Yesterday, after the usual jog and shower, Banks sensei and myself were taken to Izumi to see the grave of Nakazato. We left earlier in the afternoon and drove to Naho which is near the other end of the island and takes a little over an hour to get to. Along the way we stopped at a beautiful beach to take some pictures and also at a cookie factory/ store that is built right on the beach. Looking out the window at the cookie factory and seeing such a beautiful sight made me think, "I'm in the wrong business, I need to be making cookies on the beach!" What a life that would be.
Izumi actually turned out to be very hard to find, even for Tanaka and at one point we ended up going down a tiny farmers road that seemed to be more narrow than Tanaka's car. Had I seen it anywhere else I would have assumed it was a small sidewalk and driving on it seemed to make even Tanaka San a bit nervous. We got off the tiny road and finally made it to Izumi. Went into the funeral home and got to directions to the actual grave. While talking to the funeral director he made the comment in Japanese that "Nakazato was a famous teacher". Whether this was true or he we was just being polite, having heard Banks sensei say that he was there to see his teacher, I don't know. Anyway, after going to the shrine and burning incense we went and found the grave. All the headstones were of the same design with the family name on the front, who paid for the grave and the grave company name on the side, and the names and age of all the people buried in the grave on the back(everyone is cremated at this place). The family grave for Nakazato was paid for by his son and someone named Rika and there were 3 people who's ashes were buried in it - Nakazato and I believe his mother and father. According to the grave, Nakazato was 91 when he passed away. We paid our respects and drove back stopping along the way to get gas for the car, which turns out runs on propane and also grabbed some Japanese fast food which was pretty good.
The rest of the night was pretty uneventfully, Mari san and I went to eat in Naha a little after ten at this very trendy but reasonably priced restaurant and after walked into a random bar called Maluta. It was a fairly large place but very empty for a Friday night. On the wall behind the bar was a large projector screen with music videos playing on it. The music selection was about as random as I've even seen bouncing between modern and older without any reason. The good thing about watching a music video from 1980 was that I was able to explain to Mari San what a porn stash was. The owner was a short guy in a sea captain style and very friendly. I was able to ask him to mix us up some shots that turned out pretty good. They were bit strong for Mari though, as quick as she could drink a be, shots were not her forte. I was probably reading the situation wrong but I get the impression that shooting shots isn't a big thing in Japan.
We stumbled home at about 4am and were surprised (although not nearly as much in retrospect) to find Banks Sensei was already awake and checking his email. After chatting a little bit I said goodnight to Mari San and went to bed. Another great day.
Tonight there is a barbecue at the hostel and at the request of the owners father, Banks sensei and me will give a demonstration. Not sure what we'll do before that, Mari has mentioned wanting to take a ferry to a near by island but I'm not sure if we will have time today.
More to come...
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