Beyond the resorts: another side of Ishigaki

Living in the heart of Tokyo, it becomes easy to assume that everyone in Japan is extremely rich. This city is the centre of economic, political and - to some extent - cultural activity in the country, and I see the trappings of that power around me every day. But such an assumption does not hold up to too much scrutiny. Sure, even Osaka - the second citiy - gives off a much more run-down image than the capital. Dad, you would have loved it: in my first hour there last month I saw like four things held together with duct tape!

So, it should come at no surprise that Okinawa finds itself very much at the other end of the economic spectrum to its big-city brothers and sisters. The prefecture is financed by tourism, agriculture, and - oh yeah - US military bases, but I'll leave that little hot-potato aside for another time. I was lucky enough to stay in a fairly swanky resort on Ishigaki, and much and all as I love that bit of luxury, I always try to take a walk away from the tourist centres whenever I visit a new place. My wanderings showed me that the farmers and fishers and other workers of the island appear to be living within some fairly restricted budgets.

Here is a typical house split up into rooms for rent. This is no holiday home.

Here is a less standard home; Ishigaki does trailer park.


The owners are inventive, I'll give them that. Some tight parking and they have themselves an extension.

Just like in the west of Ireland, you see lots of walls made of 'vernacular' materials. Are you proud of me for remembering that expression, H.? All that bloomin' thatch work wasn't in vain!!!

I guess part of this reasoning behind these structures is why pay for a brick when you have a rock lying in your field that will do the job.

Even the shrines on the island lack the sparkle and veneer of the mainland - but they have a brutal beauty, don't you think?

Unfortunatly, the shrines could easily be mistaken for the local public toilets!!!

You see, I told you Japan is a paradise for the small-bladdered.

I love this picture of the farmer who lives over her/his tractor.


Now that's some Massey love. Don't they have earthquakes here? I'm not sure how stable a home this would be. It brought to mind the farm I stayed in in the mountains of Northern Thailand. The people their (the Karen) build their wooden homes on stilts so that they can live over their pigs. Not only does the heat of the beasts underneath keep their homes warm, but they view the animals as givers of their wealth and deserving of as good a place to live as they give themselves. I wonder if that was going through this farmer's mind?

Anyway, please indulge me for still going on about my holiday all these weeks after it finished. I have nothing else worthy of talking about in my life at the moment. My job is one awful limbo-land where I don't know what the heck is in store for me. And it's affecting my whole attitude to life and everything is feeling kind of sucky.

Well no, that's not entirely true. I'm absolutely loving my german lessons. The teacher is great, the other pupils are great, and we cover so much in five hours - we're already starting to make simple sentences. It's a full on Sunday, though.

But really aside from that, with the job and rainy season on the way I'm really being a bit of a gloomy guss. I did, however, see a really nice plant on my way to lunch in Roppongi Hills yesterday. Mam, is it a hydrangea?



You see that's how exciting my life is at the mo; blistering!