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This week on Deep Dive we get contributing author and photographer Lance Henderstein to learn us his article on touring Okinawa throughout the wet season.
Hosted by Shaun McKenna and produced by Dave Cortez.
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Transcript observe: Deep Dive is made to be listened to, and we advocate this transcript be used as an accompaniment to the episode. This transcript has been generated utilizing a mix of speech recognition software program and human transcription, and will include errors. Please examine its accuracy in opposition to the episode.
Shaun McKenna 0:09
Welcome to Deep Dive from The Japan Occasions, I’m Shaun McKenna. We’re doing one thing just a little completely different this week. Earlier this summer time, one among our contributing writers and photographers, Lance Henderstein, went right down to Okinawa on task. He needed to journey the prefecture’s southernmost islands by ferry, however it was at a time when the area was being hit with tons of rain. One of many results of local weather change one which has hit Japan actually onerous has been heavier downpours attributable to rising temperatures. We have been sort of considering, what if we do journey tales that simply take as a right that there is going to be numerous rain at your vacation spot. Nevertheless, Lance has his personal distinctive historical past with Okinawa and the story ended up taking a extra introspective flip as he dealt together with his current visits there. The prefecture itself has its personal distinctive historical past, with the Ryukyuan tradition thriving independently from the Japanese mainland. It is a completely different vibe down there, so we took the peace in one other course. Let’s describe a number of the outer islands as being “a sanctuary for castaways and eccentrics inhabiting the middling in between of self imposed exile, the place anybody who visits greater than as soon as is taken into account to be auditioning.” There’s numerous poetic thrives like that and the way in which he describes the islands and life there. And for this week’s episode, we determined to let Lance inform his personal story. So with out additional ado, here is Lance’s piece as advised by him, “My annual pilgrimage to Okinawa.”
Lance Henderstein 01:45
My legs have been burning. The ferry was clipping at excessive velocity towards the island of Iriomote and the warmth of the engine was turning the steel bench I used to be sitting on right into a grill. Fumes have been being whisked out of the open home windows by sheer velocity, however lingered lengthy sufficient to make my throat itch and eyes water. A younger couple sitting a row over watched their screens unbothered, oblivious as we skimmed alongside the ocean floor.
Boarding the ferry at Ishigaki terminal that morning, I had a selection: sit above deck on benches close to the bags, or head down into the plush, air-conditioned hull. Most passengers selected the latter and have been now comfortably sealed beneath — their heads two rows of silhouettes — I used to be seated above in a tin shack strapped to the highest of a diesel engine.
Consolation wasn’t a precedence. I’d come to Okinawa to journey by ferry throughout the peak of wet season. We’re taught to despise the rain once we journey. To see it as a unfavourable. Rain, it’s mentioned, ruins a day, a visit, a marriage, a season. But when we journey to make reminiscences — indelible reminiscences in no matter type they arrive — rain can improve a journey with temper and character.
The smaller, quicker ferries that run between the Yaeyama islands aren’t pleasure boats. Greater than something, they supply the residents of Okinawa Prefecture’s outlying islands, and vacationers like myself, with a fast and dependable transportation to-and-from the principle hub of Ishigaki and locations past.
There are bigger, extra spectacular ships that carry vehicles and cargo together with their passengers. On my final go to, I took a kind of grand vessels from Tomari Port in Naha to Kume Island. It was a spit-shined behemoth with personal tatami rooms the place households splay out and sleep on the ground to forestall seasickness.
I come again to Okinawa annually, touring by ferry between the islands. Not for the explanations most come — the emerald seas and subtropical seashores. For me, it’s a pilgrimage.
In 2019, I used to be in Naha to rejoice my birthday with mates. At dinner, I collapsed from an aortic dissection. Due to my mates’ fast considering and a talented group of surgeons, I survived my first brush with demise.
The restoration at Nanbu Tokushukai Hospital was an extended one. Convalesced, I returned the following yr. And the following. Partly to honor the individuals and place that saved my life, and partly simply because I can. It’s a blessing to have the ability to return to Okinawa, regardless of the climate or mode of transport.
About midway to Iriomote the warmth and fumes of the ferry engine grew to become an excessive amount of. I stood and teetered to the rear of the vessel. Within the open air the ocean mist swirled, coating every little thing with brine. I took unusable images of the passing surroundings: blurred grey horizons damaged by black, unnamed islands. Then, some passing ships, stacks of cement tetrapods, and the ferry arrived.
I’d been right here as soon as earlier than. My good friend, Aoi Suzuki, and her household run Takemori Inn, one of many few lodges right here. This time I used to be staying in a more recent annex, Shinminka Villa, which Aoi and her husband, Ikkei, handle. It’s received a number of structure awards for its trendy tackle conventional Okinawan design. The dimensions and facilities are meant for {couples} or small households, however choices are restricted on Iriomote and I used to be eager to provide Aoi’s household some low-season enterprise.
The ferry arrived at Taketomi port effectively earlier than the three p.m. self check-in. I made a decision to stroll from the terminal to a close-by cafe referred to as Kocha no Mise Hanazumi. The skies have been darkening and drizzling rain, however I figured I may get there earlier than it actually got here down.
Like numerous rural companies, the cafe is run out of the house owners’ residence. She seemed to be in her late 50s or early 60s, however in Okinawa it’s onerous to gauge. The lengthy lifespans right here usually warp the that means of youth. When a century of life isn’t out of the query, your 20s appear such a small fraction it’s onerous to say who counts as “younger.”
After a fast lunch, I checked myself in and rested a bit earlier than heading to the Suzukis. After I arrived, the scent of barbecued meat and smoke have been already within the air. I noticed a half dozen individuals there to greet me.
We ate collectively, grabbing items of grilled meat with chopsticks as they cooked. The neighbors advised me about making their lives in such a distant place. A lot of the males had come to affix the households of their Iriomote-born wives. Almost everybody had side-hustles to complement their incomes. The daughter of 1 couple was in her final yr of junior excessive and felt anxious to depart the small island for highschool within the coming yr.
As we talked, the sundown intensified, blanketing every little thing in an orange and violet glow. Aoi recommended we go as much as the roof of the constructing subsequent door to get a greater view. Her two sons, 8 and 4 years previous, led the way in which, bounding up the staircase.
From the rooftop the ocean was seen to the northeast. The celebration carried on beneath us like a diorama, backlit by the ember glow of the setting solar. The boys performed with a small reproduction of a basketball, like a miniature solar of their arms, and the youngest tried to drag himself as much as get a view over the weathered partitions.
Sunsets are forgettable. Sunsets with individuals who welcome you in as one among their very own, in a spot removed from every little thing, illuminate the valleys of your thoughts.
The following morning, the rain returned. A typhonic rain that fell like heavy blows upon tiny Iriomote. The heavens would pause to catch their breath solely to spill over as soon as once more — every spherical heavier than the final. I stood searching by way of slatted blinds on the battered palm timber. A field turtle trundled throughout the inexperienced expanse of the garden.
Held captive by the weather, I used to be reminded of a Ray Bradbury story wherein humanity has colonized a wet, fictional Venus. As soon as each few years the continual rain on Venus stops and the solar briefly emerges like a celestial oasis. On that treasured day, a younger woman’s classmates resolve to lock her in a closet as a prank and he or she misses her likelihood to see the solar.
I think about we’ll all really feel the same sense of loss sometime. Already we’ve begun to talk of “regular” seasons of the previous as if they’re myths. “The summers used to begin in June,” we are saying. “I don’t keep in mind a Might this sizzling, ever,” we muse to 1 one other over coffees flown in from Ethiopia.
Aoi texted to supply me a trip to the bus cease. When she arrived, we sat for a bit and in contrast midlife notes. She needed to journey, however was now a mom of two with familial tasks. It’s a typical lament. Those that are settled lengthy to flee. Those that are rootless think about the counterlife we would have had, moored to hometowns, to lifelong mates, to households and kids we don’t have. In actuality, most of us would by no means commerce our present lives for our fantasies if given the prospect — counterfactuals are the fodder of discontent.
I boarded the bus and headed north to Uehara to remain at Guesthouse nesou, which opened final yr. It was newer and extra fashionable than I anticipated. The couple operating it, Raita and Aya Tsuchihashi, are transplants to Iriomote and self-proclaimed “Japanese hippies.”
I dropped my baggage and Raita led me down a forest path that opened as much as the secluded Nakano Seashore. From the shore he identified Hatoma Island throughout the ocean, seen by way of the afternoon haze that had adopted the morning storm.
His face was beaming, nonetheless enamored with the situation of their new residence and enterprise. In that second, seeing how proud and hopeful he was, I deeply needed him to succeed. For the couple’s guesthouse desires to proceed lengthy into the longer term.
Tourism is a troublesome trade. As so many came upon throughout the pandemic, success isn’t at all times decided by a terrific location or enterprise acumen. The Tsuchihashis have a terrific location going for them.
Within the late afternoon there was a break within the rain. I made a decision to stroll towards Unarizaki Park and Hoshizuna Seashore and take images alongside the way in which. I handed undulating pineapple fields, the black mesh nets made them appear like lava flows heading out towards the ocean within the distance.
After an extended stroll within the warmth I wanted to search out dinner. There isn’t a lot in the way in which of wonderful eating in Uehara and any listed working instances are to not be trusted, particularly in off-season.
I discovered a small izakaya referred to as Hoshizunatei close to a campground above Hoshizuna Seashore. It was darkish inside and I wasn’t even certain it was open till I noticed the aged couple who ran it sitting collectively. The previous man hopped to his ft after I entered, turning on the TV and the fluorescent lights. He took my order after which headed again to the kitchen to prepare dinner together with his spouse.
The small restaurant had an elevated tatami eating room lined with massive home windows going through the ocean, however the jungle had taken over utterly, blocking the view of Hoshizuna Seashore beneath.
The previous man introduced me my appetizer and we made dialog concerning the restaurant.
“Prospects used to like watching the sundown close to the home windows as they ate,” he mentioned. “However I simply received too previous to maintain trimming these timber again. Lastly simply mentioned ‘sufficient!’ and let all of it develop in.”
Whereas he was talking I observed a deep crimson mild shining by way of the thicket behind him.
“Is that the solar?!” I requested. I hadn’t anticipated any visibility with all of the haze.
“Yep! And at the moment needs to be a wonderful one after the storm.” He seemed outdoors. “When you run you’ll be able to catch it! Go away your issues! You higher hurry! Run!”
I grabbed my digital camera and bolted from the restaurant, operating towards the seashore down the overgrown pathway. Close to the underside an amber-red mild crammed the sky, adopted by a fast dimming and I knew earlier than I had arrived that I had missed it.
On the seashore I caught my breath and imagined the crimson solar, now utterly submerged behind the horizon. I took a second to have a look at the rock formations jutting from the ocean earlier than heading again to the restaurant.
Strolling again to the visitor home it was darkish. An inky, rural darkness you neglect about dwelling in city areas. I used my telephone to mild the way in which and felt citified, jumpy concerning the teeming wildlife flying and scurrying by way of the beam of sunshine. Salamanders have been scaffolding the illuminated face of a flickering merchandising machine as I walked by.
A superb rule of thumb at evening on Iriomote is: When you assume you see one thing, it’s in all probability one thing, and if you happen to really feel one thing, it’s undoubtedly one thing.
The island is about 90% mangrove forest with simply over 2,000 residents dwelling alongside the coast. It’s not onerous to think about the place reverting utterly to nature with out them. Because it stands, it’s a stalemate. And the residents of Iriomote appear content material with their brokered peace, dwelling alongside the margins of the wilder interior sanctum.
After I returned to the visitor home, Raita and Aya had been joined by some company, a younger Japanese couple staying on the guesthouse, and an older native couple with a child. All have been, for lack of a greater phrase, hippies. I joined them sitting across the half-eaten pizza on the ground of the widespread space.
Earlier than lengthy Aya had introduced out her assortment of crystal prayer bowls, operating a mallet across the edges to create tones in diverse keys. To not be outdone, Raita went to get a didgeridoo.
Iriomote is a sanctuary for castaways and eccentrics. Apart from the toddling child, nobody within the room was born on the island. Anybody who comes greater than as soon as is taken into account auditioning. Even the outsiders who transfer listed here are considered short-term till confirmed in any other case — emigres inhabiting the middling in-between of self-imposed exile.
Raita completed taking part in. After the vibration pale out, one among two ladies from Nagano broke the silence by asking me why I had come to Iriomote once more.
“Truthfully, I don’t know,” I answered, not eager to spoil the temper with my story of a damaged coronary heart.
The daddy of the kid spoke with out trying up, as if sharing some irrefutable reality: “You have been fated to come back right here, can’t battle it.”
That evening I used to be awoken at round 3 a.m. by a symphony of frogs. I went to the window and opened it to get a greater hear and determined to document it. A refrain of 1000’s of frogs oscillated in my ears, mirroring the drone of the devices earlier. I imagined Raita as an amphibious didgeridoo conductor in the midst of a frog orchestra within the jungle — it was late.
The following morning I missed the bus. I used to be meant to journey to Taketomi Island to interview photographer Akiko Mizuno, who has been dwelling on the island for 20 years. I had already rescheduled as soon as as a result of a personal ceremony there. Each inn on Taketomi Island had mentioned the identical factor after I referred to as: “We’re closed for the matsuri.” Even Akiko wasn’t conscious there was a personal competition just for these born on the island.
I must return to Ishigaki for the evening and go to Taketomi Island the following day. Aya gave me a trip to the port in Uehara.
That night in Ishigaki, with no plan and dodging intermittent sunshowers, I made a decision to have dinner at a standard izakaya referred to as Paikaji. I took a seat on the counter and ordered an assortment of Okinawan requirements: deep-fried gurukun (banana fish), shima-dōfu (Okinawan-style tofu), umibudō (sea grapes) and an Orion beer. An older man sitting two seats down received my consideration and complimented my digital camera. Older guys are usually into the gear, however he simply needed an in to speak.
Realizing I may communicate Japanese, he moved a chair nearer and commenced displaying me footage of his sojourns world wide. Deep sea fishing in Ishigaki. Looking deer and bear in Hokkaido. Visiting a gun vary with an American good friend in New York — be it cameras or weapons, the man certain appreciated to shoot issues.
His face wore the palsied indicators of a stroke, accentuated by the truth that he was now very drunk. Mid-conversation he abruptly stopped and proclaimed that he would “quickly go to heaven.”
I mentioned, “Me too.”
Perhaps he thought I used to be joking or simply clumsily dodging an uncomfortable matter. I feel he anticipated me to ask him why. I kept away from displaying him the scars on my chest to clarify. A lull fell over our dialog. Our wry smiles appeared to verify we shared one thing unstated — a liminal proximity to demise and to residence.
We shared one other bottle of beer. After some back-and-forth he excused himself, paid his invoice and left. Virtually instantly the workers started to apologize for him. He’s a daily buyer, they defined. He eats right here each time he comes again to Ishigaki, which is commonly. The pinnacle waiter smiled and requested if the person had advised me his identify.
I noticed we hadn’t correctly launched one another.
“His identify is Terafuku. Uncommon identify. Know what it means?”
I did. “Temple blessing.”
I smiled on the poetry of it.
On the ferry to Taketomi Island the following morning, I selected to sit down within the plush, air-conditioned room with the opposite passengers. The captain introduced the journey time and vacation spot and I felt fortunate to be headed to a brand new location to fulfill new individuals.
I’m in all probability happiest when setting off on a journey. By no means too desperate to arrive. I’ve, with out actually planning to, organized my life round such moments. No matter comes after the departure is incidental to the journey itself.
We are saying vacationers select experiences over possessions, however for the really nomadic — those that’ve deserted the very idea of residence — experiences are possessions, tangible issues as actual as any merchandise packed right into a bag.
For the dedicated traveler, life decisions are an act of curation, a set of scenes to relive sometime because it all winds down. The main points blur and fade, however inevitably, the tales we keep in mind will emerge as the one true belongings we ever actually had.
Shaun McKenna 19:19
Thanks, Lance Henderstein for sharing his story with us on Deep Dive. If you wish to try the images he took for the piece, then please head to japantimes.co.jp. I am going to depart a hyperlink to the story within the present notes. Additionally tell us what you considered this format, or any of our episodes for that matter. We received numerous suggestions from final week’s episode about hashish in Japan. Lots of people made fairly passionate arguments in favor of legalization. You will get in contact with us at podcast@japantimes.co.jp or message us on X, previously Twitter, at @Japan Deep Dive. And if you happen to like what you are listening to, then we might like it if you happen to may take the time to provide us a ranking on the podcasting platform of your selection. Anyway as we wrap up summer time and head into autumn, Deep Dive goes to take a break subsequent week however we shall be again mid-October with new episodes. The present is produced by Dave Cortez. Our outgoing observe is by Oscar Boyd and our theme music is by Japanese musician LLLL. I am Shaun McKenna, podtsukaresama.
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