Morning in Naha, Okinawa.

tunalegs

tunalegs

Pretended Artist
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12:28 AM
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Sep 2, 2011
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I went to visit a friend in Naha for five days, and I brought my 1936 Pilot 6 along for some photos. I would walk every morning before meeting my friend, and take photos.

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

In the morning you'll see a lot of people making deliveries on three wheel scooters.

Power by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Architecture in Naha is delightful. Lots of variety, most of it photogenic.

Wall by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

This street is where pottery is sold. Okinawan pottery is famous in Japan (as is Okinawan glass).

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Ukishima Corner by Berang Berang, on Flickr

What's that?

Daihatsu by Berang Berang, on Flickr

It's a Daihatsu Midget. A pretty famous vintage truck in Japan. Three wheels and a single cylinder air cooled engine. This one has a new life as decoration outside of a tavern. I took lots of photos... I don't apologize for it.

Poster by Berang Berang, on Flickr

From Kibogaoka Park by Berang Berang, on Flickr

The view of the city from on top of kibogaoka park. Let's go over to sakurazaka dori now...

Sakurazaka by Berang Berang, on Flickr

This walkway leads from the park to sakurazaka. Taco rice is an okinawan dish, it's like a taco salad that's laid over a bed of rice instead of in a shell or tortilla. It's delicious and very filling. I'm going to make some at home.

Sakurazaki Cats by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Motorcycle Cat by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Lots of cats in this area. Some are stray, some are taken care of.

Sakurazaki by Berang Berang, on Flickr
 
Behind the Arcade by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Peace Street by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Peace street - it's a covered market. A nice place to see and buy things when it is rainy or hot out.

Koksusai Street Food Villiage by Berang Berang, on Flickr

This is where I ran into a group of elderly people who seemed to be part of a photography club. It gave me the idea to come back with my friend and get drinks later, but that's another story (and unfortunately only documented with cell phone pics).

From Matsuo Park by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Matsuo Park by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Ukishima Midget by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Ukishima Midget by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Volkswagen by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Naha by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Tavern by Berang Berang, on Flickr

The weather was rainy and overcast for most of my stay, but normally Okinawa is pretty sunny and hot. I would go back in a heartbeat, given the chance. I visited Nago and Uruma as well, but I'll have to save those places for another thread as the Pilot didn't go with me there.
 
I left Okinawa in 1964. It looks like they haven't changed their sewage/benjo system in all that time. Naha was best know as the capitol (IIRC) and a port. Not many tall buildings. An Australian pilot from WWII told a friend of mine he remembered flying over the city after the island was taken over by US forces, and the only thing standing was a radio tower. I road those 3 wheel 'motorcycles a few times. The first time one made a tight turn and put me (in the passenger seat) over a banjo ditch, was a little disconcerting. :p

Looks like a nice, vibrant, and photogenic place now. And the Pilot 6 is obviously capable of some really nice photos. Thanks for sharing. I really enjoyed seeing those photos.
 
My friend took me to the Peace Memorial Museum which has an exhibit about the war, Japanese atrocities, and the following hardships and shortages under U.S. occupation, and indeed very little of the city survived the war, nearly everything was of postwar construction in Naha. The Japanese didn't want anything getting into U.S. hands, so whatever the Americans didn't bomb the Japanese tried to destroy as they left (and this included people).

Unlike what little I saw of Tokyo though, Naha had distinct, but comfortable, vintage feel about the town. It reminded me of a sort of cross between east coast resort towns and trips to Mexico. You go and you can't help but feel you're on vacation. It's a popular spot with Taiwanese, Koreans, and Japanese for summer vacations, and I can understand why.
 
I came back in to look again at your photos. They really are nice slices of life there. And the Pilot 6 is rendering them well. You show a good eye too. Again, thanks for sharing these. I haven't been in the far east since 1987. Interesting to see some things have changed, and some not.
 
tunalegs said:
My friend took me to the Peace Memorial Museum which has an exhibit about the war, Japanese atrocities, and the following hardships and shortages under U.S. occupation, and indeed very little of the city survived the war, nearly everything was of postwar construction in Naha. The Japanese didn't want anything getting into U.S. hands, so whatever the Americans didn't bomb the Japanese tried to destroy as they left (and this included people).

Unlike what little I saw of Tokyo though, Naha had distinct, but comfortable, vintage feel about the town. It reminded me of a sort of cross between east coast resort towns and trips to Mexico. You go and you can't help but feel you're on vacation. It's a popular spot with Taiwanese, Koreans, and Japanese for summer vacations, and I can understand why.
Click to expand...

There was also a place, near Sukiran as I recall, that we used to call Suicide Canyon. I guess many civilians committed suicide there rather than face the atrocities the Japanese promised them if they were captured by the Americans. Ironically, it was mostly what the Japanese were already doing to them, but the Allies did not do.

Okinawa was interesting to me. They allied themselves as a vassal of China. The relationship seems to have been valued more for the tribute ships sent once a year to China, accompanied by trade ships. The trade ships made money for the Okinawan monarchy, as well as the Chinese merchants.

Unfortunately, as China weakened, and Japan grew in strength, they annexed Okinawa. They were strong enough to do it, but didn't feel strong enough to risk fighting China for it. They therefore forbade the Okinawans from telling the Chinese. That meant they had to continue to provide tribute to China, and also to the new rulers of Japan. Loosing situation.

Another thing about Okinawa, was they had their own language. It seems it still persists on some of the remoter islands, if not on Okinawa itself. It did exist on Okinawa still, when I was there. Some of the very old people never learned Japanese, some of the very young never learned the Okinawan language. You can google Ishkawa island and find maps and facts about the dialect they spoke there. Also, it had been a custom for women, especially in the 'mountains' to tattoo themselves, especially their hands. You could still see them occasionally when I was there.

I hope you get to return there and share some of the photos you get. Okinawa was my first overseas experience and I really enjoyed it. Hope this post wasn't too long, but as I said, Okinawa has always fascinated me.

Among other things, the Japanese took away the warriors weapons. They treated the Okinawans badly, and began changing their culture and language to that of Japan. (Something the Japanese tried to do with Korea, but didn't own them long enough to complete). Lacking weapons, some believe some of the farm implement weapons were developed by the Okinawans to compensate for and hide the use of weapons.
 
When I was in the USAF in the early '60's some of the guys talked about having been stationed on Okinawa. These are the first photos I have seen of it. Thanks for the pictures and the history.
 
Thanks for the comments. My friend did talk about how Okinawa was traditionally more aligned with China. For example, Shuri castle is built along the lines of a Chinese castle rather than a Japanese one:

Shuri Castle by Berang Berang, on Flickr

Amongst many other things. It is definitely a place worth seeing and experiencing. The castle, by the way is a reconstruction, the original having burned several times, and finally being destroyed during the war. I believe this latest reconstruction was built in the 90s. The stone walls and foundations of course are original and centuries old. There are a few other castles in ruins around the island, and we visited one, Katsuren castle, which offered a spectactular view of Uruma and the ocean.
 
goodtimes said:
Nice, I'd love to go there, take a walk and make pictures.
Do they speak a little English ?
Click to expand...

Fewer people speak English than in Tokyo. But if you're buying something or need a taxi, etc. those people will know enough English for you to get by. I would suggest taking a phrasebook, Okinawans speak standard Japanese, so (ironically) you won't need to learn the peculiarities of a local dialect like you might visiting someplace closer to Tokyo. Also even if they don't speak English, most people are pretty aware of tourists and won't be offended as long as you're polite and patient.
 
I expect some amount of older people could speak English. just out of practice. The younger would no doubt consider themselves Japanese, and with what I would guess is a small amount of US military or tourists, would see no advantage in learning English.
 
One more from the Pilot, this time of the beach in Nago:

Nago by Berang Berang, on Flickr

I'll do another thread of other non-pilot pics once I sort through them all, but thought this would be less out of place here. The beach was beautiful and I should have taken more pictures, but we weren't sure when the next bus was going back and had to go.
 
tunalegs said:
Fewer people speak English than in Tokyo. But if you're buying something or need a taxi, etc. those people will know enough English for you to get by. I would suggest taking a phrasebook, Okinawans speak standard Japanese, so (ironically) you won't need to learn the peculiarities of a local dialect like you might visiting someplace closer to Tokyo. Also even if they don't speak English, most people are pretty aware of tourists and won't be offended as long as you're polite and patient.
Click to expand...

The older folks speak hogun. Uchinoguchi and such.
 
Last time I was in Okinawa, they all speak Japanese...
Okinawan language 沖縄口, ウチナーグチ, Uchinaa-guchi or Okinawa Guchi, guchi is mouth, 沖縄 is Okinawa, hogen is 方言, means dialect,
I go to Hong Kong and they all speak Cantonese and I can only understand at most 20%...
Okinawa on the south, Hokkaido north...great place to visit.

Begin, Okinawa singer, one of the best from Japan,
They even pronounce the song title differently, '島人ぬ宝'; shimanchu nu takara,

https://youtu.be/AhXm-TKn-tw
 
Taipei-metro said:
Last time I was in Okinawa, they all speak Japanese...
Okinawan language 沖縄口, ウチナーグチ, Uchinaa-guchi or Okinawa Guchi, guchi is mouth, 沖縄 is Okinawa, hogen is 方言, means dialect,
I go to Hong Kong and they all speak Cantonese and I can only understand at most 20%...
Okinawa on the south, Hokkaido north...great place to visit.

Begin, Okinawa singer, one of the best from Japan,
They even pronounce the song title differently, '島人ぬ宝'; shimanchu nu takara,

https://youtu.be/AhXm-TKn-tw
Click to expand...

Well, I lived there for a year in 1983. So maybe I have some idea what I'm talking about.
 
1983 was a long time ago though (feelings of oldness not intended).

Thanks for the comments everybody.
 
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