８月８日（土）

I took an easy day today because I was pretty burnt out.

Emma and I met in the afternoon in Naha in Tsuboya Ceramics District (this place is famous for its beautiful ceramics) at a cafe that played songs from Ghibli movies all day. I ate a wonderful chicken curry.

my iced coffee is so heart-shaped <3

We talked about her interview with the lawyer the other day. In short, the lawyer had said that under the Hague decision the US seizure of Okinawan land initially was illegal, but when Okinawa was returned to Japan in 1972. Now, there is a special law allowing the US to use land called 米軍用特別措置法 (beigun you tokubetsu sochi hou). On the other hand, the Article 95 of the Constitution of Japan states that a special law applicable to only one public entity cannot be enacted by the Diet without a majority vote in referendum from the local citizens. This law is only applied to Okinawa, although it is not only applicable to Okinawa. This is pretty much just a loophole. There are so many examples of these kind of loopholes regarding lawfulness in base issues.

After we split off, I wandered aimlessly a bit before returning home.

just hanging out with some little crabs

shisa on a school building

nice view of school grounds from monorail station

a campaign for policies regarding leprosy at International Street

８月７日（金）

Today I went to the southern tip of Okinawa Island with my new friend Sumiko from the Okinawa International Peace Research Institute. I asked to see a site on the seaside but somehow she misunderstood the name of the site I wanted to see. Somehow on the site I found, in English it was called Kiyatake but the Japanese listed name was 平和の塔 (heiwa no tou, peace tower). Anyway, we ended up back at Okinawa Peace Park, and there was a museum I had not gotten to see the inside of yet, called 沖縄平和記念堂 (okinawa heiwa kinen dou, Okinawa Peace Prayer Hall). So visiting there was a great success.

There, we viewed the art gallery, prayer statue, and butterfly exhibit. We also folder paper cranes (Sumiko reminded me how!) to add to a box of them that other visitors folded, to wish for peace. Downstairs there was even a room with a display of donated stones from countries all around the world, as a dedication to peace. Each prefecture of Japan, also, had donated stones.

つる (tsuru, crane)

prayer statue

Sumiko with a butterfly

More pictures from Peace Park.

Peace Park

ocean

more ocean

these again

and more

For lunch, we grabbed tempura at a place that has apparently gained some fame within Japan. There was a cat wandering around looking for food, but signs telling us not to feed it. The tempura was really, really delicious! Had crab, veggies, potato, and benimo, among others.

CAT

tempura shop

Next, we went to a パワースポット (pawaa spotto, power spot -which is Engrish for "mysically powerful place"-) called Sefa-utaki. It was really beautiful.

crater made by a US bomb during the Battle of Okinawa

Sumiko and I

aaa windy

We also stopped by a lovely ocean spot for a short while to enjoy the stormy weather. Fortunately rain was very sparse!

house on hillside

Next we drove by a huge graveyard. It was really interesting.

Finally, we had タコライス (tako raisu, taco rice) for dinner at Taco King. Oh wow it was so yummy, I could only eat half at a time!

Since 1960, wow!

taco rice (the sauce is a little spicy and so delicious)

 On the way home, I tried to take a few photos of Kadena from the car, but I didn't get much.

Kadena from the street

That was my day with Sumiko. We had an amazing time!