Rain, Rain

Okinawa gets a lot of rain. Everyone, including this "shisha", learns to live with it. As in the rest of Japan (except for Hokkaido) there is a rainy season--May in Okinawa, June on the main island Honshu. This year, at least so far, the rain is cool and refreshing.

Rain is what you make of it. Today it is misty and moody, just the thing to awaken one's inner romanticist and make creativity sprout. I personally am taking advantage of the season to go on a writing retreat. Be back at the end of June!

Sam and his Sanshin

The quintessential Japanese musical instrument is a three-stringed sanshin. Since a sanshin has long strings and no frets, any note can be played and any kind of mood can be invoked. Upbeat, dance-able songs? OK! Quiet, moody ballads? Equally OK!

When the hero of my second Okinawa novel wants to announce his new business, he picks up a sanshin and plays a song that goes like this:

"Meet me at the west gate.
Be sure to ride up in style.
I'll let you into the castle,
where we'll live the life of kings,
but only for today.
Then you have to go,
and we will be what we have always been:
I in my court kimono,
and you in your workman's garb."

Sam has been to the metropolis, and he knows it isn't for him. He is what he is, a man in workman's garb.

Work? When it's the right job, it's as exalting as robes and a crown.

That Okinawa Feeling

Naha is a big city, but being there feels very different from being here in Hino. Naha feels like a village, and it feels close to nature. This is in spite of Hino being a much smaller city with much more open space. (Naha: almost 300,000 people; Hino: almost 150,000 people)

Why? I don't know. It is part of the Okinawan mystique that pervades my novel, Katsuren.

* You know you are in Naha when you are never more than a few steps away from a beautiful tree or shrub in bloom.

* You know you are in Naha when you see and greet people who know you by name, even though you do not live in Naha.

* You know you are in Naha when sky and clouds form a major part of the landscape.

* You know you are in Naha when you are overcome by the urge to walk, and walk, and walk. Even when it's hot.