's because we were wearing our badges or what. besides watching the video, a man comes out and there is a glass tank with a habu inside it. he talks about habu and the medicinal benefits. they explain how the snake senses heat. the habu was lethargic. they put in a balloon filled with hot water and the habu jumped towards it and when it popped the audience gasped. later they bring out a mongoose so you can see what that looks like too. it used to be that at these shows they would bring out a big snake so you could take your picture with it. at this show they did parade a snake by everyone so that you could feel it's body. at the end of the show, you return your 3-D glasses and they hand you a small envelope filled with habu powder and a small glass of water. only my mom took the powder and the drank it. it is supposed to help something but i can't remember what. they also sell various habu products and they convinced by mom to buy habu oil because it helps many ailments, including dry skin.

shisa with orion beer (brewed in okinawa)

after the show, we walked to the last section of the village which features a pottery kiln, various pottery goods for sale, and the traditional processing of sugarcane using water buffalo power. (the water buffalo is strapped to the grinder and walks around in a circle. just think of the film "conan the barbarian" or something like that where they walk around powering old tools like that.) there was also someone selling various food items but i don't remember what they were. of course they were selling brown sugar because that was the process on display but i don't remember the other foods. i bought a whistle/flute thing (made of wood or bamboo) because it sounded cool. i'll have to practice though to be able to produce the sounds like the employee was doing. twiddle thumbs and her sister bought some goods made of wood too.

"ryukyu mura" in kanji plus the date

after we were done with the paid area of the village, we returned to the free section and did some shopping as this was our last chance to get souvenirs. i bought a couple t-shirts for myself and another cellphone strap, this time of a kijimuna (mythical okinawan creature that is also the mascot of ryukyu mura). they were on sale if you bought two so i got one for twiddle thumbs as well. my mom bought some food at the cafe and the rest of us ate the food we bought at the supermarket in the morning. we watched a free performance on stage that included some of what we had already seen such as eisa and a martials arts demonstration. then there was another kachiashi--this time everyone in our party danced. after that, my mom and i took a photo with the performers. twiddle thumbs's sister had contemplated paying to take a photo in traditional dress and finally decided to do it. there are two different prices, one where you take a picture with your own camera and a higher price if they take the photo and print it for you. you are allowed two poses. i took the photo of twiddle thumbs's sister and then told the worker that they are sisters. they then insisted that twiddle thumbs get in the photo too, but in her own clothes.

after ryukyu mura, we rode the bus to go back to navel kadena because the sisters wanted to buy some presents at kanehide. i picked up a generic inkan (seal) of my okinawan's family name. i have one already but it's packed up in a box in storage so who knows when the next time i see it will be. plus, these generic ones are cheap! i say generic because you can buy them easily at bookshops and the like but those are not for official use. the inkan you use for official business must be registered with the government. you see, in japan they do not sign documents, they stamp them with ink.

we then had to go to kadena town hall for a local gathering party that the town's government was throwing for all of those of kadena origin who have come to okinawa for the uchinanchu taikai. we arrived and had to put on badges that designated we were guests visiting as opposed to the other badges that designated who were locals. in the lobby, we saw that my aunt from georgia was already there. soon after my mom and her must've run into old friends because various people were going up to them and talking. (ties with school friends run strong. my mom still goes out drinking with her high school classmates when she returns for visits.)

shrine for noguni soukan

before the party, first the town government took us on a tour of town highlights with explanations in both japanese and english. we went to the grave of noguni soukan, the man who introduced the sweet potato to okinawa 400 years ago and saved the people from starvation. the grave is actually within american military land at the kadena marina. civilians are not to go visit the grave unless they are a part of a tour like the one we were taking. then we went to the shrine erected for mr. sweet potato which is behind the elementary school close to my grandmother's house. the shrine and surrounding park was recently built last year and the area looks so different. we would go to the elementary school's yard when i was a kid to light fireworks at night. also behind the school sides the park/shrine are many tombs, including the one for our family. finally, we went to this place called kadena no eki to learn about the problems caused by living so close to a military base and view kadena air force base. (quickest summary i'll ever give on the topic: 83% of kadena is occupied by the base so it is a major concern.) i had been here before 2 years ago, but not inside the building proper, just across the street to view the base. tourists from mainland japan actually come here by the bus loads to see a military base! it is fascinating to them because they don't have many there. hey, instead of gawking, why don't you share the burden and let's spread out the american military bases throughout japan a bit more evenly? *steps off soapbox*

can you take it?

after that, the bus dropped us off at the kouminkan (public hall) where the party was being held. there were tables and chairs setup in the hall in front of a stage. on each table were food and drinks. a couple of speeches were given on stage and then there were performances (music, dance, eisa, martial arts). during the martial arts demonstration, it was a teacher and his students. during one of the demonstrations, the teacher was beating the crap out of his student. you could hear the echo of the punches and kicks throughout the hall. you could see the young man's flesh turn red. there was no holding back, the guy was really getting beat. the audience was shocked.

as is typical of japanese gatherings, no one touched the food for a long time so by the time you actually eat it, it is beyond cold. that's fine for some foods but it sucked as a kid and there was a box of cold kentucky fried chicken (what they always get for the gaijin type). when they finally gave the word that it was OK to eat and so we tried to find something suitable for vegans--we ate all the vegetables and the others ate all the meat/fish. at our table were also sitting my mom's cousin and husband whose house we visited the other night because the brasilian brother-in-law is staying with them. another cousin's husband was also sitting at the table but not the cousin herself. i can't actually remember these people. these are the maternal relatives and i used to see the paternal relatives much more often but now there's some family feud going on and we're only talking with the maternal side of the family--sucks!

at one point, they invited everyone who came from abroad to go onstage. (actually, they said those born in kadena to go on stage and since i wasn't born there, i didn't want to go on stage at first.) twiddle thumbs and twiddle thumbs's sister absolutely refused to do this. they were the only ones who stayed in their seats. they asked those of us on stage to introduce ourselves. everyone did in japanese except for this one guy who didn't know japanese so he spoke in english. (oh and i think someone's white husband but that's understandable.) my mom decided to be clever and did her best to give her entire introduction in the local dialect and it made people laugh. i guess she said something funny and they were laughing with her. i was really nervous and i think i fucked something up but i basically just said that i was here with my mom and aunt. then as we exited the stage, they gave each of us a gift and we shook hands with the mayor of kadena. i told twiddle thumbs that she missed out on a gift for being shy and not going up. but later someone came out and gave the gifts to the sisters so they didn't miss out. (inside was a nice lacquer plate with an image of shuri castle plus also a sweet potato cellphone strap which looks like it was leftover from the 400 year anniversary festival.) and at the end, of course there was a kachiashi. everyone had to go up on stage for a few seconds of dancing. then we went home to shower and pack. trip over.

today's expenses in yen:
¥427 breakfast
¥6270 souvenirs (whistle/flute thing, shirts, phone straps)
¥263 inkan
plus a couple drinks from vending machines throughout the day to hydrate