After the week on Miyako Island, I passed through the Okinawa main island for a night, where I visited my Okinawan karate teacher’s home. The suggestion was made that I join one of my ‘senpai’ (seniors) to check out the interesting home of someone they knew. They pointed to the distant hillside and asked if I could see the part where there were no trees, owing to a recent mudslide – well, just on the edge of that, lived this person they know
So, we drove up the hill above the little harbor town. Literally, a few feet away from the edge of where the land had slid was his place. He had this kind of outdoor home set-up, like a one-bedroom apartment, without walls or a ceiling, with well-endowed statues he’d made.
I was tremendously interested in this unusual character and abode, but I was just getting eaten alive by the mosquitoes. I was the only one in shorts (and sandals, too), as is often the case for a Westerner in Japan, not good clothing for the jungle, plus the air was chilly, and I was getting cold, as it grew dark. Also, couldn’t help being a little concerned about the stability of the ground itself.
“Experience nature!,” the man enthusiastically said in English.