I had noticed for some time that water bowsers stopped there to fill up with water. I finally go to have a look. The shrine is very well hidden behind a scruffy wire fence. Inside there is a clear spring pool and an ancient piece of stone. I assume that this is a holy pool where people have worshipped for hundreds of years but has been reduced to providing water for bowsers.
Notice pipe and predatory bowser driver.
More holy stuff. The wind finally drops and I asked Harry if he can help me bend on the mainsail. Harry is a very experienced boat person and he comes down immediately. Lucky me as I am ptetty immobile at the moment because of a bad back.
Mainsail sees light of day after a year of storage.
Amazing weather
Harry does everything. He skips around the boat like a mountain goat whilst I lament my lost youth. I occasionally hold a rope but that is about it.
Quite a lot of trial and error. It is up! Nasty looking crease from throat to clew but I now have time to adjust and fiddle.
My mother RIP used to sing this as we battered against the waves in unseaworthy boats in Scotland.
Anyway, as Jigen san, his son and I were finally bending on the jib the song suddenly comes back to me. I wonder why?
New sail!It’s finally up!Not sure the son wanted to be in a selfie with old man
You will remember that I have been waiting for months for the Japanese sailmaker to finish cutting the sail. They plead the difficulty in getting tan colored sail cloth. I do not really mind as I have a vision of ancient Japanese sailmaker cutting my new sail with exquisite care in softly lit ancient sail loft. He then hand sews the luff bead with tiny stitches. It is worth the wait.
I notice that the sail bag has Hyde written on it. I know Hyde, they are a reputed English sailmaker. https://www.hydesails.com
I realize that the Japanese sailmaker https://www.yuukoumarine.jp had simply contacted Hyde and asked them to send over a Norfolk Gypsy jib. Hmmm, I could have done that months ago.
Now I have to bend on the mainsail. I have done this before but I am sure there will be lots of missteps and stupidity.
Off to Yanbaru for a classical guitar recital at https://ada-hotel.net. The musician is Noel Billingsley whom I have known for several years. The recital is organized by my old buddies Teruya san and Rieko san, a professional harpsichordist.
Rieko san, Yana, Tara, me and Teruya san a few years ago.
Noel plays in Ichiro san’s studio.
Great place for a guitar recital. Noel, Reiko, meIchiro san gives a great talk about his art. I don’t understand but the audience is moaning and gurgling.
At 7:00 the next morning we go birdwatching. Stupidly I had let the battery in my camera run down, so no photos. In fact it was wonderful just looking rather than staring through a viewfinder. Lots of Okinawa Rails, Grey faced Buzzards, Sandpipers, Wagtails. We hear many Ryuku Robins but see none. It it always worth getting up early.
I have lived in the USA on and off for 23 years. I am so dismayed by the election result. It does not reflect the States that I know and love. Admittedly, all my time there has been in California. All my friends, except one, are staunch democrats. This result shows how little I understand about the country.
Anyway, misery and pain.
Boo
On a brighter note, I unload washing from the washing machine whereupon I find my iPhone. I suppose it must have been in an obscure trouser pocket. Astonishingly. it works perfectly!
Soon, soon will my jib be raised, or unrolled. I can then bend on the mainsail and off we go into the wild blue yonder. Wait a second, I also need an engine. I have, in denial, not touched the engine. When I finally press the starter button, I hear the death rattle click, click indicating jammed starter motor. It is a sound I know well!
This is my 3rd starter motor
I think what happens is this. High heat, high humidity, always a bit of bilge water at the bottom, the ,pretty much sealed, engine compartment becomes a Turkish bath. Left for six months in a Turkish bath, the starter motor absorbs the moisture and rots. No Turkish bath conditions in Norfolk but a permanent fixture here.
Who you gonna call? Kiyuna san!
” No problem Neil san, I have a spare starter motor in my pocket!”
Saturday morning, he bounces up. Five minutes later the new starter more is fitted!
Thunka, thunka
The engine starts immediately but we are a bit worried by the trickle of cooling water coming out of the exhaust. Kiyuna san demands a complete flush out of the cooling circuit. This he does in about 30 seconds with the help of a magic wand and incantations.
All Ok now
Kiyuna san – what hero!
Sunday morning, I go to the The Moon Beach Hotel for an Ikebana extravaganza. The Moon Beach is the oldest of Okinawa’s beach resorts and has an aura. https://www.moonbeach.co.jp/en/
Big Ikebana Tomomi san preparesThere are dozens of pieces. Of course, Tomomi san’s is the best!Ichiro san and Tomomi san revel in glory.Notice severe sunburn after a morning with the engine.
We have an amazing lunch.
Amazing lunchFrom the restaurant.New wave ikebanaThings ain’t wot thy used to beThere are lots of amazing displays.Okinawa in November
After that, I wander off to Onna son where the annual community concert is happening. Onna son is a relatively small town on the West coast of Okinawa. The range, diversity, inclusivity and quality of the presentations is astonishing!
Thes people live around herSo graceful. Kids do Karate demonstration. They are all grinning and having lots of fun.Sanchin and percussion. All localA lady’s only zither band. So good!Incredible choir!
Unfortunately the battery in my iPhone ran out of power thus preventing me from recording subsequent performances.
I meet lots of old friends who remarkably remember and cherish me.
The other countries in which I have lived do not have this underlying sense of community.
I drive South with an explosive Okinawa sunset to my right.
I have been waiting for my new jib to arrive for months. It had to be specially cut by a sailmaker on the mainland. Boats in Japan have white sails and it has been very difficult for them to source the tan sail material so emblematic of the Norfolk Gypsy.
You have to have tan sails for sunsets
The sail arrived yesterday! Hooray!
It’s in the bag!
I now have to attach the sail to the new furling system. I fear this will be difficult.
To make things more tricky, a typhoon is blasting its way up the Chinese coast.
Won’t hit us but it is windy.
Trying to control a loose sail in a high wind is more or less impossible It flaps around like crazy. I will have to wait until things calm down before I can bend on the jib. How frustrating!
Tim gave me a baby tree about 4 years ago. It did not do very well mainly because I abandoned it regularly to go to California.
Last yearToday!
It is doing so well! Just likes having me around I suppose.
I missed it but offered to drive Cedric to the airport as he was leaving the next day. So amazing to meet Cedric, to whom I gave a job at CERN 30 years ago, in the tiny town of Ginoza!
Just outside the apartment where I was to pick Cedric up, there is a carpet made from lots of brightly colored somethings.
Bottle tops!
The amazing Okinawan lady explains that there is a island-wide initiative to collect all the screw on tops from plastic bottles so they can be recycled. She washes hers!
Cedric, me, wonderful Okinawan lady. She is so funny!
The road South to the airport passes the rice/taro fields of Kin. We birdwatch.
Whiskered Tern flies.Whiskered Tern has a little paddle.Greenshank, a light year away, guzzles a caterpillar.I think these are Pacific Golden Plovers but I am not sure.Such fun to meet Cedric again: https://www.cedricbregnard.ch. Such a challenge to speak French again!
The next day, Arisa and I go for a traditional Okinawan breakfast.
SheMe
Can you spot the American influence on Okinawan cuisine?
We Japanese still use cash a lot. Not as much as pre covid but significantly more than the States or Europe. In July new designs for the 10,000, 5,000, 1000 yen notes were released. Great excitement!
Old 10,000yen note.New one.
It has taken a long time for the new bills to filter down into the system. It is only now that they are appearing regularly.
New one on topOld one below!
I find them a bit disappointing. Japan has wonderful graphic art but these notes are super traditional. A more Manga approach would have been better.
I go the dentist for final fitting of the implant that replaces the molar that was untimely ripped in London earlier this year.
Big gap bottom left.Freshly pluggedSpot the implant!
The dentist is of course just an excuse to go to nearby fish market.
Lots of Chinese gobbling shell fish and crabBaby squidOctopus in plastic bag
Black backed StiltIntermediate Egret in flight. I learned so much about photographing birds in flight when I was in Canada.Same bird having a restWhiskered Tern [rare}. This is a great shot as they move very fast and twist and turn.
Anyway on to the main course. Old friends coming to eat and drink. The menu will be Sashimi, Octopus coctel, Leg of lamb and Japanese fruit.
Best sashimi on the island presented on white scallop shells and wonderful oysters!
JoyOkinawan family breakfasting on the best seafood.I breakfast on one huge oysterI prepare the lambI start to cook the octopus. It is huge, I can barely get in in my biggest pan!
The action starts; Arisa san, Tomomi san, Ichiro san are local but Mary and Tim are on a brief visit from London. We all worked together at OIST.
World’s best sashimi and oysters! (photo Hunt)
After the sashimi, we get stuck into the octopus coctels. We were all so engrossed that no-one took a picture. However like sailors dying of thirst we slurped down an enormous amount.
Next came the leg of lamb. The first time I have done a leg of lamb in the air fryer and I blew it. I left it in too long and the lamb was too dry. What a pity.
OvercookedTim and Mary look on in horror (photo Okubo)
Tim and Mary bring Fortnum and Mason choccies from London.
ClassyWe eat them with Shine Muscat grapes from Nagano, thanks Tomomi san, and Japanese pears from Imari, thanks Arisa san.. Quality!
In the amazing canteen of cutlery there is a pair of scissors.
Grape scissors top right
I have only recently understood that they are grape scissors. Apparently it was not done to pluck individual grapes from a bunch. Small bunchlets were snipped off using grape scissors, transferred to a plate and then eaten one by one. I have never seen the grape scissors used in my 72 years.
Tomomi san makes history! First use of grape scissors for at least 70 years.Self explanatoryIdem
Next week I have invited old friends who are passing through and old friends who live here to dinner. We used to eat together frequently and I aim looking forward to another great bash.
A couple of years ago, actually nearly 4!
I want to serve octopus coctel, a Mexican cold dish of tomatoes, peppers, onion, cucumber, avocado, chopped up very small mixed with lots of tender octopus. You put the mix in a glass and fill it with Clamato. Delicious!
Buying octopus is a stressful business as sometimes there are none on offer at the fish market for weeks on end. I visit frequently but there are none to be had. There are only two fish stalls that sell them and they have been octopus free. I am getting nervous. I ask one of the fishmongers if he could phone me if he gets any. After 10 days there is no news. I fear that I will have to abandon my octopus dish.
However on Thursday, today is Saturday, post more dental fun that I will not bore you with, I rush through the fish market.
Sapristi! There is a beautiful very big octopus!
What beauty! Probably too big.
This afternoon I get a phone call. It is the other fish seller. “Neil san I have a beautiful octopus for you.”
I could not possibly tell him that I probably had more octopus than I needed and head down to Tomari harbor.
In the bag is an octopus that is bigger than the one I had already bought. Incidentally this guy is another Okinawan hero.
I walk back through the fish market and pass the other octopus seller. He has 3 wonderful octopi! I had to use enormous self control to not buy them all.
Never rains but it poursNo busses then 5 come at the same time.
More food stuff. There was an American food writer Antony Bourdain whom I find very pretentious but he got one thing right. Lawson’s is the best shop of all and in particular their sandwiches are addictive.
Typhoons always inject excitement into life in Okinawa. Typhoon prediction is not an exact science. Sometimes typhoons announced as mega awful turn out to be gentle. Typhoons predicted to be minor storms are sometimes howling craziness.
Typhoon Pulasan was expected over the weekend. At the marina, everyone gets busy setting up extra mooring lines and tying everything down. I spend hours preparing the boat.
Making sure the boat is super dry.
The cover used to be attached with elastic cord and hooks. Now I use rope, which is a pain to tie but will hopefully be stronger.
Lashed down
They don’t like tattoos at the marina.
I move all my plants inside.
Mushrooms. How did they get there?Pacific Golden Plover has heard that a typhoon is on its way.Bath tub , which I never use, filled with water in case the power goes off.
Usually the power goes off during the storm. The worst result is that, as water is pumped to the top of building and then flows down into each apartment, no power means no pump and thus no water. No water means no loo flushing. Things can get very unpleasant! A full bath and a bucket is essential.
Anyway, the typhoons heads north and misses the island completely. A bit of a let-down.
The Quiet Ripple Defines The Pond 