Peace Park & Butterflies Paradise

In May I was invited to go to the Peace Park in Naha by my friend Diana whose son, James was visiting from the states. She had been once before with her husband so she knew her way around but wanted James to see it and was kind to ask me to tag along too. It was on my list of places to see so I was quite excited to get the invite. It's located on the lower tip of the island below Naha and we haven't done much exploring in that direction other than going to the airport. The day turned into a rainy one so we didn't get to explore as much of the grounds as I'd have liked to explore but I took  a few pictures from under the shelter at the Museum of areas it was too wet to walk to. I hope to return at a future date to see the rest.

We started at the Peace Hall which was basically an art museum with a giant "Peace Prayer Statue" in the middle of the room decorated with thousands of paper cranes (a symbol of peace). The statue stands about 40 ft high and is about 26 ft wide and is supposed to be a symbol of praying human beings. The hands put flat together is in commemoration of the war dead and a wish for world peace. It was created by the artist Shinzan Yamada and is made completely out of laquer imported from China (about 3.5 tons). Above the statue there is a group of lights that are meant to look like stars that represents cosmic space where the war dead rest peacefully. Seven pillars representing seven seas surrounds the statue and in it's basement are kept consecrated small stones of peace collected from all over the world (which I didn't get to see).The work began on the statue in 1957. The artist was 72 when he started the project and 90 years old when he completed the prototype. He lived through the war and lost his oldest and third sons in the Battle of Okinawa. There are a series of 20 paintings entitled "War and Peace"in the same hall that the statue resides painted by an artist named Keiyu Nishimura. They were beautiful paintings and each had a story to them that explained (in English too) his inspiration for each painting. There was a table in the back of the room with origami paper where you could fold your own paper crane. I used to know how to make them but I failed at following their obscure instructions. I asked Cory to refresh my memory on making paper cranes on our trip to the states and I can now make one again.  I always loved seeing the paper cranes at the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima. The story of "Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes" touched my heart many years ago and ever since I read it I have loved paper cranes.

After leaving the Peace Hall, we went into Butterflies Paradise.....the highlight of my day. I must have worn the right color or smelled pretty good because they loved landing on me. Diana and James didn't have any land on them while I had up to five at one time on me. They definitely made me smile from the love they were showing me. The butterflies were called Ogomadara and are said to be the largest butterflies in Japan with a wing span of 5 inches. Their brochure says "Butterflies meaning 'soul' in Greek welcome all the visitors and tell them how precious life and peace are." I guess they were talking to me and I just didn't realize. They did make me feel peaceful though.

The Okinawa Prefectural Peace Memorial Museum

After playing with the butterflies we walked to the Peace Memorial Museum. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside so I can only show you the outside of the building. The Battle of Okinawa began in late March of 1945 and lasted for 90 days. Okinawa was basically sacrificed as a battleground for the war between the US and Japan. They lost upwards of 200,000 people in the battle. It was the only ground fighting fought on Japanese soil and was the largest-scale campaign of the Asia-Pacific War. The civilian death toll far outweighed that of the military. Some were torn apart by guns during the fighting, some died of starvation because their crops were destroyed and the military confiscated their food supplies for the soldiers. Some died from malaria and snake bites from living in the caves and tombs to protect themselves from the battles....and many were convinced to commit suicide with stories of what the Americans would do to them if they surrendered. I recently read a fiction book set in Okinawa during the war and it was so very sad to learn of all they went through during that battle. The museum basically tells the story of the battle, shares eye-witness accounts, replicates some of the battle scenes and displays many of the items found after the war. Like the Peace Memorial in Hiroshima it is quite sobering to walk through it. We've been fortunate to have never had a battle fought on our country's soil during our lifetimes and it's good to be reminded of how horrifying it can be to live through something like that. May their wish for peace on this island be granted.

When we exited the museum it was pouring down rain outside. There were several other areas I would have loved to have walked through. One that captured my eye was a large area of marble walls called "the Cornerstone of Peace" with the names of all who lost their lives during the war of Okinawa (regardless of nationality, soldier or civilian) inscribed on them. They are overlooking the sea on the Pacific Ocean side. I took a few pictures through the rain but I wanted to walk through them and say a little prayer for all those innocent people who got caught in the midst of a battle they didn't start. They trusted their government to be truthful with them and to protect them and they found themselves fighting for survival on their own.

I'll leave you with a few other pictures from the grounds of the Peace Memorials. The first is the Bell of Peace. It was donated by the Lion's Club and is rung on the memorial occasions of praying for world peace. There is an inscription on it that reads..."Calm the souls of the war dead. Swear the permanent peace of the world. From the Hill of Mabuni in all directions, sounds everlastingly the Bell of Peace, in solemn prayers of all people".

Near the entrance to the museum is the Peace Prayer Monument. It is inscribed with the words "My Opinion on Peace". There was a contest when it was first made for entries on the subject "my opinion of peace". The top three winners are inscribed on the monument to inspire others to consider their own opinions on peace.

Here's a picture of the outside of the building that houses the huge Peace Prayer Statue and the "War and Peace" art display. It was opened in 1978 and stands on the Hill of Mabuni. The Hall has a polygonal roof with septilateral pyramid which represents seven seas and the shape of hands joined in prayer.

Not sure what this one is. 

And lastly, some of the artwork and part of the paper cranes from the Peace Hall.

Summertime

Rainy Days in Okinawa

I knew when I began this blog that there would be times when there just wasn't much to post about. Spring has sort of been that way this year. We've had an unusual amount of rain. It started in January and by April, we thought we were just having an early "rainy season". The Okinawans warned us that rainy season would still come but we were skeptical. The monsoon season usually goes from mid-May through the month of June. They were correct when they said it would still arrive on schedule. The month of June brought rain almost every day and with it brought the humidity and mugginess which signifies the beginning of summer. Our temperatures average about 89-92 degrees daily with 100% humidity which makes it feel 10-20 degrees hotter. We laughed at our weather apps on our phones when they call this "the chill-factor". There is definitely no chill in our air. We can go through several changes of clothes within a day due to sweating too much from the humidity. So I blame the weather for my lack of posts. It was just too rainy to make exploring fun. I did get some scrapbooking done though so it's all good.

Most of our spring and early summer weekends were spent at our local beach areas. We could usually find a window of sunshine in between clouds that allowed us a few hours to read at the beach (one of our favorite things to do). There's something quite peaceful about sitting at the edge of the water listening to the music of the waves while reading a book. Plus, on the hottest of days you can almost always find a nice breeze at the water to keep you cool.  Russ has gotten pretty accurate at predicting when the weather is clear enough for a reading beach trip or a walk. He's done a lot of walking on the seawall this spring and has only been caught in the rain a few times. Our favorite beach is Igei Beach in Kin town. (a few miles drive from our apartment). Most weekends we have the beach to ourselves. There are restrooms and drink machines at the parking area so we can stay as long as we want. We usually bring a cooler, snacks and a lot of sunscreen. Sometimes there are kite-surfers at the opposite end of the beach and it's fun to watch them. The fish even put on a show every now and then. One day we were watching out into the water and and about five large fish dove through the air like a dolphin show. There were several men fishing on the dock right next to where they did their water dive and it was almost as if they were taunting them...."ha ha...missed us".  It was funny to watch the men's reactions as they saw the fish performing right in front of them when they'd been sitting there all afternoon fishing with no success.

I've taken my bike out a few times to enjoy the beauty of the day while Russ is at work. These days it's almost too hot to ride. I wear a backpack with my book and sunscreen, put a water bottle on the bike to keep hydrated and a beach towel to sit on to read. The seawall is great for riding because there's no traffic to worry about. Russ has been going out for bike rides in the mornings before work. Our balcony with it's beach view is where we spend most of our evenings. We usually eat supper on the balcony and then sit and read until the sun sets. I usually have breakfast out there too and do my bible reading before starting my day. There's usually a breeze on the balcony and our bodies acclimate to the heat after we're outside for a few minutes.

In the spring I planted flowers for the balcony. There was a lady on the main road selling big pots of impatiens, begonias and geraniums. I went to the local plant store and purchased enough soil to fill my big pots and filled them all with flowers and herbs. By early June I started noticing a fungus on the leaves that ended up killing just about all of what I bought from the sweet flower lady. It looked sort of like a mold had attacked them. After returning from our trip to the states I bought some new plants for the pots to start all over again. My herbs have done well. I have basil, rosemary and a mint plant that I started from a cutting. I planted one cucumber plant that didn't produce anything and one green pepper plant that gave me two green peppers. I went to the garden store to try to find something to spray on the fungus that took over my first plants but Google translate wasn't very helpful in translating the information on the bottles. I finally gave up. One downside of living in a foreign country is when you need to find a specific item and you can't read the labels to see how to use it or what it's for. I did manage to figure out which plant food to purchase for my plants and they are all looking very healthy currently.

We're currently in the midst of the typhoon (hurricane) season. It goes from June until early November.  So far we haven't had any warnings of impending typhoons this year. Our apartment building is solid concrete with steel bars inside so it should hold up well in a typhoon. It sits up on a hill from the beach and we are on the second floor so hopefully a tsunami won't come this high. (We have friends on the 5th floor if we need to go higher).Our building also has metal window covers that slide in front of the windows to protect them from the high winds of typhoons. (pictured here)
This is one of the things that attracted us to this apartment since we are so close to the ocean we knew the importance of having coverings over the windows.We have to move all our balcony furniture and plants inside anytime there is a warning that we are in the path of a typhoon. The winds will pick up and scatter anything left out. We also have a covered parking garage for our vehicles. We all drive small cars which can easily be tossed around during a typhoon. They have similar metal covers for all the open areas of the parking garage. We're told to have extra water stocked up and flashlights/candles for power outages. I'll be sure to let you all know if we experience a typhoon this year.

I'm thankful for the Farmer's Markets all over the island.  The vegetables are priced much lower at the markets than what they are at the commissary. Last time I bought spinach at the commissary it was about 4.99 for a small bag that you'd pay about $2 for at Walmart. I can find it at the markets for about $1.50 a bunch. Lettuce, green peppers, carrots and cucumbers are also much fresher and cheaper at the local markets. Fruit is much higher priced here than in the states so I'm missing the fruit stands near my old house. Small watermelons are about $18 here. Strawberries are about $7 for maybe 1/2 pint. Blueberries are about $5 for about a 1/2 cupful. Apples are about $1.25 each. I'm always amazed when I walk through the farmer's markets at the number of things I have no idea what they are. A former military resident published a farmer's market book in English for us Americans that tells where all the markets are located and has pictures with descriptions of what each odd looking vegetable/fruit is. Our apartment manager gave all of us a copy of the book several months ago. I'm not brave enough to try most of the odd things I see but I have tried the purple carrots and the purple sweet potatoes which were good. I'll end with a few pictures of what I consider to be odd items I don't recognize. Some of you farm folks may know what all of these are but this city girl is clueless on most of these.

Dragon Fruit

Renbu

Not sure what this one is.

Akebi

Spaghetti Squash (this one I knew)

Cacao

winter squash

Goya

Dragon Fruit

Yellow Cucumber

Goya

Dragon fruit blossoms

I thought these were watermelons but
they are not...they're winter squash

These look like loaves of bread but
are yellow cucumbers.

Syzygium

(Many of these pictures were taken from the Farmer's Markets of Okinawa facebook page as people write in with questions about what each item is. There are several taken with my iphone too)
Let me know how many of the above were new to you too.