It's the rainy season here in Okinawa. For the last two weeks, we had one clear day- Christmas day itself. So I've been spending my leave time indoors, doing my introverted thing. Reading, playing on the computer, and whatnot.

Today was not as bad weather-wise: partly cloudy, dry, not terrible at all. So I went grocery shopping. Crazy life, eh? The commissary (military grocery store) is at Camp Foster, the next base over. It's a 10 minute drive to get there, except that the Foster Commissary Gate is closed for renovation, so you have to drive all the way around to the far side of the base to get in. But the route there takes you through the old heart of Ginowan City, such as it is, as about 80% of Ginowan City was rubble in 1945. Still, at least there's some local color to look at during the drive.

I got down to my car and realized I'd left my camera in my room, locked up because of the field day inspection we had this morning. Normally I take my camera with me wherever I go, because you can't predict when a cool photo opportunity is going to come up. But I'd already walked downstairs, and I was just going to go to the grocery store, so I left without it.

I was just getting into downtown Ginowan when traffic started to back up. It's a four lane road, but the shoulder was packed with parked cars. But that's not a legal place to part at! In the US, this would not have surprised me. But. The Japanese do not break laws. They simply do not break laws, at least in public. Plus, parking illegally in Japan is punished much more severely than in the US- fines are huge, and repeat offenders lose their licenses.

Then there were vendor stalls on the sidewalks, and families at the stalls, and then the line started- whole families in a huge line down the sidewalk, four abreast, going on for a half mile. Most were dressed quite nattily- suits and dresses, or in traditional kimonos. I kept driving along as the traffic slowed down, getting more and more nervous. There were kids scampering around. The illegally parked cars were compressing the driving space, and I'm still not completely comfortable driving on the left. There was a huge crowd whose purpose I didn't know.

Then it hit me- the shrine! In a few more blocks, I went past the Futenma Cave Shrine, which was having the New Year's prayer festival. The throngs of people were waiting to go inside and pray for a good new year. Why wasn't it happening on Jan 1st or 2nd? Well, Shinto is a practical religion. There's no reason to stand around outside in the rain if you don't have to.

So in summary, it was an absolutely brilliant chance to take some photos. And I had considered bringing along my camera, and decided not to bother.

*stupid* *stupid* *stupid*

Posted by: Boviate at 04:47 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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