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Published: November 19th 2007
Gniiii.... gniii... ka-ta-KLONK! Hmm... that was the landing gear going down? But I don't see anything? In fact, I can't see anything at all. There is grey all around us. Greyish and white shadows dance around the fuselage. At first I thought I had spotted land, there over at the horizon. A huge dark landmass appearing out of nowhere, still partially hidden in the clouds. But something was not right. The details were so vague, the coastline seemed to dangle in mid-air. Of course, what I had spotted was a dark stream of clouds drifting by in an ocean of grey. Now suddenly the clouds were getting thinner underneath us, changing colour to a darker tone. Breaking through the wall again, a wall that seemed to cover all of the Pacific this morning. The symmetric waves came in sight, huge straight lines of dark, dark blue, their colour so vague the entire scenery might as well have been drawn using a single grey pencil.
Where was my tropical paradise? Unlike Nagasaki which was so chilly this morning that I had puffs of smoke come out from the mouth I had looked forward to a warm and sunny Okinawan detour for
a few days. Looking out the window again, now I was not so sure. I could see ripples of foam dancing in circles across the surface. We were flying over shallow waters now, and gradually the colours started changing, into dark green and violet. Rusty brown, cold cyan and that ominous looking purple. These are the colours associated with the waters in the tropics alright, but they appeared to be viewed through a stark polarizer (or a pair of sunglasses if you prefer...). Their colours so devoid of life and warmth.
Ba-dunk thump thump... wheeeeeeeeeel.... the ANA 737 touches down at Naha Kuko and soon starts spilling its load of mainly teenage students onto the ground. And as far as first impressions go,
Naha truly feels like an island town. There is a very relaxed pace in the airport with its übercool monorail train which speeds you downtown in but a few moments. Although everything is clearly labelled and plenty of streetmaps provided I still managed to get off at the wrong station, but that just gave me an excuse to walk along the tracks and get some more snaps of this peculiar place. Naha city did not look
at all as I had imagined, the suburbs a mess of small houses in pretty run down condition, well at least as far as their looks are concerned. Here Japan marries the Southeast Asian vibe you can feel in places like the Philippines or Indonesia. The road grid is messy, traffic mildly chaotic and the streets are not very clean. Dilapidated buildings with the paint coming off, run down stairs and streets, garages hidden in darkness and flyers posted everywhere. At one place the trees were eating their way through the pavement. I couldn't help but feel that this city is doomed, and that nature has slowly begun the reclamation process. And although the streets are full of the typically well dressed sararimen and school kids in their neat uniforms there are also weathered and tired faces, skin darkened from a life under the sun and people living with their posessions in plastic bags at the side of the streets. Then, of course there is the foreign military influence.
As you may be aware, Okinawa is the reluctant home to a U.S. military contingent, originally being occupied at the end of the second world war. And today it remains
part of the backbone of the U.S. strategic assets in Southeast Asia.
Kadena Air Base employs 22.000 people, 18.000 of which are American. Its presence is constantly felt in Naha as wings of F/A-18s or lonely Hercs regularly roar across the sky (and as you can imagine a contributing factor as to why I would want to go here in the first place). Of course, that presence is felt more directly at street level too. Kids were yelling
Amerikanu in my wake,
dollars welcome-signs posted in shops and a slew of entertainment options focusing on darts, beer and steak houses. And of course, as always, there are those locals who feel disgruntled at hosting foreign military into an unforseeable future. I have heard about places where foreigners are not welcome, although I didn't find any such venues during my first outing.
My hotel is a large monster located close to the Naha port area in what appears to be a mainly residential area. The place is quite nice, although its location on "Sunshine Blvd." should set the alarm bells ringing. I couldn't really shake the creepy feeling of the gigantic and pretty much empty lobby. Still, the less the company, the
merrier I will be. Although check in time was not until 4 pm they had a room ready for me when I arrived, I take it this is not peak season.
It is safe to assume that most people who come to visit Okinawa don't plan to spend their time in Naha city. Apart from the mainstay shopping plazas, a UNESCO classed world heritage castle and an apparent glassworks tradition, the main drag of Naha city is
Kokusai-dori (what is it with all these places giving me sumo-vibes!?), the international street that runs through downtown Naha like an oversized aorta. And pulsates it does. A mile long and filled with the common debauchery normally associated with tourist ghettos. A million shops selling the same kinds of trinkets, booming music, live size dinosaur figures staring out of shop entrances, tasteless fruit-shaped benches and an onslaught of touts trying to whisk you into their stories. Patong-lovers take note, there might be something for you here...
If the weather is mediocre in Naha right now, it was so much the better in
Omura, which is where Nagasaki Airport is located (Go figure). The sun had just come up and the blue
sky was competing for attention with the ever dark blue ocean water. Taking the airport bus from downtown Nagasaki required some 40 minutes during the early morning hours when traffic is non-existant. Budget for some extra time depending on the traffic conditions so that you don't end up getting stuck in queues. The price comes at 800 JPY. The airport is placed on a partially man-made island just outside Omura, and collects passengers from a number of nearby cities. The route from Nagasaki is mainly through several long tunnels, between 700 and 2900 meters long. In between these, there are some quick and spectacular views, I was left completely off guard as we stormed across a large bridge looking down on a sunlit city spilled out in a valley by the ocean. And as the bus sped across the bridge to Nagasaki Kuko a large number of sunlit small fishing boats passed underneath on their way out of port.
The view from the 737 was even more spectacular. Shortly after takeoff we came up on beautiful mountains with conical shapes, tripping the volcano alert system in my brain. It all happened so fast, that it took me several minutes
to realize that I was staring down towards Kagoshima and her mighty volcano
Sakurajima towering ominously over the city from across the waters. I could also see all the way to the very southwestern tip of Kyuhsu island, where an almost perfect pyramidal mountain
Kaimonseki stands out like a sore thumb. Although only 922 meters tall, the rest of the nearby landscape is so flat it looks like a view from your favourite computer flight simulation, where only the top 10 landmarks have been added in 3D. Breathtaking! On an interesting note, many of the Japanese kamikaze pilots flew from their main base at Chiran located close to Kaimonseki, heading southwest on their fateful missions. For many, this would be the last they saw of their fatherland.
Incidentially, today we were also flying southwest this particular vector, though our mission was rather different. I wonder, how would the pilots of then have reacted, to learn that the largest U.S. tactical fighter wing is now stationed here. Philosophic ramblings aside, Okinawa reminds me very much about
Guam, their typhoon battered cityscapes, far too urbanized city cores (who needs all these cars on an island anyway!?) and perhaps most of all,
their soulless and actually rather dystopian environments. Blade Runners would do well to spend a few days in Naha though, there is lots to draw inspiration from here. I don't mean to be cyncial though, tomorrow is another day, and perhaps the place will take on a more likeable smile with a little bit of sunshine.
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Moster Yster
non-member comment
Charming ?
Hrmmm, seems like a really charming place to be...