The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond

Probably the worst thing that happened during my ongoing idyll in Okinawa, was the fire that destroyed Shuri Jo. https://thequietripple.com/2019/11/01/shuri-jo/

The palace is now being rebuilt and one fund raising project is placing containers outside supermarkets into which you can drop unwanted clothes. These clothes are magically transformed into money.

WordPress will not let me add captions at the moment, which is a shame as I enjoyed it.

Anyway, here is the box and you can see my bag of very high quality items. I throw away my two remaining suits and several dress shirts.I have not worn a suit for 3 years. I also donate a very high quality Donegal Tweed jacket, which I have not worn for 10 years.

Can you spot the Donegal Tweed? It pleases me that my jacket is contributing to the restoration of Shuri Jo.

I break my Raybans. In fact I broke them during the Nagano adventure but glued them together. It was never going to be a long lasting solution.

I go to a glasses shop thing that lives in the corridor of one of the local supermarkets.

Naturally there is totally, smiling, let’s have fun, assistant. We have no common language other than Google translate. I choose my glasses and explain that I am shortsighted and will need prescription lenses. She tests my eyes but does not think her machine is precise enough.

This is the machine.

She points out that due to my age, my eyesight, like everything else, is changing. She recommends a proper examination by an ophthalmologist. I am not against this as I had problems with my eyes a couple of years ago in Mexico. https://thequietripple.com/2019/01/20/the-curse/

Using Google Maps, she shows me the whereabouts of the nearest ophthalmologist. Thank you Google, none of this would have been possible without you.

I make a few points to Larry Page back in the day.

The Eye Doctor people take me immediately. I go through a rigorous sequence of tests, again bolstered by Google. I then have a chat with a doctor who says my eyes are old but have no problems. I get a new prescription. Japan’s health service pays.

I scoot back to the supermarket corridor and meet my new friend. I give her the prescription and ask if I can also get a new pair of clear lens glasses for driving on the rare occasion that the sun is not hammering down.

They are ready in 20 minutes. She says she will contact me when the sunglasses are ready.

She does not ask for my phone number. Instead we rub our phones together to establish a LINE connection. LINE is the way to communicate in Japan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Line_(software)

I love it! It does phone calls, video chats; you can send photos, videos and a whole lot of other stuff. What I really like is that you can add all sorts of playful animations and images. It is free.

Rainy season hypothesis was proved as fact yesterday when it rained like crazy.

Incredible rain!

Kiyuna san and I go down to the boat this morning. We have no worries as my cover is unassailable. We talk starter motor stuff and vaccinations. He will never be vaccinated. In fact most of the people I, er, hang out with refuse vaccination. So strange. I think it is deeply linked to the ongoing respect for non chemical medicine in Japan.

I have a Zoom meeting with my family in the UK. I tell my new glasses story and they oint out that that would be impossible in the UK as opticians have been closed for a year. You can only go to the dentist for emergencies. I realize that many people have had it much tougher than we Okinawans.

The boat post dreadful rain.

I cook my Octopus.

Something out of an alien movie.

Curly wurly.

Cook, cook, cook, that octopus.

I intend to tempura some and serve it on cold, cold soba, to which I have become addicted since the trip to Nagano. The rest, I will turn into Coctel.

I love Octopus.

Okinawa is in a state of emergency until 21 June. There are more cases now than ever before. Stay at home, restricted social gatherings, no visits to other islands, restaurants close at 8:00 etc. Life is very slow.

I woke up this morning feeling hot and sweaty. I look towards the AC device; it is silent. I fiddle with the controller but there is no reaction. I go to the toilet. The lights do not work. There is no electricity! Interestingly, my immediate assumption is that I have not paid the electricity bill and I have been cut off. Where does this come from? What a drag, how do I get my electricity turned on again. A major problem when you do not know the system nor speak the language.

I have, of course, jumped to the wrong conclusion. I remember the electricity panel by the front door. Inside there is a big switch marked, in English, ON and OFF. It is in the OFF position. I flick the switch and the apartment jumps into life. The fridge hums, the AC blows, the computer dings. Phew! I wonder about my immediate assumption that it was somehow my fault. Probably too much church at a young age.

I go to the Triangle Pond to see birds. This place is legendary, usually filled to bursting with birds. https://thequietripple.com/2020/10/09/spoonful/

Today nothing.

Does Covid impact waders, herons and spoonbills?

Much disappointed, I head to the Tomari Fish Market. I want to buy a fat octopus. They are not easy to come by. I lurch out of the car and realize that I do not have my wallet. I thought I had left it on the passenger seat.

I have no money! I must have left home without my wallet. This is very consistent with my old age life.

I wander around the fish market anyway.

Oh no! There are wonderful fresh Octupi to buy. I have no money.

Deeply saddened, I slouch back to the car.

I am uneasy, as I thought I had brought my wallet. Such is later life. I ferret around the car seats and, sure enough, find my wallet on the floor.

I sprint back to the Fish Market and buy this.

Boating has been blocked by busted starter motor. Kiyuna san is onto it. Not really a problem as, as previously mentioned, it is the rainy season. Very wet, cover on the boat, strong winds.

I got some great gifts for my birthday!

A bouquet of flowers arrived in the midst of my post tooth extraction gloom. It lifted me up!

After the trip to Nagano, I have understood my inadequacy in all things sake. What do I need? A sake book!

Kikuta Ichiro san is a great artist. He painted my byobu. I am honored that he regards me as a friend. https://thequietripple.com/2020/09/20/byobu/

He gave me a painting of an Iju blossom. You will be tired of me talking about Iju, but it is the most beautiful of flowering trees. https://thequietripple.com/2016/05/11/iju/

The white pigment is made from crushed shells. The gold is real gold flakes.

Such good times!

I have had my first jab!

I show up at the huge Ginowan municipal sports hall at the appointed time. No one speaks English but why should they? The organizers realize that I am not going to be able to negotiate the various stages and very kindly assign a young man to me who acts as my sheepdog.

He leads me to the balcony seats overlooking the playing area. Here we, I am in a batch along with some 30 other oldies, wait for a bit. I am then shepherded downstairs to a second waiting area.

We wait a bit and are then given a number. Mine was 223. We are taken to a third area where we wait for our number to be called. I am afraid to say that I still cannot recognize longish numbers in Japanese, unless they a spoken very slowly. No worries, as my young guide leads me off when my number is up.

I now sit on the other side of a table from a charming lady who interrogates me in Japanese. Again no worries, as the good shepherd produces an iPad that contains a young man in Tokyo who is an English interpreter! He interprets the lady’s questions and then does likewise with my answers. We have the best fun. Having minutely examined my current state of health and whether or not the Olympics should go ahead I am taken to the final area. Eventually my number is called and I am led into one of the vaccination booths. The smiling doctor asks me some more questions by way of the man in the iPad and then jabs me. It is very fast.

We are then asked to hang around a bit more and are given an exact time when we can leave. I leave at 15:27. We are also given an appointment for the second jab.

The whole process was very smooth and well organised. No stampedes for vaccine.

Thank you Ginowan, thank you my young shepherd, thank you man in the iPad.

The night before, I oil the gears and chain on my bike. I am very excited as I am going to Ie Jima lily park where hundreds of thousands of lilies bloom in early May.

https://www.google.com/maps/place/Ie+Island/@26.7217993,127.75505,14287m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x34e4e52234ae3037:0x2f5216e8c1d1df09!8m2!3d26.7201277!4d127.7928395

It is that time now. I will take the ferry from Motobu Port and then cycle to the lily park. I am looking forward to it immensely.

I am up early, load the bike in tiny but so spacious car and drive for 2 hours up the West coast of Okinawa to Motobu Port. With little time to spare I rush into the Ticket Office to see this.

The lady at the Ticket Office is happy to sell me a ticket to go over the sea to IeJima but when I mention lilies she is firm. “No lilies.” I imagine they have closed the road to the park.

What a disappointment. Incidentally Ie means no in Japanese. I feel it would be irresponsible just to go over to the island in these Covid days and so repack the bike and head home.

I drive through the forest mountains to the East coast. What a great drive. The flowering tree Iju is at its best.https://thequietripple.com/2016/05/11/iju/

There are blooms all over the place.

I do some light birdwatching and see a rare Common Snipe.

Still disappointed that I could not see the lilies, next year?

On a different tack, Arisa san tells me that a friend has some English books that she would like to give away. Do I want them? Probably not, as I am trying very hard not to accumulate stuff. What sort of books are they? She sends me this.

I go to pick them up and the delightful lady tells me that she sailed from St Petersburg to Japan on a 35 ft boat. You never know.

I had my 69th birthday on Sunday and on Tuesday morning had another tooth ripped from my rotting jaw. Tooth extraction is my leading hobby these days!

When I come home from work, I mean messing around with the boat and going to the shops, I throw all my loose change into a historic stainless steel bowl. https://thequietripple.com/2018/07/20/burt/

After a couple of months the change builds up.

In most countries a whole lot of change does not amount to much. In the U.S. the most valuable coin is a quarter – 25cents. In Europe I think it is a 1 Euro coin and in the UK, the 1 pound coin.

There are two exceptions that I know of. Switzerland and Japan. Switzerland has La Thune, a 5 Swiss Franc coin.

Japan has the 500 yen coin.

You do not need many of these coins to build up a considerable sum.

I go to my much loved Bank of Okinawa to deposit all these coins into my account. They have the best machine into which you shovel all the coins. After many flashing lights and groans, the machine displays a number. This is the value of your coins.

My number is 86,018 yen. A crazy sum.

I also receive a letter from the Pension Office. It is festooned with cartoons that illustrate the Pensions Office’s attitude towards their clients. Happiness and joy.

Through Google Translate, which has completely altered my Japanese experience, I understand that the Pension Office want to give me money but there is an intimidating form to fill in that asks for account numbers and bank codes.

I show this form to one of the ladies helping me with my stash of coins, rather than saying ” Hey this is not in my job description,” she brings in another two ladies who smilingly help me fill in all the necessary paperwork. It turns out that one of them used to work in in the Onna branch where I used to do banking stuff. She remembers me. It is like a sister finding a long lost brother. There are cries of joy and several other people cluster around. We remember the wonderful Higa san, who has since, got married and moved to Yokohama. We have a party. Such a lot of good feelings. What is more it turns out that the Pensions Office will send me 24,000 yen as some kind of rebate. That means I have gained 110,018yen today. Not bad.

I am also in correspondence with a European Bank, https://www.amfie.org/ that treats me with complete disdain and suspicion.

They have so much to learn.

As I have mentioned before, I used to be ashamed of my feet. In European years and to a lesser extent in U.S. years, I had vile feet. They were enclosed all days in tight shoes and hot socks that fomented all kinds of decay, rot and stench. In Okinawa I wear sandals outside and go barefooted inside. I gambol in warm seawater and walk through sand that is apparently the product of grinding in the stomachs of Parrot Fish. Thank you Parrot Fish, your waste has ground away all decay from my feet.

All this walking around barefooted does have a downside. Hard skin builds up on the heels, soles and other strategic areas. I go to the beauty parlor that is just down the road. I have never been to a beauty parlor before.

This is great fun and my feet are very pretty. Support your local beauty parlor.

I used to have a compass fitted into the lowest slat of the cabin entrance.

The compass suddenly stopped working and I could not find a replacement. decided to replace it with a brass plate.

I decide to replace the line that pulls in the jib. I think the one I have is probably 30 years old and I do not like the idea of it snapping far out at sea. I do a really bad job

To start with I can’t work out which direction the cord should be wound around the drum.

I finally find the solution but realize that my line, 6 meters, is too short. I go to the rope shop the next day and buy 8 meters of line. I wind it on with great care but it it is still too short. Back to the shop to get 10 meters of line. This time it works. I am such a hopeless rigger.

Does anyone need high quality line?

Nagano – Best Place in the World! was a much longer entry than the version that was posted last night. I think there might be a maximum length for WordPress posts. Anyway the piece was cut off in mid paragraph and I lost another 2 chapters.

Here we go again. I was extolling Japanese women’s joyful eating. They are excellent people to take out for a meal.

The second hotel also gives us dinner and breakfast. Not up to the very high standard of the first place but wonderful nonetheless.

Our last meal together was back in Ueda the evening before the return to Okinawa. Tomomi san and Miyoko san take me to a Yakitori restaurant. I am a bit underwhelmed, as my vision of Yakitori is little bits of chicken on a skewer covered with sticky brown sauce. Not in Nagano!

I think that about covers food, oh no, we had a fabulous sushi lunch at the airport on the way home.

Chapter 4: Onsen

One of the principla goals of the trip was to initiate me into the mysteries of the onsen. Onsen are big hot water baths that you sit in and think about stuff. Real onsen are fed by hot water springs that gush out of the earth all over Japan, but particularly in Nagano. Frequently onsen are combined with a hotel so you can eat like lords, sleep very well and onsen like crazy. Okinawa has few if any real onsen

We go to Yudanaka Onsen. It is in a town that seems to have an onsen for each inhabitant. Steam shoots out the earth wherever you look. I have no onsen experience due to Scottish prudery – naked in front of unknown men is not a Scottish pastime. The first place had an onsen but not a real one. I think the water was heated. I was the only male to use it so that was OK.

The Yudanaka Onsen is the real thing. You go into the first room where you sit on a stool and wash like crazy. I have never been so clean. Then into a very hot pool. There are other guys around who watch me with great interest, In fact you have a small towel to cover your er private parts. I feel no bashfulness. From the very hot pool you move outside to a pool surrounded by rocks and Azaleas. It is beautiful. It is raining during my first bath and during my second bath a Grey Wagtail comes down and has a long discussion with me. It is wonderful. My next Japanese trip will be a tour of selected onsen. Tomomi san is an expert and will advise.

On the way to Yudanaka Onsen we stop at the renowned Jigokudani Monkey Park.

There are monkeys everywhere. They are in no way scared nor aggressive.

Chapter 5: Sake

I have never really liked Sake. First I never drink it as Awamori is the drink of choice on Okinawa. On this trp I was instructed on Sake and it is fantastic. Just like wine there are many different regions and techniques for rice fermentation. On the final day we visit high class, small sake producers. The variety of taste is astonishing.

We buy lots of bottles with a vision of a picnic at the marina to celebrate upcoming birthdays with classic Japanese dishes and many different bottles of Sake. Probably won’t happen due to Corona restrictions. At the moment no more than 4 are allowed to cluster around the festive board.

So I think that is about it. I think the original version of these chapters was much better. But there we go.

What a great trip. So grateful to Tomomi san and Miyoko san for their hospitality and excellent companionship. Thanks to Japan. What a country!

Worse than ever bit of video.

Off we go to Nagano! Plane to Haneda, shinkansen to Ueda. Do I need to add to the acclaim for shinkansen? Er, yes! They are always on time, super clean, totally silent and very fast. Well done Japan. We get off at Ueda, where Tomomi san is more or less from and where her mother, Miyoko san, lives. She meets us at the station.

5 days in Nagano, birdwatching, visiting temples, shrines, hiking, eating and generally absorbing the wonderfulness of this mountainous region. I am going to try and organize this entry into different chapters to avoid a long rambling chronological narrative.

Chapter 1: Temples and shrines.

Almost straight from the train we go to the castle in Ueda where there is also a shrine.

A common denominator for the trip was blossom. Trees are flowering everywhere! So beautiful.

Miyoko san instructs me how to pray at a shrine. Put money in box, bow twice, clap hands twice, pray then clap hands again. My life has much improved since I have learned this.

Next day we go to Nagano city. It has a major temple and was also the site of the 1998 Winter Olympics, which I had forgotten. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1998_Winter_Olympics

Talking of temples, Nagano has the best public toilet in the world.

Nagano has a big temple surrounded by many shrines.

I remind you that this is Corona 19 Japan. There are no tourists, just me. The perfect time to visit. We buy very dry Nagano cider; Nagano is the apple capital of Japan.

We drive to our base for the most part of the holiday, Togakushi. Togakushi is a place of pilgrimage. It is high and the shrines are higher. I pity the poor pilgrims of yore, who had to walk all the way up here.

There are 3 shrines. The first is easy, it is beside the road.

Th second is reached by a long and wonderful hike between an avenue of ancient trees.

The third shrine in Togakushi is walking distance from our hotel, hotel does not do the establishment justice but we will come to that. It is a tough one. Steep steps that go on and on. It is worth it.

The shrine is beautiful. Decorated with carvings of animals and a very intricate, nail free charpente.

The best bit about temples and shrines has no illustration. The wonderful lady at our place of stay told us that there would be a performance of dance and music at shrine # 1.

It is authentic, no photos, no filming. The performance takes place inside the shrine.The dancing and singing is performed by local priests. There is a drum player, 85 years old?, who controls the performance with changes of rythmn and intensity. A flute player follows. The story revolves around a myth whereby the sun is locked up in a cave . Oh joy! a God comes and releases the Sun. I have the impression that there is a local interest, I mean that it happened around here. There are several scenes. The music.dancing and singing is exquisite.

During the performance, I look right through the window. There is a mountain stream cascading down the hill just outside. Oh my!

I am the only non Japanese at the performance, but at the end people come to smile and welcome me. I feel teary.

Chapter 2: Birdwatching

Togakushi is famous for birds and we are here to look at them. At 6:00 we are tramping around the Togakushi Botanical Park. There are several other birdwatchers there, most equipped with huge lenses and telescopes. The park is wooded and marshy and everywhere there are Mizubasho, which in English have the feeble name of Peace Lilies.

The next day we go to a lake and feast on birds.

We then go back to the Botanical Park for more woodpeckers and stuff. Then we head off to our next destination but stop off at Nojiri Lake. We see lots of birds and Tomomi wants to live here.

The next day we are up at 4:30 and out by 5:00. We drive up into the mountains. It is a faabulous excursion as it has snowed overnight and we tramp through fresh snow.

There are lots of animal tracks. We see Fox, Rabbit and, we think, Raccoon

We walk around 2 lakes and absorb the very early morning in the mountains.

Tomomi san has not done much birdwatching but I think she is infected. She has very sharp ears and eyes that pick up the slightest movement. Essentially she is better than me. She has tested positive.

On the way back to Ueda we stop at a park and go for a walk around the wood wetland in the freezing drizzle. It is wonderful and we see loads of birds, Tomomi san more than me.

I will not list all the birds we saw, too many. Nearly all are Japan birds that do not live in Okinawa. Great excitement to see new birds at my advanced age.

Chapter 3 Food

We buy food for the Shinkansen trip to Ueda at Tokyo Station.

The restaurant where we eat our soba lunch is festooned with empty bottles of Islay whisky. I mention that Islay is my breeding ground and all hell breaks loose! The adorable couple who own the restaurant spent their honeymoon on Islay. They named their daughters Islay and Ellen, after Port Ellen.

In the mountains of Nagano, Islay is strong.

OK, the place we stayed in Togakushi is remarkable. It is very old and was a stop over for pilgrims.Tomomi san found it. Thank you.

We stayed 2 days and had dinner and breakfast at the er hotel, pilgrim’s refuge.

The lady of the house did all the cooking herself. The food was absolutely excellent, so many courses. I never managed to finish them all. My lady companions just whooshed through the whole lot. One thing I very much appreciate in Japanese women, well the ones I know

If it is windy, it is a good idea to put a reef in the mainsail. This makes the sail smaller and the howling wind does not heel the boat over so alarmingly such that you think she might capsize. She would n’t of course but it feels like it.

The weather has been excellent and I have two consecutive days in the boat.

The first sail is in bright, bright sunshine with the wind coming straight offshore. We zoom up the coast from Ginowan marina to Cape Zanpa. I love sailing up the coast. I have driven the same route a thousand times but looking at it from the sea gives a very different perspective. The distance between different places is not the same.

When I reach Cape Zanpa I turn around and sail back. The sea is still very lumpy and there are big swells but the boat is in no way concerned. I can see that for those who do not like sitting on a boat for hours with not much to do, sailing could be tedious.

The next day the wind is stronger and the weather not quite so glorious. I decide to put in a reef. Doing this single handed is quite an art but I am getting better at it. You must raise the mainsail and then lower it again such that you can pull the reefing lines that are attached to the sail. These lines pull the sail down just the right distance and you cleat them off onto the boom. You then raise the sail again but it cannot go as high as before as it is held down by the reefing lines. You can only do this if the boat is headed straight into the wind. If there are two people, it is relatively easy but with just one there are a lot of things that can go wrong!

With a reef in the mainsail I head off for the Sand Islands that lie some miles South West of Ginowan. https://www.google.com/maps/@26.2537824,127.5600406,8508m/data=!3m1!1e3

Naturally, when I get out to sea the wind is nowhere near as strong as I had anticipated. No worries, as she charges across well with the reef. It is a wonderful sail.

We make it to the Sand Islands and, as is traditional, turn around and sail back.

As we get closer to Okinawa, the wind drops and I succeed in shaking out the reef all by myself. All of this is great practice for when you might have to do it in difficult conditions. The weather also improves and it is a beautiful evening as we glide back to the marina.

Sorry, this post is about as dull as spending 6 hours a day on a sailing boat but, er, that what it describes.

Here is an equally dull movie. Sorry!