Ichiro san has a 3 day exhibition in a very posh space on Yagagi Jima. https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yagaji+Island/@26.6623327,127.9936413,10380m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m6!3m5!1s0x34e457a3c6bc8387:0x16929e23f2e116a3!8m2!3d26.6705839!4d128.015522!16s%2Fg%2F121vrgr_?entry=ttu

Here is the invitation.

I go on the last day, 11 January. On arrival, I find Ichiro san packing the last of the artworks into a big van! Apparently the exhibition closed at12:00. It is 1:00. Dang!

No worries as it is beautiful drive and I see some nice birds.

Disturbing noise from the back of the car. I pull over and find a completely flat rear tyre. No worries. Take it off and put on the spare. I open the back and lift the cover. No spare! I weigh various options and decide to drive home on the punctured tyre. Route 58, one of Okinawa’s main roads. I am driving at 20 kph. No one hoots nor flashes nor shouts as they go by. Some people switch on their emergency flashers in recognition of my difficulty. It is a pretty stressful journey, especially changing lanes, and by the time I get home the tyre is destroyed.

I arrange to meet Wataru san, the guy who rents me the car, at 9:00 the next morning.

It is only a 20 min walk to Wataru san’s workshop but in the heat of Summer it is an ordeal. This time it was a very pleasant early morning stroll. He has a spare and we drive back to the apartment. He changes the tyre.

He also points out that all Japanese cars have a small air compressor as standard equipment. I could have repeatedly re-inflated the tire as I drove back. He also shows me an emergency rescue number amongst the car documents. They would have come and fixed everything. I rather wish he had shown me these things when I had picked the car up. I think he thought that this was general knowledge. I know now.