I LOVE OKINAWA

Back in the days when my parents first got the Internet, there was this program you could download that let you choose from vast libraries of photographs to use as your desktop wallpaper.  There were all sorts of themes: travel, forests, animals, black and white shots, etc.  My favorite was a beach with cream-colored sand and water so blue and clear it put chlorinated pools to shame.  As beautiful as it was, I could never imagine actually visiting such a place.  First of all, my family never vacationed at the beach.  The family joke was that my dad would take us to resort areas and no one would even bring a bathing suit. Other families went to places like Cancun to swim and work on their tans; we went to visit the ancient ruins that were on the beach, tented in hats and long-sleeved shirts to reduce sun exposure.

Second, it seemed unreal that such a place existed, when my primary reference for the beach was the Gulf of Mexico, whose water is more of a brackish brown than a tourmaline blue thanks to the mud churned into it by the Mississippi River.

The Gulf of Mexico.  From www.weathertemperature.net.

So you can imagine my shock when I went to Okinawa for a few days, and it looked like this:

Zamami, Okinawa

A LITTLE BIT OF CONTEXT

Okinawa is dramatically different from the rest of Japan.  The islands lack the four distinct seasons that are so highly prized by the Japanese.  Since the territory lies at the same latitude as northern Myanmar, the weather vacillates between hot, hotter and hottest.  The people in Okinawa are laid-back in a manner characteristic of cultures that live in hot climates.  We saw scads of men with long hair, and men and women with prominently displayed tattoos.  We also observed a fairly interesting trend in which all the businessmen were attired in dress slacks and Hawaiian shirts, a colorful diversion from the black trousers-white dress shirt uniform in mainland Japan.

Okinawa also possesses a unique history among the prefectures of Japan.  The Meiji government assumed control of the islands in 1879, designating them a Japanese colony.  Much of the Ryukyu culture indigenous to the islands was systematically suppressed; however, some of the aesthetics (architecture, art, etc.) remain.  There are several movements concerned with the preservation of Ryukyu culture, which some feel is perilously close to dying out.

During WWII, the islands were the site of the bloodiest conflict in the Pacific Theater.  Over 200,000 people (soldiers and civilians) died in the Battle of Okinawa.  In case of an invasion by the Allies, civilians had been trained by the Japanese military to commit suicide rather than be apprehended by enemy soldiers.  The Okinawans were considered to have too much valuable information about the Japanese military, and were therefore liabilities if they were captured or questioned.  

On July 4, Paul and I briefly visited the Peace Memorial Park for the Battle of Okinawa, which was extensive and beautiful.  Both of my grandfathers were in Okinawa during WWII; one of them served in the U.S. Navy on a ship stationed offshore.  As we walked around, I tried to imagine what it must have been like for these young soldiers, most of whom had never left their hometowns, to be stationed someplace so exotic yet dangerous.  My grandfather told my dad that while he was in Okinawa, a typhoon hit the flotilla, sinking a number of ships.  For a man from the landlocked state of Kansas, he must have felt really far from home.

Names of the dead, Peace Memorial Park.

Today, Okinawa hosts a number of U.S. military bases*, straining relations between Okinawa and the U.S., as well as Okinawa and mainland Japan.  There have been numerous reports over the years of military personnel being disruptive, damaging property, and even sexually assaulting local women.  Okinawans want the bases to be moved elsewhere, but the national government keeps dragging its feet.  The level of frustration has risen to a point where some Okinawans are advocating secession from Japan.  

BUT SERIOUSLY, OKINAWA IS AWESOME

Paul and I agreed that it was fortunate that we discovered Okinawa right as we were about to leave Japan, otherwise we would have spent every holiday there and ignored the rest of the country in favor of early morning swims, sunsets, and some of the most incredible stars I've ever seen.  

Our favorite beach for morning/evening swims.

We tried scuba diving for the first time, off the coast of one of the uninhabited islands near Zamami.  I'm not sure what I expected; the closest I'd come to scuba diving was snorkeling in the Galapagos Islands, and though that part of the Pacific is beautiful and filled with an abundance of marine creatures, the visibility is nothing compared to Okinawa.  We could see for what seemed like miles, and the fish were unlike anything I'd ever seen.  Magenta, aqua blue, bright yellow, red, spotted, striped, electric blue, orange, hot purple, and more- I didn't realize that colors like that existed outside of the 1980s.  

Parrotfish. From www.flickr.com.

We glided along reefs, occasionally coming face-to-face with a blowfish or a sea snake, or watch clown fish dart back into anemones.  Mostly, however, the fish didn't seem perturbed by us, and would swim closer to examine the strange black-clad creatures swimming past.  The only thing I can liken it to was being in the best aquarium imaginable...but a billion times better.  

Though this is probably an aquarium, it's not unlike what we saw while diving.  From commons.wikimedia.org

The dive itself was short- only thirty minutes- but our guide was really kind and offered to loan us the masks and flippers for the day in case we wanted to go snorkeling later.  We did, and we ended up finding a huge reef that we spent over an hour paddling around, watching the kaleidoscope of fish pass by.  I'd be studying a certain area, and then look away for a moment, and when I'd look back again a second later, the reef would have changed completely.  The coral was still there, and the anemones, but the creatures surrounding me would be entirely different.  Often I'd suddenly realize that schools of fish were swimming around me, causing the water to shimmer even more with their bright scales.

Leaving Okinawa was a wrench.  The scuba diving alone was one of the top 5 experiences of my life.  However, it's all the more incentive to return to Japan.  Next time, though, I may never leave.  

Near Ama Island

*There's also a surprisingly large Japanese military population in Okinawa.  When we landed in Naha, more than half of the tarmac was filled with planes featuring the hinomaru (the Japanese flag).