In Okinawa there correct formal dress in the Summer months is not the ubiquitous shirt and tie, I am told, but the Kariyushi shirt. These a highly patterned affairs with lots of flowers and things. I bought my first one to wear on a visit by the President of the University of the Ryukyus. It is beautifully woven from thread made from cotton and er leaves. This is how the lady I bought it from explained it.

Early morning Kariyushi

I was the only person at the meeting wearing one. The rest had suits and ties.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kariyushi_shirt

This shirt talk reminds me of Ken Dodd

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CejKxTc3sc4

WHERE’S ME SHIRT ? Ken Dodd – 1965

Well it all began in the year of one When Adam was the first man And a girl called Eve, so we believe Was made to be his woman She led him up the Garden of Eden, by a tree Then she offered him her apple And he cried out suddenly (eee-eeee-eeeee)

SPOKEN (Liverpool Accent): Where’s me shirt? Where’s me shirt? I feel a proper twazzer without me shirt I’ve got me tickling-tackle and me nicky-nocky-noo But I must confess I feel undressed Like this, in front of you

SPOKEN (Liverpool Accent): Where’s me shirt? I can’t find me shirt anywhere. It’s twenty-five past five in the Garden of Eden and I can’t find me shirt. Fancy leaving me in a garden with no shirt on, like this. Look at all these creepy-crawly things here. Ooh, look, there’s a serpent. Go ‘way. Go ‘way you nasty old serpent. Go on, shoo! Go on, shoo!

Since the days of old, we’ve all been told Of men like Bonaperte His great retreat and his first defeat Was the thing that broke his heart He stuck just outside Moscow and then made history He stuck his hand inside his coat And cried out bitterly (eee-eeee-eeeee)

SPOKEN (Liverpool Accent): Where’s me shirt? Where’s me shirt? I can’t go on like zis, wizout my shirt I’ve had my tickle-tonic on my nicky-nocky-nee But I just can’t go through all this snow Without a shirt on me

SPOKEN (Liverpool Accent): Where’s me shirt? Oh, sacre blue. Sacre flippin’ blue, where’s me shirt? By Jove, t’ain’t ‘alf frosty. Ooh, ooh, this tent isn’t ‘alf drafty. I don’t know where the draft’s comin’ from, but I know where it’s goin’ to.

Back in eighty-one, in the mid-day sun In Tombstone, one September Wyatt Earp was due to go into A gunfight he’d remember The Clanton’s and McLourys started firin’ suddenly As the gunsmoke cleared and the twonsfolk cheered Wyatt Earp said quietly (eee-eeee-eeeee)

SPOKEN (Liverpool Accent): Where’s me shirt? Where’s me shirt?