{"id":1055,"date":"2007-09-13T11:18:57","date_gmt":"2007-09-13T15:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/poagao.org\/2007\/okinawa-trip-part-3\/"},"modified":"2007-09-18T12:43:19","modified_gmt":"2007-09-18T16:43:19","slug":"okinawa-trip-part-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/poagao.org\/2007\/okinawa-trip-part-3\/","title":{"rendered":"Okinawa Trip, part 3"},"content":{"rendered":"
Tuesday<\/strong><\/p>\n Getting off the ship was much easier this time, a simple matter of exiting the hatch on deck 1. I joined a Taiwanese couple on their way to After exiting the castle via a small side gate (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153reserved mostly for women,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d the sign read) and examining the freshwater springs next to it, I walked down to a small pond, in the middle of which sat a traditional hut on a small island connect to the shore by a small ornamental bridge. On the path, a Japanese woman beckoned to either a duck or grey cat, both of whom were ignoring her.<\/p>\n It started to rain, so I crossed the bridge and joined two sleeping, shoeless Japanese men on the hut\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s wooden porch. It was very peaceful. Huge fish moved through the murky water of the pond under the rain. A trio of girls stopped by as well, but seemed too scared to sit on the porch. They also seemed scared of the tree in front of the hut, and of everything in general, but in that “Oh, look, I’m so cute when I’m scared” kind of way.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The sun came out, and I moved on, walking down streets in the general direction of the monorail terminal I’d seen on the cartoon map. The weather was strange, with bouts of thick drizzle coming and going, alternating with strong sunshine that resulted in brilliant shiny streets. Military jets soared overhead. I noticed lots of small, boxy cars, new models I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d never seen before, though with familiar brand names. Perhaps the Japanese love them for their large size and small, easily parkable footprint.<\/p>\n I wondered if Lawson Station, I’ve found, is the 7-Eleven equivalent here, along with a spattering of Family Marts. Unlike in Taiwan, the shops mostly have parking lots in front of them. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a lot of space here, and not too much traffic. In fact, I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t notice very many people walking around in that area, which is at the east end of The bird-call signals at the crosswalks are stereophonic, I presume, to help blind people know where they are. I walked past a school and inquired about some tabi socks to go with my tabi shoes, but the shoe store lady said they didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have any. Perhaps tabi are not popular here, though I saw some workmen wearing them, along with baggy pants.<\/p>\n I reached Shuri Station and kept walking along the monorail, down the hill towards town. It was very hot; the rain squalls had stopped. A blue-eyed cat sitting in the first-floor parking lot of an apartment building stared at the space just to my right, following it as I walked by.<\/p>\n I happened across a canal, which was similar to those of <\/a><\/p>\n The monorail track was very high at this point, towering over everything else, making me wonder again about the earthquake possibilities here. I continued to follow them, passing several stations as I approached downtown, but it was already
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