Okuma with Grammie

One of Grammie’s requests before she came over was that we visit Okuma while she’s here. Great! Any excuse to go to Okuma, the military resort in the north of the island, is fine by me. So I made a reservation and here we are. Stevie, unfortunately, was on call when we came on Sunday and after an inundation of term pregnant women from the mainland due to the earthquake and tsunami and radiation, he gratefully took the opportunity to stay home and have a quiet break.

We arrived Sunday afternoon and had a nice stroll and play on the beach. We were searching for the trampoline that they used to have here when we found the playground and I challenged Grammie to her first game of tetherball. Well, after 67 years, Grammie has found her champion sport! She rocked at tetherball beating everyone multiple times. Of course it probably helped her that I was laughing so hard that I was crying. Who knew tetherball could be so fun?

Beating Emmy

Beating Cannon

Beating London

Monday we headed over to the restaurant to fill our bellies on biscuits and gravy, pancakes and other champion American breakfast foods for breakfast. Then we drove a short distance to a fabulous hike that I haven’t done in 18 months. This wonderful trail leads you up and down the steep sides of the northern Okinawan landscape, over gorges and out to a gushing waterfall called Hiji Falls. Although the weather was too cool for the beach, it was perfect for a strenuous hike through the hills.

A little artistic photography mixed in with my hike...

Hiji Falls

Emmy was a trooper on this hike - these were not easy steps, but she took them like a champ!

Go Grammie, go!

After our hike, we headed down the road to the Bashofu Weaving Center. Bashofu weaving is a traditional handmade craft that has been a part of Okinawan culture for centuries. This tiny little center in the middle of a tiny little village is a reminder of how life used to be. They showed us a video (in English!) which really explained the process as well as giving us an insight into traditional life. I think this is the first time I’ve actually been anywhere in Japan and had a very eloquent and informative video shown to me in English. I wish there had been others because I really understand now instead of piecing history together through poorly translated sub-titles and pictographs.

The short version of bashofu weaving is that women of this village use banana plants (bashofu) to make fibers to make thread to weave into cloth to make traditional kimono and other items. Intricate “splash” patterns are designed and the thread is dyed in specific places using one of two natural dyes (indigo or brown) to create the patterns when woven on a loom. It was unbelievably time intensive to make the finished material and I now have an appreciation of why the price is so high. Unfortunately, the signs were clear that there was to be no photography, so I have nothing but words to share with you.