What better time than September, after everyone’s summer
break, to take a break myself. Besides, it may be September but it's
still in the 80’s. I
went to two resort areas: the Izu
Peninsula south of Tokyo and the Okinawa island chain.
The Izu Peninsula
is about 3½ hours southwest of Tokyo by train, so is a favorite summer weekend
spot for Tokyoites who want to get away from the city’s oppressive heat and
humidity. I stayed in Shimoda at
the end of the train line on the east coast, in a hotel perched high above the
bay. My huge room was on the top
floor and looked directly across the lawn out to the sea. The first night I was there, I was
startled to see a rainbow at sunset.
There was no rain, just very humid air that refracted the sunlight. What a way to start a vacation!
Historically, Shimoda is famous as being one of
the places Admiral Mathew Perry stopped at when he came to open Japan to the
West. There’s a monument to him at
the end of a lovely little canal lined with small shops and galleries that
cater to tourists. There’s also at
least one “black ship”, a replica of the type of vessel Perry sailed. And for reasons I’m not quite sure of,
there’s also a US paddle wheeler, the Susquehanna, in the harbor that tourists
can board for a ride around the bay.
I took a day trip across the peninsula to Matsuzaki,
a little town known for its buildings’ namake-ko
tile walls. They are black tiles,
often laid diagonally, with thick white plaster binding them together. The town probably has more of these
tiled buildings than any place in Japan and they are quite striking. They are still lived in, too. In the engang (foyer) that ran the
length of one house, I saw a couple of people playing a form of horseshoes. Matsuzaki also has a lovely, long
beach, a brightly painted bridge with namake-ko plastering, and an unusual
clock tower that plays a tune – I forget what – on the hour.
I confess I wasn’t particularly keen on going to Okinawa because the American soldiers
have not always behaved well here. I went because several Japanese friends urged me to go, and
I’m very glad I did. The Okinawa
chain of islands is different from the rest of Japan. It has a tropical climate and is flat with sandy beaches,
volcanic rock, palm trees and sugar cane. It was very laid back and comfortable, making it a pleasure
to stroll the streets and take part in whatever was happening, whether a
restaurant sing-along or a J-pop group performing on the main street on a
Sunday afternoon. Not so much in
Okinawa, but in the other islands I visited, I was intrigued with the
buildings: some were new or
freshly painted, resort-like in appearance. Others, interesting in their own way, were somewhat
dilapidated, with faded paint.  |
| Ryuku kasuri (ikat) weave |
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| 3-stringed sanshin |
Although influenced by other Asian cultures, particularly
China, Okinawa developed its own Ryukyu society and culture, with its own language,
crafts, and pantheistic religion, neither Buddhist nor Shinto. It was annexed by Japan in the early 1600’s, but it was not
until the Meiji Restoration 250 years later that Japan actively assimilated the
islands, requiring that Japanese be taught in the schools. Okinawa was
virtually destroyed by WWII and then taken over by the Americans from
1945-72. When the islands were
returned to Japan, some Okinawans were unhappy because they preferred
independence. Today there is an
effort to remember and strengthen the traditional Ryukan culture, particularly
its arts, crafts, and music.
Naha, the main Okinawan city, was a fun, touristy place with people
in colorful dress reminiscent of Hawaiian shirts. I had a Benihana-style dinner at a steak house that was both
a good show and tasty: sliced
onion sautéed in butter and garlic; tofu done the same way; steak cut into bite
sized pieces and grilled; and chanpuru, the Okinawan mix of sautéed bitter
melon (it looks like a cucumber with very bumpy skin), onions and vegetables,
eggs, and Spam. Spam and Blue Seal
ice cream, two American imports, are quite popular here.
 |
| Bingata sample design |
I discovered a craft center that has workshops in various
Okinawan crafts. I decided to learn
to make bingata, a stencil-design painted and dyed fabric, since I had seen a
fascinating exhibit of bingata kimonos in Tokyo this spring. In bingata, rice paste resist is put on
fabric to create the outlines of a design, using a stencil. The design is painted in, often with
bright colors, steamed and then the resist washed away. Rice paste is put on again, this time
on top of the painted design, and the fabric background is dyed. It is a highly skilled art that
often has very detailed designs using many colors. My instructor was a lovely young man who spoke some
English. He had studied in France
for a year, decided he wasn’t learning any real skill, and so returned to
Okinawa to enroll in a school to learn bingata. He wants to help preserve the culture.
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| Little Shimoda beach |
Miyako, an island in the middle of the Okinawa chain, is
smaller and less touristy than Naha.
It has a number of beautiful beaches that unfortunately I couldn’t enjoy
because they were best reached by car. One night I had a fantastic fish dinner recommended by my
hotel: sashimi and grilled fish,
the fish plucked from a holding tank in the restaurant. Another night I ate at a restaurant
that had nightly shows of Okinawan music:
a woman sang and played the traditional three-string sanshin while her female partner played the
Okinawan drums and the guests sang and clapped along.
I took a ferry to Irabu, a little island nearby, and tromped
around for a few hours in the hot sun since I couldn’t figure out how to get to
a beach easily. There I saw sugar
cane farms, the main Okinawan crop (it’s too hot to grow rice). The growing season seems to be all
year, so in various fields I saw seedlings, young plants, and stalks over six
feet high ready to be cut.
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| Ikat "paw print" design |
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| KIMIE Ohama |
In both Miyako and Ishigaki, in the southernmost group
of islands, I went to see the weaving, suggested by my Japanese friend and
weaver, Shigeko. In addition to
bingata, Okinawa is known for its kasuri (ikat) weaving, and is working to
preserve and expand both. On both
Miyako and Ishigaki, there were weaving workshops that taught the craft and had
professional weavers who made and sold their art. In the Miyako workshop, everything – from spinning to dying
and weaving -- was done by hand, using wooden spinners, looms, etc. The designs are derived from
nature: paw print (like the
American nine-patch), birds, flowers, the sea and wind, etc. It was quite interesting. In Ishigaki I met a lovely woman, KIMIE
Ohama, at a weaving workshop and gallery.
Her mother wove, and before that her father’s mother, grandmother, etc.
going back several generations. It
was very special to realize that Okinawa kasuri weaving was transferred from
generation to generation just as in ceramics.
The other reason I went to Ishigaki was to go to Hateruma,
Japan’s southernmost inhabited island.
I wanted to see it as a counterpoint to Wakkanai, the northernmost
inhabited point of Japan.
Unfortunately, a typhoon intervened; when I inquired about ferry service
the night I arrived, the hotel receptionist laughed. So this picture of an Ishigaki street, taken in the wind
before I left the next day, will have to do.
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