[aha] Hello from Hateruma Island (Japan); third excerpt

Mer 16 Feb 2011 22:17:39 UTC

... no stars visible so we may be back to the usual light
rain and clouds... if these nighttime pinholes pan-out I'll
need to buy a new, stronger waterproof container as this one
has cracked; hopefully an elastic band and plastic-bag
lining will protect the camera from the forthcoming rain...
soon be time for Tapan and the morning-tune recording...
walked around by the observatory; there might be some
activity there on Friday 2 p.m... and then down to Nishi
Hama where there was actually someone swimming (the Japanese
are a hardy yet emotional lot, with lots of nodding
affirmation: even the TV-weather 'snowman' nods his head)
... heard a rooster while walking back so there may be a few
chickens on the island after all... went into the main
grocery store again (first time was to buy a Y200 apple) and
a delivery person rushed-in a little after 11 and left
several box-lunches, and although I had just eaten a big pot
of rice with vegetables I guess I was still hungry, so I
purchased one (Y500 + Y180 for Southern Star [pics #8220,
8221])... looked very intriguing: little contrasting tastes,
including a slice of grilled salmon (where did that come
from!), little egg-things, potstickers, rice (with black
seeds, a blob of red condiment and little green pickles),
noodles, tiny salads... turned-out fairly sunny by mid-day
so I headed to Pemuchi beach and then followed a little path
through a patch of woods that seemed pointless... finally
came back, drank some SS, ate more peanuts, dried squid and
read more of The Year of the Waterless Flood (getting
tiresome, and really not very inventive) in the sun... may
venture out a little later to see what if anything is
happening... the other afternoon I thought I heard a
pop-rock-band practising on the outskirts of town (next to
the tour bus place.)... well the chalkboard in front of the
little cafe/gallery that's been closed ever since I got here
seemed to indicate a performance by vocalist Sizzle Ohtaka
(seems she's commercially successful and recorded her Sugar
Land album here) tonight... but I guess not... have a hard
time figuring what's happening... not usually out/up this
late: the cicadas are incredibly loud by the side of the
road; will probably add that sound as well to the childrens'
concert mix (but will soon run out of insertion points)...
hung my sink-washing (T-shirt, swimwear) out to dry; goats
are now awake and bleating; time to bring the pinhole in; I
don't think my joints will ever get used to sitting on the
floor and I can just barely pass through the doorways
without stooping; when sleeping on the tatami you can
feel/hear the refrigerator; much of the town reflects this
lower centre of gravity: small vehicles, and signs are often
mere inches off the ground, and HD television is perhaps
intended for close-up, floor-based viewing... (excellent)
su-ba-ra-shi... walked down to Nishi (deserted) and the port
but didn't linger due to the smoke from someone burning
something; (unfortuntely the port building which has a nice
noodle stand seems to allow smoking inside)... met M not
long off the ferry from Ishigaki coming to work in the
sugarfields as a beginner she gets Y500/hr she told me
Sizzle performed last weekend :(( and the cafe was normally
yclosed due to poor business, but promised to tell me about
any future events, including the observatory viewing dates
the Sugarland CD was in the mainsquare giftshop so I bought
it (Y2000; nice sensible packaging) plus a sharp little
white button with kanjii and a map of Hateruma (Y200)...
chopped-down an earlier TV recording-disk into short
segments to make room for more Tapan episodes (don't want
too much LP4 TV)... still not entirely sure that I missed
Sizzle as there wasn't much advance notice if I did, and M
doesn't always understand me... I'll check again tonight
when I go out and record the cicadas... well at Y1500/night
I'm sure not likely to stay indoors, so I ventured out
despite the rain and headed out towards the more
northeasterly jungle tract past the fisherman's place,
turning right instead of left at the little square concrete
building: pumping-station? -- tough-going over wet, loose
coral but some nice ocean views (the sea as a liquid sky),
big collection of found floats and nets (an old windshield
wiper as speargun?), little impromptu shelter with wet-suit,
trails past ancient coral structures and around past the
wind turbines and up by the sacred-well, where it began to
rain heavily; I took shelter under a tree and
travel-umbrella as a tour-bus with _one passenger pulled-up
to glimpse the well and then drove-off without offering me a
ride... I silently, this time, invoked the ancient ruyuku
spirits or at least those of the Hateruma white-goats, most
of whom recognize me by now, to at least deflate his
tires... made a dash for it during a brief lull in the
action just as a fear-monger-nation fighter-jet screamed
overhead: (stolen tax-dollars>> withheld social services>>
utter waste of resources...); then the rain really came
down: eventually took shelter in an unlocked farm-implement
structure where there was an old coin-operated karioke
machine alongside tractors, tools and parts; I confess I
filched a discarded/worn conical bamboo? worker's hat which
(if it survives the flight,) might look good on the wall at
home next to the kenyan basket and bangladeshi fish-trap...
my laundry is of course wet again... sun came back, and I
took some more pics around town, and vistas out to sea which
included the wanton sugarcane (nice crisp, contrasty light
right after the rain; the D-max filter sure looks impressive
in the camera but I don't really trust it, prefer to use
Photoshop later; have introduced a subtle 'bowing'
perspective to some shots)... had a few people suddenly ask
me something but instead of implying that I don't understand
I should just say 'Canada' because what else would it likely
be [do-chi-ra ka-ra ki-mash-ta ka?]; but the peace-sign
seems to suffice for anything... as usual some little
children stare at me but at least they don't demand ID...
bought a big 5kg, this time, bag of rice (Y1800), fresh tofu
(Y160: still warm; already have the fish flakes that go on
top: the tofu van does its rounds about 5:30 p.m.: same
establishment that sells the sashimi I think), tiny little
round snack crackers (Y90), more bottled peanuts (Y310; I'm
saving the empty bottles in a pyramid outside my door),
dried chilis (Y130, to help me get through all that rice),
and another package of dried squid (Y260)... oh, and finally
saw a white eye or mejiro (, ) [web-folder]: much smaller
than I imagined green songbird with eye-ring... the cicadas
weren't nearly as loud this cooler night, suggesting that at
the height of star spangled 80F summer evenings they must be
deafening... tried to record an owl-like call -- it stopped
when I came close, but got several minutes of some insect
that sounds (maybe too much) like an electric buzzer... no
sign of Sizzle... bought what I think is a big leek (Y100;
to go with the tofu) from the sisters' store and I think she
asked me if I recorded sound (forgot my phrasebook I have to
make more of an effort with the language); seems news of
that quirky activity has favourably spread...

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Me eparcen mi corazon
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