Alec in Japan

We recently got hit by the big Typhoon Man-Yi here in Okinawa. It was about Level 5 and came straight through Okinawa and even hit the mainland pretty badly.

Before it came I’d not experienced a typhoon, earthquake, volcano or any other serious weather like that so I wasn’t really sure how big it was going to be. There had been such a build-up to it that I expected chaos, cars rolled over, roofs thrown off and things like that. Fortunately for Okinawa, that didn’t happen, even though this it was the biggest typhoon to hit Okinawa in two or three years.

I took some photos documenting what happened in the the leadup, during the typhoon, and in the aftermath.

This first photo to the left is one I took on the day before the typhoon was due to hit. It’s a photo of the hotel beach and you can see the dark clouds hovering overhead. There were black clouds like this for two days before the typhoon and even people who’ve never experienced a typhoon before (eg; me) could tell something big was coming.

This photo on the right was taken from my balcony at 10.20. The only cars on the road were of people who absolutely had to travel as in serious typhoons like this, holidays are declared so no one has to risk going to work or school. We weren’t sure if our minibus to work would come because of the weather, but sure enough it did and I went to work where shops and restaurants were open, but no one was allowed to use the beach or pools. This pic on the left shows Read the rest of this entry »

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I’ve been in Okinawa for a few days now and it really does feel like a different country from Japan sometimes! The Okinawan culture is blend of Japanese, Chinese and American cultures with a generous helping of island spirit. And whilst on the one hand Okinawa has been the object of international disputes for hundreds of years, it feels like a little island that no one’s discovered before.

When I first arrived at the airport, I noticed that everything was so amazingly clean. Riding the monorail to the centre of Naha I don’t think I would’ve been surprised to see people eating off the pavements! That side of Okinawa was very Japanese; the cleanliness. Once I arrived in Naha at my hotel, I began to see a bit of a more different side to Okinawa.

The budget hotel I was staying at was in a very non-touristy shopping area around Heiwa Douri (Peace Street). The shops seemed pretty basic and were run, for the most part, by little old ladies. As I walked around Heiwa Douri a lot of people were looking at me with what seemed like a mixture of curiosity and hostility. I’ve been around a lot in Japan but I’ve never been the object of such looks. I don’t know whether it’s because I’m a foreigner in a small city, or because they think I’m one of the many American soldiers stationed on the island (or perhaps because I’m just so damned good-looking!).

Last night I was walking to the beach and walked past a house which was really a bit of a shack. Inside the tv was left on and there was an old woman lying down who’d obviously just fallen asleep with the door open on to the road. It reminded me a lot of a kampung house in Malaysia.

The weather is really hot and really humid; again a bit like Malaysia. I suppose Okinawa is so far south that it’s not surprising it reminds me of South-East Asia in a lot of ways.

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