骨と海　The Bones and the Sea

Yabuduka Town, Ota City, Gunma Pref. Aug. 19, 2012. #2 → #1

I turned at the intersection with Prefectural Route 20 and headed for the harbor.

Being Sunday, the place was quiet. One seafood market was doing decent business, but the customers all seemed to be locals.

In contrast to Okinawa’s western coast, where resort hotels cluster along the shoreline, the eastern coast felt more like a place where people simply live their lives—plain, perhaps, but honest.

It’s already well known, but during the Vietnam War, Gate 2 Street was where white servicemen gathered, while Teruya was known as a district frequented by Black servicemen.

Still, walking through today, there was little that visibly remained of that past. I wandered on, half expecting not to find anything—a faded mural of a black panther, perhaps, or some other trace.

Along the way, a 95-year-old man struck up a conversation.

He told me that I walked well for someone out in this heat. He said he’d made a bit of money in his life, but his legs hurt now and he could no longer walk much. A pair of legs that can still carry you through the sun on a day like this is worth more than anything, he said, and told me to keep at it.

We spoke for a while about the difference between the town then and now, and about his own life. There were parts I couldn’t quite catch, but the conversation was fascinating.

Around 14:00 — Along Route 329, Ozato, Okinawa City

A male Monticola solitarius (Blue Rock Thrush).

They were everywhere. It was breeding season, and most appeared to be paired. None seemed particularly wary of people; if anything, they were curious. Even when I approached within a couple of meters, they simply stared back with interest.

The bird in the video gave a frog-like warning call—gekokoko... gekokoko...—perhaps because it was nesting nearby.

May 29, 2026. Anti-War/Anti-Takaichi protest.

12:04 — Yaeshima, Okinawa City

I drifted along the fence without much of a reason.

Along Prefectural Route 16, by Gate 3 of Kadena Air Base, Shirakawa, Okinawa City

View from the observation deck at Michi-no-Eki Kadena.

13:16 — Kadena Town, Okinawa

A shisa guarding the village.

13:32 — Yara, Kadena Town, Okinawa

The road went on.

This is a base town.

14:56 — Noguni, Kadena Town, Okinawa

15:08 — Hamagawa, Chatan Town, Okinawa

15:52 — Along Prefectural Route 23, Kamisedo, Chatan Town, Okinawa

16:26 — Koza Gate Street, aka Gate 2 Street, Uechi, Okinawa City

16:31— By the Goya (胡屋) crossroad — five minutes from the hotel, Chuo, Okinawa City.

With a couple of fifteen-minute breaks along the way, I ended up circling the entire base. Must’ve walked for four and a half hours or so.

May 15, 2026 — Around Koza Gate Street, aka Gate 2 Street, Okinawa City

Friday night in this town was quieter than I expected. The heavy bass and bursts of laughter drifted in from scattered pockets of light, sparse as stars over a city.

I’m not entirely comfortable calling that era “the good old days” without reservation, but there were probably far more lights here once.