22-05-08

Well, the ferry was long, very long, and by such quite an experience. Apparently it was not the most luxury one. The number of people boarding was surprising our tour guide, who assured us that most probably we would be the only ones. Such was not exactly the case, but after all we managed to find a more or less (rather less .....) comfortable place to sleep on tatami mats like in a dormitory in the army....

Toilets were OK for the women - no details about the men toilets.... - , showers were present, but too complicated, the restaurant was bad (rude staff, quite surprising in Japan!) and at the end we both slept at least 5 hours. At 5 a.m. we made a stop in Amami-o-shima to (un)load new goods and people and that was the time I decided to get up and go on the top deck where I had a talk with a former US-soldier, nowadays married with a Japanese woman and living and working as a civilian in Okinawa.

Okinawa played a key role as tragic battleground in the closing months of WWII. Okinawa became a major US military base during the Cold War and today a strong US military presence persists on the island: 17 % of its inhabitants are American. Their main task would be the control of North-Korea, Chine and Taiwan.

We arrived at approx. 9.30 a.m. at the small island Tokunoshima and since the rooms of our comfortable hotel were not yet available, we carried on right away for a day tour around the beautiful island. Again lots of bright coloured flowers and lots of (palm) trees. Fascinating coast with surprising rock formations. Lunch at Yonoma Beach with a delicious local speciality. Some women were busy to collect sea weed, which you actually can eat directly from the sea. I think I know it, but I thought it to be a kind of noodle...

We were impressed by the War Monument at the Inutabu Observatory at the coast commemorating a battle between the Japanese and Americans causing the destruction of the at that time biggest Japanese naval ship, causing more than 3.000 victims.....

According to a group member one of the twin-films produced a couple of years ago by Clint Eastwood Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima co-produced with Steven Spielberg would relate about this tragic event.

It rained a bit today, it is cloudy, but the temperature is OK. Tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. off for another ferry to Yoron-to, a kind of bounty-island.....

The Nainsei-shoto, or Southwest Islands, usually referred to as Okinawa, meander for more than 1000km from the southern tip of Kyushyu (where we left from yesterday) to Yonagumi-jima, a little over 100 km from the end of Taiwan. In total, Japan counts over 3.000 islands, so we still have work to do ;-)