Now that the diving was behind us, it was time to see the rest of what Okinawa had to offer. We'd dealt with most things under the sea, so what did they have going on at the surface?
We'd heard of two things Okinawa was famous for; Glass, and Pineapples. Everything is pineapples. Every shop, every store on every street, half the merchandise was pineapple themed. Happy looking pineapples, favourite characters from various origins holding pineapples, gum, candy, and chocolate in the flavour of pineapples, and even our rental car agreement stipulated that "You can eat pineapples as much as you like." (That is not a joke, see the deal here)
All the literature and maps of Okinawa kept pointing towards one thing...Pineapple Park. Imagine the disneyland...of pineapples. That's this place.
We'd passed it on the way to the aquarium but it had closed by the time we'd gotten finished with the fishes. Today was P-day. Tucked behind the unassuming giant pineapple statue at the side of highway 58, this place promised a free ride on the pineapple cart with the price of admission.
This is in fact a golf cart....an electric, autonomous golf cart, shaped like a massive pineapple. To say it was unsettling was to say the least...in order to get on the golf cart, one had to first have their photo taken with the mascot, an anthropomorphic mustachioed pineapple.
We piled into the cart, and the automated voice described fascinating pineapple related facts, such as the origin of the word pineapple. Did you know it descends from the words "pine" and "apple" ? Such wisdom!
Over and over in the background plays the pineapple song. The Japanese word for pineapple by the way, is Pinapurru. It's just a Katakana pronounciation of the english.
Katakana for those who don't know, is the alphabet used for the writing of foreign words. It's more or less Hiragana, but more angular and with some changes, though there are the same amount of characters, and they all symbolize the same mouth sounds. You can sort of "speak" Katakana at the Japanese and most of the time they'll understand, if you don't know the Japanese word. This takes a little bit of getting used to, because it really feels at first like you're trying to put on a bad Japanese accent, and speak English. It feels like you're making fun of them, but if you know the alphabet you can actually communicate quite a bit this way, and they appreciate you trying. The reason is, I think, because a number of Japanese words are English words in Katakana. Beer = Biru, Cake = Keki, Pineapple = Pinapurru, etc. If you don't know how to say "ticket" you can ask where to get a "tiketo". "Doko wa tiketo desu ka?" It feels wrong, but it works quite right.
This pineapple song though was only about five words, and most of them were Pinapurru. It just played endlessly on repeat, like the song that doesn't end, from Lambchop Sing-a-long. If you really got into it though, for a cool thirty dollars you could own the instructional DVD, and learn the accompanying dance. Yikes.
We got off our pineapple cart ride, and walked inside what we assumed was the pineapple museum...to find...sea shells? How the relationship between seashells and pineapples was established, i'm not sure. For whatever reason, there were two or three large rooms of seashells of all types, some available for purchase. After being directed through the seashell giftshop, we saw a pineapple archway over the next door and knew we were back on track.
Or were we?
I can't read much Japanese, so I'm not sure of the relationship between Christopher Columbus and pineapples, but it sure looks to be significant. There he is with his sextant, examining the stars and accidentally discovering pineapples...where...he then....brought them to Japan? I don't get it...
There was also a brief pictographical mural describing the making of pineapple wine. Oddly, the pineapple being made into wine doesn't get anthropomorphized until after he's juiced. Know this people - don't juice your pineapples...that's when they become sentient!!! Pineapple juice is plotting its sugary takeover on shelves across the world!!!
Fortunately, Okinawa has signed on to combat the pineapple invasion by first exorcising the ghosts of pineapple past, giving the juice a fever, and bottling it, which of course makes it fall asleep. Thank goodness.
The rest of Pineapple Park was less of a park and more of a many-tiered gift shop. It just went on and on and on and on. Pineapple wine, pineapple juice, pineapple cake, pineapple pie, pineapple tarts & cream puffs, pineapple flan, pineapple trifle, pineapple jelly, pineapple ice cream, and yes...actual pineapples. It went on forever.
After pineapple park, we listened to the NHK to try to shake the pineapple song out of our heads. The NHK is essentially the Japanese CBC. It's a government radio/television station, commercial free, and largely news. We of course managed to turn on to some odd avant-garde performances of people imitating animal sounds, and strange maniacal cartoon laughter. When the news at noon began, so did our speculation.
Each of us know a teeny bit of Japanese, and together we sort of say aloud each word that we understand, and use it to piece together what the radio's saying. In this case, it was easy. We kept hearing Ichiro, Ichiro, Ichiro. For those that don't know, Ichiro is an MLB player from Japan, and here in Japan he's a massive celebrity. He's living the Japanese dream, make it in America as a baseball star. He was made to hit in America. We started thinking...how big is Ichiro? Does the news at noon have an Ichiro update built in? Impossible...but...perhaps?
We found out later on that Ichiro had been traded to the New York Yankees, and gone from the worst team in the league, to the best. This made the opening headline of the news at noon. If Canada is a hockey country, then damn - Japan is a baseball country.
I've also got to talk a moment also about some of the cars i've seen...because it's really just too much to touch. Bill Bailey, the UK comedian talks about the naming conventions of cars, and how what they promise in a name always must be vigor, testosterone, power, and elegance. Those sorts of things are what a car name must evoke. The Hyundai Sonata, the Dodge Viper, the Ford Mustang. Elegance...danger...surging forth.
Japan is not like that.
We've commented on a number of ads that we've seen that promise you a happy life, if you buy their product. Western ads tend to promise success, status, "cool"ness, and good looks. Japanese ads tend to promise Life, and having a happy one. Happy hair, happy life. Good teeth, good life. No music, no life? (most of these are very real taglines). This thinking dominates all Japanese advertising. That, and cuteness. So is it really a surprise to see cars like the Honda Life, the Daihatsu Move, the Suzuki Works, the Nissan Wingroad, and my personal absolute favourite:
That's right. The car is called the That's.
"Allright, it's time to go."
"Are you driving, or am I?"
"I'll drive. We'll take the That's."
What is this evocative of? It's not even a noun!!! Who is this car meant to appeal to? What a bizarre idea. The Honda That's. Imagine the marketing meeting where it was pitched. It must've sounded like an Abbot and Costello routine.
Anyway - moving on.
We made a point to try and see some actual Okinawan culture now that we'd left the Pineapple Park. We'd heard that nearby there was a glass-blowing place, and we could see real Okinawan glass being made right before our eyes.
After getting lost three times, having passed the poorly-signed "Glass House in the Woods" each time, we finally found it. It wasn't really in the woods, but it was surrounded by an excess of potted plants. I suppose that's forest enough for some people.
We had a look, and got to see some glass being blown, some glass being melted, and people lined up to create their own glass wonders...mostly cups. We would've participated, but you need to allow three days for local delivery, so your glass can cool. Instead I asked if I could walk around and film a little bit. They obliged.
After getting some shots of the place in full swing (and full heat) I was suddenly told to stop.
"This way." I was told. "Stand here. Please wait."
At first I was a bit perturbed. Not because I got booted out of the shop, just because it's decidedly un-Japanese to suddenly un-invite someone to do something. I didn't know really what was up.
Then, this happened.
I've probably watched this footage fifteen or twenty times. My mind is still blown. Seeing him pull that out of thin air using only a pair of pliers, and less than a minute of his time absolutely amazed me in every way. I didn't even know what to say really, except thanks for showing me. I always had been curious about how glass is created, but never did I imagine it'd be done like this. Watch this again and see if you can pinpoint at what moment you realized what it was he was making.
This was an unreal way to finish out the day in Okinawa. We had a flight to catch, so we raced back down to Naha, packed our stuff out of the hostel, returned the rental car, and were off to the airport.
Because of my airpass (only available for purchase outside of Japan, and only to people with an international flight booked within 60 days) we had to take separate flights, but I'd managed to book us departures only 15 minutes apart. To avoid the chaotic scramble of our first airport meeting, we decided to meet at the baggage claim area, before heading out anywhere.
This of course, didn't work out because I realized immediately upon getting my bag...that we'd flown into different terminals. Fortunately I was able to hop on a shuttle bus, rip around the airport, and dash to the other domestic flights exit before Lindsay had her bags. This time, it all worked out. Until of course we tried getting to the hotel.
An overly helpful security guard had continued to try to help me, even though I knew where I was going. The maps at the airport are all in English as well as Japanese, this guy didn't speak any English, and I kept trying to explain "Daijobu. Ike masu." Which is "It's okay, I am going." He wouldn't have any of it. He had to help.
This is another element of Japanese culture i've started to notice, is the excessive helpfulness. It's not the same as the Canadian helpfulness, which is sort of apathetic. We think, oh I can help to help this person, i'll definitely do it. Oh, I can't help them after all? Ah, oh well, I tried. In Japan, the offer comes almost out of fear. They think, I must help this person...I have to. Even if their english is awful, or helping us is beyond their capacity, they will try so hard, suspend everything they're doing, and bend over backwards to help. And if you don't need help, but they think you do (and remember, you're foreign, so you need help whether you like it or not) then goddamn it they're going to help you.
This poor guy was finally able to tell us that the last available shuttle bus had left, and we'd need a taxi. I didn't think this was true...because I'd chosen where we were staying strictly based on being able to get there without having to take a cab (which is ludicrously expensive). So we walked out to a different shuttle bus area, and a bus that said "Airport <---> Hotel" on the side rolled in.
"Sumimasen, doko wa hoteru JAL city desu ka?" We asked in our addled Japanese.
"Ahh, Hotel JAL city." the driver responded in perfect, animated English. "The last shuttle, already left."
We sighed, our backs full of packs, our feet worn, and our minds tired.
Now you have to imagine him saying this, gesturing with his hands and including several dramatic pauses.
"However...if you take this bus to the international terminal...we'll get there for 12:12. There's a shuttle there...that comes at 12:20. That means...you can connect."
We looked up, confused.
"So...Get on the Bus!!!!" he singsonged in a loud and really silly caricature of a voice. We both nearly died laughing, thanking him profusely.
That put us in such a great mood - the helpfulness of Japan never fails, and regardless of their motivation, many people, even most people seem to really, genuinely enjoy being able to help you.
Welcome to Tokyo!
-Jeff
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