Day 6 Taketomi Island

We left the hotel and headed to a dealer in Okinawa textiles. She had lots of old kimonos made locally and other garments. We tore the place apart looking at them. Cathy bought a beautiful Kimono and Obi (the sash that goes with a Kimono).

After shopping we all went to see where black pearls are cultivated. Then to Mikimoto store where thankfully we didn’t do any shopping. The store is right on Kibira Bay where the pearls are cultivated. We walked to a wonderful French restaurant (who knew?) called Auberge Kabira and had a delicious big lunch, with amazingly bread! In Japan!

We then visited a local weaver, Arakaiki, Sachiko, where who showed us many examples of the ancient patterns that she has revived. One of the most interesting things to me, was to see the artist, go into her back yard pick a rami plant (this is big leafy plant), strip it and be able to actually pull the natural fibers from it that are then used to weave textiles. The cloth made of rami and banana fibers is suitable for the hot and humid climate of the islands.

From there, we went took a ferry to the island of Taketomi. Actually our ferry departed without us, we were lined up at the wrong boat. When we realized what had happened, we all went into an instant funk, then a very Okinawa thing happened. Somehow the ferry that had left the dock realized we were confused, the captain turned the ferry around and came back to retrieve us. I can’t picture this happening anywhere else!

Taketomi, located in the East China Sea, is not far from Ishigaki and Taiwan. It has a population of about 500 people living on it and they are devoted to maintaining the crafts of their ancestors. The weaving industry still thrives creating textiles with specific local designs. They have created a great weaving center: The Minsa Weaving Center, and they were very generous in explaining the local weavings. We thought we had seen and used by this time almost every imaginable type of public transportation, however on Taketomi Island we saw the local ox drawn wagons that are used. The streets (like all of Japan) are immaculate; however one very unusual feature was most of the houses had red tile roofs and walls around them built from the local coral. It is amazing, the walls are created without mortar.

We returned by ferry to the Island of Ishigaki and went to a small restaurant for an Itialian dinner (we had wine - not Sake). Returning to the Hotel at the bar I finally was able to order the Mango Liqueur that I had seen. I had never had it before and I wanted to try it. It was good.

It happens that today is the 30th anniversary of the return of Okinawa from American control back to the Japanese. The Japanese government is trying to change the constitution to allow for Japan to have a regular Army, they are currently prohibited from it under the constitution developed by Douglas McArthur. Our local guide’s friend, Yamazato Setsuko, a local political and environmental activist, created a wonderful Japanese lantern in preparation for a rally by the local citizenry against the proposed constitutional change. She is a great activist and very much into ecology and other local issues. Interestingly, although Okinawa is part of Japan they don’t feel Japanese, they have strong Okinawa emotions. In fact, more than a resident of Okinawa, she feels she is an islander and her identity is with Yaeyama and her fellow islanders.

At the end of the day, just before she was leaving for the peace march, she sang songs of peace and friendship for us, in front of the restaurant. She then quietly told of how 4 of her family members were killed in World War II. It was very touching.