June 13, 2023

Last night was one of the two Oceania Club cocktail parties and for dinner in Toscana, we were invited with our Captain and Chief Engineer along with Erin and Mui. Both gatherings were so enjoyable.

During dinner, the Captain mentioned that it would be a full day of rain on Tuesday. We were in Okinawa in 2019 and since then the Shuri Castle that we visited had a fire and is under construction. None of the tours can go there now since it is closed. We decided not to do an organized tour and we wanted to see the Okinawa Prefectural Museum and Art Museum so we decided to take a taxi directly there. The immigration procedure here took quite a long time. We arrived in port at 11:30 and we had lunch on the ship. Then we got our passports (the ship keeps them most of the time as the officials from most countries come onboard and check and stamp them there). We had to stand in a line to have our pictures and fingerprints taken and passports checked. Norm exchanged some money and we got a cab right outside of the terminal. At this point it was raining lightly. We got an announcement that the ship will leave 30 minutes early to avoid the weather system that is coming in.

Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. In early modern periods and in medieval times it was the commercial center of the Ryukyu Kingdom. The name Naha comes from its original name, Naba, which was the name of a large mushroom shaped stone in the city. Naba is the Ryukyuan word for mushroom. The stone has since become buried but the name remains.

It only took about 20 minutes to get to the museum. Since we were over 70, admission was free! We didn’t expect that. They have a very unique system for audio in the museum.

We had headsets and this board with a stylus attached. You pointed the stylus first at the language you wanted, then at each numbered area you just tapped on the number and the audio started. It was so easy to use because of the actual map that made it easy to find the displays. We could take pictures in the main exhibit hall but not in the art museum.

The museum has a 70 year history – it was established just after the war. Its collection of more than 100,000 artifacts are displayed in a permanent exhibit under the theme “Sea and Island Life – Seeking Prosperity, Beauty and Peace.”

I will post pictures of some of the items in the museum. There were sections on Okinawa history, pottery, wildlife, burial procedures and much more. It was very interesting and I learned a lot of what I had never known (or forgot) about the US involvement in Okinawa.

When someone dies, they keep the body in a coffin until only the skeleton remains. Then they wash the bones in front of the tomb and proceed with cremation or sometimes re-bury the bones. This ancient tradition is still carried on for many families. More elaborate family tombs can cost as much as a house. Family celebrations are often held at the tomb site.

There were two model reproductions of Minatogawa Man as well as skull fragments of people who lived here 20,000 years ago.

We went to the museum cafe for a drink, did a bit of shopping in the museum store and easily got a taxi back to the ship.The tourist bureau at the port was helpful with a map and even wrote out directions in Japanese for us to hand to the taxi driver both ways. Most often, our daily newsletter on the ship gives the translation and we take a photo of it or take the newsletter to show to drivers. It works for the way back to the ship but not to where we want to go, so we were glad to have that. Neither of the taxi drivers spoke any English.

The bathrooms in Japan are quite amazing. The toilets have settings on the side for spray, bidet and even music to hide the sound of urinating and flushing. But for people used to squatting in the bathrooms in countries without western toilets, they also have directions on how to use the western toilet.

I bought some paper earrings in the museum shop. Very unique.

Tomorrow we arrive in Amami Oshima (Naze), Japan, a new port for us.