Well, I've just returned to the "mainland" from a couple of days on Shiraishi-jima, a tiny little farming and fishing island of 800 people, where I and a very pleasant world-touring German couple appeared to be the only non-residents. Our Japanese-style villa was perched on a ridge overlooking a deserted beach littered with cuttlefish bones and urchin shells. On the terraced hillside in between, old ladies in drab-coloured flower-print polyester slacks tended yam fields, and orchards of persimmons, quinces and clementines. The narrowest little paths you've ever seen cut through the plots and function as roads (hard to get a moped down them, forget a car).
The residents are apparently all on the same schedule, as evidenced by pole-mounted loudspeakers distributed throughout the island, which blast a charmless synthesizer version of Big Ben at 6 am, noon, 5 pm and 9 pm. Great weather, fabulous hiking through bamboo forests and camellia thickets up to spectacular rocky outcrops. Overall, a totally bucolic atmosphere that couldn't contrast more with what I had seen thus far in Japan. A much needed and much appreciated rest.
Arrived today in the rain in Okayama, the main city of this rural area, and back to hypercrowded ramen-and-pachinko normalcy.
By the way, Japan, what's up with putting up Christmas displays in the third week of October?
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2 comments:
I'm enjoying hearing about your trip. With so much else to talk about, we didn't discuss your plans. I'm curious to know how you chose the places you chose, but it all sounds ideal. So far, I'd use your itinerary if I were going to Japan. I'm wishing for you more good experiences. Having the boys here makes me thinking of you almost every minute. Can you feel it?
Oh, so *that's* what that feeling was. At first I thought it was H1N1-induced fever making me delirious...
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