The 34th Annual Yomitan Festival

On Sunday, November 2nd, Joanne & I attended the local annual Yomitan festival. The event is similar to a county fair with best in show exhibits, craft exhibitions, entertainment, etc. We had a heavy downpour earlier in the morning so the festival grounds were a tad muddy, but that didn’t dampen the spirit of the crowds & festivities. The kids, who are just adorable, especially had fun stomping around in the mud. The Okinawan people are known for their hospitality and joyful manner, which was evident in our interactions at the festival. As Westerners, there is no pretending to blend in. Okinawans are a short-statured people, so Joanne & I were walking tall among the crowd. Here’s a sequence of photos capturing the some of the activities at the event:

Bonzai Best of Show - bougainvillea, pine, holly, Japanese maple:

The entertainment included seniors performing traditional dances, youngsters playing drums and the sanshin (similar to a three string lute), and dragons executing some fancy footwork –

Produce Best of Show - this sequence of pictures illustates a couple of items out of the Little Shop of Horrors, green papaya, fresh ginger root & sweet potatoes, an Okinawan specialty crop –

Lots of new foods to try and yours truly enjoying a Okinawan version of an omelet and a Japanese beer –

Joanne perusing locally produced pottery, a traditional craft found throughout Okinawa. Yomitan hosts a pottery village, a living and working center for Yomitan potters.

A senior citizen in traditional garb. The Okinawans have one of the longest life expectancies in the world and one of the highest rates of centenarians per capita. One quickly notices the vitality of the senior population, whether riding bicycles, working in the fields or fishing along the beach.

Sugar cane is grown extensively throughout the island. This sequence of pictures illustrates harvested sugar canes, the canes being fed into a press that extracts the juice, and a 105 year old Okinawan woman reducing the juice to a molasses-like consistency by boiling off excess water.

Produce Market with sweet potatoes and daikon radishes in the foreground. Island-grown tangerines and persimmons are currently in season. –

An Okinawan mud stomper (note the Crocs), a camera-shy subject, and a not-so-shy group of senior ladies –

Replica of a traditional 15th century Ryukyu trading vessel. The Ryukyu Islands (Okinawa is the largest island in the Ryukyu archipelago) historically have had greater trading and cultural ties to China then to Japan.

The license plate on Joanne’s car. All American military issued plates have the “Y” symbol and the going joke is that Y=Yankee=Yen.