A few clouds on my Okinawan horizon...

So there were a couple of tiny letdowns on my otherwise picture-perfect holiday: one small regret is that we got no sunsets. It's hard to beat sitting on a balcony watching the sun go down in a blaze of glory after a day of lazing about on the beach. But the weather would not cooperate, and it got muggy and hazy almost every night. There was one clear night where I got a nice photo of the first star coming out over the mangroves. But apart from that I was denied my skies.

Another small complaint requires a bit of back story: there is a strong militaristic vein running through Japanese society. This can be seen in - among other things - the Japanese love of precision planning, the rigid hierarchical structures of their schools and businesses, and their love (to the point of fetishism) of uniforms. Take a look at this photo snapped while I was waiting for my bullet train to Osaka there a few weeks ago - one fleeting moment encapsulates uniformed workers of varied ranks awaiting a scheduled arrival you could set your watch to.


So anyway, the trouble was that this regimented authoritarianism even infected my beautiful, relaxing beach time. Come 10am and 2pm every day a message from the Ishigaki City Office would blare out from the loud haler (you have to have public address systems everywhere over here in case of earthquake);

"Let's enjoy a safe golden week. Do not engage in the following activities: One, do not go swimming alone; Two, get enough sleep before enjoying watersports; Three, do not swim outside the designated areas...blah, blah, blah..."

And this would go on for about 5 minutes! It used to drive me mad. The European in me wanted to stay up all night and go skinny dipping alone in a prohibited area just to break as many of the regulations at once as possible. But my Japanese friends thought that this was the most natural thing in the world and that that was what the city office was there for.

My final little tiny moan was that there was one day of rain during my week of sunshine. Let me tell you, when it rains in Okinawa it really rains. Appropriately enough, it was the day we did the 30 km hike through the wetlands. But I was absolutely soaked, and got back to the hotel exhausted, starving and looking like I'd been dragged through a bog backwards. I will say, though, that even in the rain, the place has a dense, fertile beauty.



And it's thanks too all this rain that such an abundance of plant life can prosper. I nearly lost the group on several occasions hanging back to take photo after photo of the local fauna. So many weird and wonderful flowers. Here a just a few -



And who knew the Dharma initiative had set up a regional station - The SugarCube - in the hills of Ishigaki.

L'il Bro, two more episodes left and I gotta say I'm feeling a little let down. I know that there was no way they would ever please everyone, but I feel they focused on too many of the uninteresting characters and lost focus on many of the most intriguing storylines. What say you?