Day 39: Kamen Raida

I had such a nice vacation in Okinawa that it felt like ages since I was at school. I guess the new vice-principal must have felt the same way, because when he saw me as I entered the school building this morning he said the English equivalent of "Long time no see." I actually only missed one day of school, last Friday, but I guess the vice-principal noticed. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing or if it even matters, but no one else said "Long time no see" to me all day, so the VP's remark stuck with me.

About the first thing I noticed when I got to my desk was that the door to the office was wide open, meaning it was relatively warm for a change. All winter long, the doors remain closed (except for when people don't close them, which is often!), but when it's warmer, the doors remain open, which is what I like to see.

Anyway, even though today is Monday, we were on a Thursday schedule. I checked to see if I was teaching any classes today and it appeared that I wasn't. One teacher did come by and tell me what he was doing for his third-period class, however, but as is so often the case, he didn't say what I was doing for the class. In other words, I wasn't going to be doing a thing. The teacher still wanted or perhaps expected me to go to his class, but I've done that too many times and am usually left frustrated by the experience.

Since I had to prepare for GT, anyway, I kept working on that until I was finished and then went to the class. By the time I got there, there were only 15 minutes left, but those 15 minutes left me shaking my head countless times. I'll just leave it at that.

I did go to one other class, but that was my choice, so even though I didn't do anything for that one either, I can't complain.

About an hour before GT, I asked a student if he felt like reading today's dialogs with me, since he had mentioned to me several weeks ago that he wanted to help out someday. He said he did, so I gave him the script and quickly went over it with him.

As usual, instead of introducing my guests by their real names, I made up a name for my helper and said he was (the fictitious) "Professor Saga, from Oita International College." (One girl apparently even believed that, because when she asked who helped me and I repeated the fake name (with a straight face), she replied with a really surprised, approving look. That was cool!)

The rest of the day was almost totally uneventful, except for the famous (former) Japanese TV star (Hiroshi Fujioka of Kamen Rider fame) who showed up with a television crew to do some filming around school. I was told who he was, but his name means nothing to me. Several of the teachers obviously got a kick out of seeing him, however, which was nice to see.

Day 34: Peace Memorial Park

Today I went to the Peace Memorial Park. I took a bus there, which took forever. I had to take a bus to Itoman, which took about 45 minutes, wait 30 minutes for the next bus, and then ride another for 15 minutes to the park. The ride was long and the price was high: ¥560 and ¥440, for a total of ¥1000.

While I was waiting at the bus "terminal" in Itoman, which was just a small building and parking lot in the middle of nowhere, I couldn't help think about how much I was paying for the ride to the park, which was less than 20 km from town. "I'm paying more than $20 just to get to this park and back! The round-trip fare should be more like ¥500. This is outrageous!"

As my bus made its way to the park, I semi-regretted not having had rented a car, since that would allow me to stop wherever I wanted to. I saw some quiet beaches from afar, for instance, that I would have liked to have checked out more closely, and there was another memorial on the way to the park which I probably should have gone to, especially since a bus to that memorial departed just after I arrived in Itoman. From there, I probably easily could have hitched a ride to the Peace Park, or even walked the four kilometers. Oh, well...

Anyway, the Peace Park was big, nice, and relaxing. There were all sorts of memorials, some wide-open spaces, and great views of the coast. There was also a very good museum (which only cost ¥300).

The museum left me with the impression that the Japanese soldiers and civilians who were in Okinawa during the battles that took place there toward the end of World War II suffered terribly. The island was completely bombarded, countless civilians lost their lives, and just about every Japanese soldier on the island died as well, as they fought to the last man, even if that basically meant suicide.

When I left the park, after several hours... (to be continued)

(More later, including... the Peace Park itself, lunch, the way back, plans for the next day, rain.)

Day 33: Okinawa

I arrived in Okinawa yesterday. One of the first things I noticed was all of the Hawaiian-style shirts that people working at the airport were wearing, which caused me to let out a little chuckle, since I thought, "Hawaii, baby!" Well, I knew I wasn't in Hawaii, but I was still happy to be here.

When I told some students and colleagues that I was going to Okinawa, the most common response was, "Ii naa," which basically means, "No way. That's so cool!" That's because most people, including me, associate Okinawa with sunshine, beaches, and blue water. The problem is, it's already rainy season here, so all I have is grey skies and rain.

Where I live, in Kyushu, the rainy season starts in early June. As far as I know, the rainy season isn't supposed to start here until a couple weeks from now. Lucky for me it started early.

Rainy season is a mean joke that Mother Nature plays on us. All winter long, it's been freezing. Just when the weather is finally warming up, it starts to rain every day. My response to that: "No way. That's so not cool!"

I had no clue that it would be raining here every day until I looked at the weather forecast a few days before I flew here. About ten days ago, one teacher actually told me it'd be raining every day, but I simply shrugged off what he said. I guess he knew better than me.

Anyway, I'm in Naha right now, the capital of the prefecture, down in the southern part of the island. The city is, for the most part, pretty ugly, to tell the truth. There's one beach in town not too far from where I'm staying, but even that is pretty lame, mostly due to the pathetic view, which includes a major roadway.

I was thinking about going to a small island called Zamami today, which is a 2-hour ferry ride away. Due to the crappy weather, though, I've decided to do sightseeing here instead. If I go to Zamami, I will have to pay more than $50 for about four hours on the island before having to catch the last ferry back.

I've seen pictures of Zamami and they make the island look ridiculously beautiful, making me think, "Zamami is where it's at." Zamami = White sand beaches, crystal clear water, and luscious vegetation. I think that's where I'm supposed to be hanging out, rather than here in a big city.

I guess I'll have to save paradise for some other day.