Sayonara Okinawa

Sayonara Okinawa

(I am writing this entry after having returned home. The actual day of these events was April 9th 2007.)

Art gets lucky and is able to change our frequent flyer tickets home. He will return to L.A. on Tuesday and John and I will return to San Francisco on Friday and drive to L.A. the following afternoon. Mizuho’s memorial service will not be until April 16^th. We have only today to pack everything up, clean our apartment, return our cell phones, disconnect the internet and find storage for our bicycles. We work at light speed and with the help of Takaaki and Tadashi, all is accomplished except for the final cleaning which I will be responsible for in the morning after all is removed from the apartment.

I manage to escape mid afternoon for a last foray along Kokusai Street. The Schulman’s have been on their own today, but I still hope to show them the Tsuboyu pottery district and John has been coveting a trick battery operated car in the Naha Main Place Mall. Time is of the essence and since our bicycles have been whisked away by Takaaki, John and I catch a taxi up to Shintoshin so that he can buy the coveted toy car. We virtually jog from Shintoshin to Heiwadori street to meet the Schulman’s in the covered market. After finding an exchange bank for Michael, I guide them along Heiwadori market, our goal being the historic Tsuboyu district but there are many distractions as we progress along this bustling arcade. Helene wants to find a lounging kimono for Michael, Annya is hungry and I want to find a few final gifts to take home. I expected to have a final week in Naha after our island get away and had planned to do all my shopping at that time. Michael bashfully models a striped cotton kimono, but it looks good on him and Helene snatches it up. I steer Annya to a small kiosk and order her a crepe with an egg cracked on top. Michael orders one too and they sit together on tiny stools and consume the minimal fare. The crepes take the edges off their hunger and we proceed to the end of Heiwadori and stroll into the sunlight of the Tsuboyu district.

Late afternoon sunlight drenches this picturesque area of cobbled streets with stone walls and historic buildings. We sip iced coffee together at an outside café, our table tucked under a huge Aka tree alongside a crumbled hillside pottery kiln and pay $5.00 each for our icy drinks. Our impending departure has been sudden and I am not ready to take leave of all of this but I console myself with the knowledge that I will be back again soon. My melancholy is replaced with the rush of the caffeine and the 6 of us take leave of our table beneath the tree to continue our wanderings. I am familiar with the narrow side streets now lush with spring foliage clinging into the crevices of the ancient stone walls. We walk along the pedestrian path, with beautiful and historic houses secreted behind stone walls, gates and spirit walls. One of these properties has been converted into a pottery studio where guests can make their own Shisa’s or pottery bowls. The grounds of this pottery studio are beautiful, the workshop opening out into the front garden. A few students are working on projects and Michael wishes that Annya had time to make her own special guardian Shisa and I wish the same for John. I am not sure there will be another chance for Annya, but I know that John and I will be back. We continue along our side loop reconnecting with the main street of this district. Pottery shops line the street, many with adjoining studios. At our favorite Shisa shop, John and I part from our friends and take a taxi back to our now empty apartment.

Our landlord comes by with a gift of cake for us and two tea cups. Narumi has left us flowers. Shigeru stops by briefly to hand Art a formal decorated envelope of money for him to take to Mizuho’s wife, Satomi. Later in the evening, Tadashi and Harruyo give Art similar envelopes to carry back to Satomi. Everyone is so very kind.

Tonight’s impromptu farewell dinner is at Kai Restaurant in Shintoshin. The party is small, consisting of just us, the Schulman’s, Takaaki, Tadashi and his mother Harruyo. We are seated in a private room away from the activity of the central kitchen and dining room and I wish for the distraction and energy the main room has offered us in the past. There is a solemn finality about tonight’s gathering and I am sad to be leaving in such haste. Harruyo has dressed simply and elegantly and I note how beautiful and composed she is. Tonight’s meal is disappointing, or perhaps I am just disappointed to be returning home under these hurried and sad circumstances.