Keris Purba di Okinawa

Ini kuil enkakuji di kawasan Istana Shuri. Di belakang kuil ini terletak tanah kuburan. Kuil ini siap dibina pada tahun 1495 (lihat imej pertama) ketika Hang Tuah berumur 64 (lahir thn 1431). Masih belum ada bukti yang keris ini kepunyaan Hang Tuah sebab pembinaan kuil ini siap apabila Hang Tuah sudah amat tua. 

Seperkara lagi, kuil ini tempat kuburan penganut Budis. Sebilah keris berlok 9 bersama artifak-artifak lain dari China, Taiwan dan Korea, dijumpai dalam himpunan tanah terbuka setelah terjadi satu gempa bumi. 

Keris ini dikuburkan bersama si mati dan rekod peribadi si mati seperti nama dan tarikh mati tidak dijumpai. Keris ini belum dapat dibuktikan lagi yang ia kepunyaan Hang Tuah atau berasal dari Tanah Melayu.

Nota: Rumah penulis hanya 10 min dari Istana Shuri.

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asa

Asa ialah sejenis rumput laut yang digunakan sebagai makanan di Okinawa. Asa ialah panggilan atau loghat orang Okinawa.
Lazimnya saya gunakan sewaktu bersahur, jika tiada masa menyediakan sayur untuk lauk.
Ia dicampur dengan cuka, air perahan limau dan sedikit kicap cair lalu diminum sahaja.
Gambar-gambar ini saya ambil di bahagian selatan Okinawa, Pulau Oo.

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島人ぬ宝

Boku ga umareta kono shima no sora o  (Looking up at the sky of the Islands here where I was born)
Boku wa dore kurai shite iru n darou  (and I wonder how much I know about the sky)
Kagayaku hoshi mo nagareru kumo mo  (shining stars and billowing clouds)
Namae o hikaretemo wakaranai  (I have no idea what they are called…)
Demo dare yori dare yori mo shitte iru  (Still, I know more than anybody else)
Kanashii toki mo ureshii toki mo  (in sadness and in happiness)
Nando mo miagete ita kono sora o  (the sky I’ve looked up upon so many times)
Kyoukashou ni kaite aru koto dake ja wakaranai  (There is no way to comprehend by just reading textbooks)
Taisetsu na mono ga kitto koko ni aru hazu sa  (There must be something invaluable here)
Sore ga shimanchu nu takara  (That is the Treasure of the Island People)
Boku ga umareta kono shima no umi o  (Looking below at the oceans of the islands here where I was born)
Boku wa dore kurai shitte iru n darou  (and I wonder how much I know about the ocean)
Yogereteku sango mo hette yuku sakana mo  (the dirty coral and the disappearing fish populations)
Doushitara ii noka wakaranai  (I have no idea what to do about that)
Demo dare yori dare yori mo shitte iru  (Still, I know more than anyone)
Suna ni mamirete nami ni yurarete  (covered in sand and rocked by waves)
Sukoshi zutsukawatte yuku kono umi o  (the ocean that is slowly changing)
Terebi de wa utsusenai rajio demo nagasenai  (It cannot be shown on television or heard on the radio)
Taisetsu na mono ga kitto koko ni aru hazu sa  (There must be something invaluable here)
Sore ga shimanchu nu takara  (That is the Treasure of the Island People)
Boku ga umareta kono shima no uta o  (The music of the Islands here where I was born)
Boku wa dore kurai shitte iru n darou  (How much do I know them?)
Tubarama mo densaa bushi mo  (Tubarama and densaa bushi)
Kotoba no imi sae wakaranai  (I have no idea even what the words mean)
Demo dare yori dare yori mo shitte iru  (Still, I know more than anyone)
Iwai no yoru mo matsuri no asa mo  (the night of celebrations and the morning of festivals)
Doko kara ga kikoete kuru kono uta o  (the songs that can be heard everywhere)
Itsu no hi ka kono shima o hanareteku sono hi made  (until that day – someday – when I must leave the Islands)
Taisetsu na mono motto fukaku shite itai  (I want to really know and understand deeply the important things)
Sore ga shimanchu nu takara  (these are the Treasures of the Island People)

Liric from this link: http://watchjapan.wordpress.com/tag/okinawa/

Instant house

 When I was away for two months at the end of last year, they was a single room hut by the wall. Then, upon returning, there was just the skinny frame from that single room hut. The owner of that single room hut, is an unmarried man and he made a house from a container material.You can see the container-house on the left side of the image. In that two months that I was not at home, a new resident stand in front of my house.

 End of April, 2013, there was a ground-breaking ceremony done in the Buddhist way one early morning. Then, the building company went around the housing compound to apologize for the noise of building a new house for the next couple of months. To take the neighbors heart, each of us are given some kind of a token of gifts for bearing with the uncomfort of the noise of building.
Even though the rain season sets in Okinawa, the building went on boring the ground and start with the foundation work. After the cement is laid and hardened, the workers did not stop working in the rain. Two days ago, the house frame was set up.

By the next day, the house roof was rounded up and the basic outline of the house is established.
The building company told us (as neighbours) to bear the building process for two months but I see from the way these Japanese builders are going, I am not surprise if this house will be ready to live by two weeks time.
Very soon, I will have a new neighbour-family.

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Simple Life

Summer High Sch Baseball

All-Japan High Sch Baseball: Konan High Okinawa won the spring tournament this year but not only that, two days ago they won the summer tournament as well. This only happened to 5 schools in Japan so far in history. So winning the Spring and Summer Tournament put a permanent mark for Konan High in the history of high school baseball tournament of Japan.
Airline companies have to put up extra flights to load parents and supporters to Koshien Stadium from Okinawa. In the summer heat that burnt the air at 35c, those children played and those supporters from Okinawa cheered.
At the end of the game, the lost team cried for disappointing their fans but Konan team cried as well.
Tears of happiness.
This is the only way for the Okinawa people to tell the mainland Japanese folks that with their combined strength and spirit, no obstacles will get in their way.
If you looked into the history of Okinawa Islands and its people, bulling, neglecting, undermining, abandoning and mistreating were and still are common practice within the political parties on mainland Japan with Okinawa people.

Thank you Konan Baseball team for making the people on the island proud again.

興南高校　お手柄でしたね！

Yes, we can do it!
Look, we've done it!

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Summer Vegetable

Summer Vege

These are summer veggies on this island. You can see banana but that is a special banana, sweet. I know some people named it as Monkey banana. Then there is square beans (kacang botor), red chillies, long beans (kacang panjang), ciku (those brown egg-like fruits, pink-bell jambu and of course not in the photo is bitter gourd (peria) and petula (sponge gourd).

Petula or sponge gourd, strange thing is the Japanese on the mainland don't eat it, instead they use it as body scrub! But Okinawa people use it as food!

Anyway, this is the best time to get good red chillies, so I bought 6 packs in one go.


Words from her red mouth
sparkle and burn back her face
Red chillies and friends.

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Magnitude 7

From the media (english)
Laporan di BH (ketik sini).

For relations who called and friends who e-mailed, thank you for your concern. First news is we are alright, alhamdulillah.

I slept late the night before, doing some haiku translations. This morning at 5.31 am, I thought I was shaking in my dreams. After 2 seconds, I became conscious that the earth was trembling. Into the 3rd seconds, I turned and looked at hubby by my side. He did not moved but his eyes were flapping.
He only managed to say, "Jishin! (earthquake)"
Into the 4th seconds, I reached for him and hugged him. I know I'm supposed to take safety under the dining table but I couldn't moved. My mind went to The Al-Mighty, only He can protect us in moments like this.
Into the 5th/6th seconds, we were both hugging and waiting. Some sound of crashing from the distance. I was expecting the roof to fall on us.
I was glad I'm fully dressed, meaning not in my sleeping outfit.　If it means I have to run out of the house, at least I'm properly dressed. I don't know why my mind run this way at moment like this.

It was all quiet after 8th/9th seconds. I ran into the living room and switched on the TV. The government channel NHK runs a warning on tsunami. People near the sea have to run for safety as waves as high as 1 meter comes banging in repeatedly.
Hubby found out where the crashing sound originates. The flower vase in the toilet, shake and crashed.
Now, almost half the day is gone and I still have not cleared the broken glasses yet.

My father-in-law now 97 years old said this is the strongest quake he felt all his life. Before the strongest we felt was magnitude 4 but to be exact at 6.9/7 on the Richter scale is BIG!

Alhamdulillah, goes with many heaves of relieve.

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Tatkala tahi gigi kering...

Ini Ai Miyazato. Anak tulin Okinawa. Dia menang Pertandingan Wanita Golf Evian Masters semalam. Yang peliknya Otto. Tak habis-habis dia menatap permainan budak ini (sama umur anak sulung). Dari satu berita sehingga berita lain. Berita yang sama diulang-ulang. Pelik betul. Punyalah Otto dan umat Okinawa yang lain berbangga! Pengumuman di radio beri ucapan tahniah. Berita tempatan di televisyen pun beri ucapan tahniah.
Lagi satu, budak Ai ini berasal dari kampung Higashi-son. Wah, bukan main gembira ria betul orang-orang kampung dia. Nenek dan datuk tua yang dah kerepot umur 70, 80, 90 joget-joget beramai-ramai. Berpimpin tangan, berpusing-pusing kesukaan.
Mendapat tempat pertama, budak Ai ini dapat bawa balik seguni duit sebanyak US$487,500.
Datuk bandar Higashi-son tersenyum sampai kekeringan tahi gigi. Nak tahu kenapa?
Ingat tak cukai pendapatan?
20% kemenangan ini dikenakan cukai. Kira, tolak, bagi, darab jumlan US97,500 masuk ke akaun cukai. Nak tahu siapa dapat duit cukai ini?
Kampung dia dapat, Higashi-son.

Sekarang dah tahu kan kenapa datuk bandar tersenyum sampai tahi gigi kering?


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Solar eclipse-tyme

The sun is covered about 30% as I am writing this. The whole sun will be covered in about 50 mins time. It will pass through Kikai island south of Japan, north of Okinawa island chains. The last solar eclipse was 46 years ago. After calculations, the next solar eclipse might pass over Tokyo in 26 year's time.

The sky up my head is dark suddenly. I thought it might rain but it's the side-effect of the moon slowly covering the sun.

If you guys in Malaysia get this message now, go out and check the sun immediately.
Maybe make solat dhuha or solat sunat matahari gerhana.

Time: 11.30 am- The moon cover the sun completely. NHK is making a live view of the whole event. Kikai island is covered in darkness. The temperature drops 4c. All the star admirers coming in from around world are gathered and all pointing their giants scope towards the sky. The people on Kikai islands are outside their houses. The people in my neigbourhood are hanging out on the street. We just want to be a part of this great phenomena. The sun is covered for 6 minutes only. The whole sky is dark.
Tomo said all teachers stopped the classes in campus and they went to the ground outside to witness the show of the universe.

Nota kaki: Dilaporkan cengkerik di bumi dan unggas di langit tidak berlagu dan bersuara selama 7-10 minit tatkala buana ini dalam kegelapan. Subhana-Allah!


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Sa..Sa..Eisa-tyme

Mirukumunari

The Summer school holiday started yesterday. Of course, I didn't know about it but when I see many children on the street with their bikes burning in the hot sun, I can guess as well. 40 beautiful days for these children. 40 days of harassful time for their mothers.
Also, this sound , the taiko drum is heard every eveniing around the corner in my neighbourhood. I think these people are doing their practise for various upcoming festivals, again I'm no sure what festivals.
If you hear the video up there, you can feel the beat of Okinawa. You can't help it. Everytime I hear this taiko drum, the adrenalin level shoot. Actually, the singer sings in Okinawa dialect. Don't request for translation of it, my head feels too overload right now and I don't want to include Okinawa dialect or any other foreign languages, for that matter.

Friends or people who have ever step on this island, be aware. After you hear this beat, you will cry for this island again!


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Number 53 tyme

Bukan sekalung rantai emas, bukan sebiji mata putih berkarat atau sebuah Honda Prelude...bukan, bukan tapi dua buah bergantungan dan berjuntai-juntai. Inilah hadiah istimewa itu. Hasil titik peluhnya sendiri.

That is goya grown especially for me. Goya or bitter gourd or peria. We are eating goya almost everyday now. Some Japanese eat it raw like salad but I do a half stir-fry and eat it still crispy. It is very bitter. But I'm used to the taste. I can't compare the Okinawa goya with the goya found in Malaysia simply because I forgot the taste of the Malaysia version.

When we were newly married, I could not hold hands like this. I was very conscious of people around us looking. Menyampah! Nak tunjuk-tunjuk!
But now, that doesn't bother me anymore. Holding each other is like eating and drinking after more than 27 years into the marriage.

My birthday dinner

Replying to a question in the previous entry from Sara atorako about halal food in Okinawa. So far no muslims have died of hunger in Okinawa. Even if there is no muslim shops in Okinawa, there are varieties of Japanese food that muslims can eat. If you insist on eating halal meat, go to the dining hall at Okinawa International Center (JICA) in Urasoe. That's the only place as far as I know that serve halal meat.
Hope your stay in Okinawa is pleasant.

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Tatkala pengemis berbicara...

Dalam pengalaman peribadi ini (: bukan buku, bukan dari laporan orang lain) yang telah mengembara ke separuh pulusuk dunia, Indonesia ialah negara yang paling ramai pengemis. Tapi pengemis di Indonesia tidak menganggu dan tidak memaksa orang ramai. Kebanyakan pengemis Indonesia adalah dari kaum wanita. Mereka muda. Mereka mengendung anak-anak kecil, berpakaian koyak-rabak, berwajah kotor dan bermuka muram. Kadang-kadang mereka biarkan anak-anak itu menangis untuk mendapat simpati dari orang yang memandang. Tapi tektik ini adalah teknik yang banyak pengemis-pengemis di negara lain juga lakukan. Terpulanglah kepada orang yang melihat untuk memberi wang dan saya rasa ini cara ikhlas. Maksud saya orang yang memberi sedekah tidak dipaksa dan jumlah wang yang diberi juga ikhlas.

Saya dapati cara pengemis di Malaysia lain sedikit. Mereka tidak meminta duit cara berdepan-depan. Mereka (:selalunya OKU mata) mainkan biola atau seruling atau membaca ayat-ayat suci dari kitab Al-quran di kawasan ramai untuk menarik simpati orang yang melihat. Ini saya rasa elok (bukan menjadi pengemis elok tapi saya katakan caranya!). Kita yang melihat, menarik duit dalam seluar dan terus berikan secara ikhlas.
Ada cara lain yang menggunakan anak-anak kecil (:entah dari mana-tak pandai cakap bahasa Melayu) untuk menjual ayat-ayat suci di tempat makan. Beberapa kali, apabila saya sedang menumpukan pada perbualan atau hidangan, mereka datang dengan senyap-senyap. Terpacak tiba-tiba di depan muka dan menghulurkan buku-buku yang dicetak ayat-ayat suci. Baiklah kita kira anak pertama datang, anak kedua datang tapi bila dah anak ketiga juga datang...saya menghalau dengan bosan.
Hinggakan nak suap makanan ke mulut pun terganggu!

Kebelakangan ini, tatkala saya balik Singapura, saya lihat ada juga pengemis tapi very high class, dude! (pembaca yang tak suka saya campurkan ayat melayu bersama perkataan orang putih-jangan marah, dude!).

Ada sekali dalam bas, saya duduk menikmati alam dari cermin dalam bas. Datang dari belakang seorang anak muda, berpakaian baju sekolah.
"Aunty, can give me $5?"
"Hah!" terkejut katak aunty.
"I want to buy lunch, I'm hungry, aunty!"
Aunty terpinga-pinga, terus Aunty seluk bag duit dan berikan beberapa duit syiling yang ada.
"Take this, I only have this!"
"Aunty, not enoughlah"!
"Alamak, demand lagi!" kali ini aunty terkejut monyet (: tergaru-garu).
"Sorry, aunty only have this, if you don't want, aunty take back!"
"Okay aunty, I take this. Thank you, aunty!"
Itu pengalaman pertama dengan pengemis moden di negara kaya itu.

Di Tokyo, apabila berada di stesen Shibuya, seorang perempuan separuh umur datang mendekati diri ini. Ingatkan dia nak tanya saya dari mana dan bangsa apa (: pertanyaan biasa dari orang-orang yang kita tak kenal di Tokyo) tapi bukan!
"Minta sen yen!" dia kata.
"Sen yen?" saya terperanjat kuda (: macam rasa nak melompat lari).
Tau tak sen yen berapa nilainya? (Y1000=RM36.40)

Rupanya lagi kaya negara itu, pengemisnya demand lagi banyak!
"Saya tak ada sen yen tapi kalau nak hyaku yen ada(: nilai 100= RM3.80)!"
"Tak apalah, hyaku yen pun boleh!" dia kata lalu dia pergi.

Saya bukan cerita percuma tentang pengemis dan juga bukan nak heboh-hebohkan segala pengembaraan yang saya pernah lakukan. Mungkin ada yang mengata "nyampah kak lela!"
Bukan!

Isi cerita ini.

Selama 18 tahun saya tinggal di pulau ini, di pulau yang paling miskin di antara semua kawasan di Jepun, saya belum pernah berjumpa dengan seorang pengemis lagi.

Ironi kan?



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Tyme of iris tsunami

Iris blooms for one month only. So for those who come to this island expecting to see iris, please make sure the time is right. If you come in December and say to me you want to see iris, I will say to come back again for the tsunami blue in April.
Both of us make our way up north, driving about 100km. The weather was beautiful at 24c and this two days the rain is having time off, letting the sun glows everywhere.
When we reached the hide-out (hide-out because the valley of iris was surrounded by hills), I was totally strucked by the immensely beautiful sea of blue, waving with the gentle motion of the wind.
Like a woman crazy in love for the first time, I fly amongst the blooms. I don't know in which direction to turn to. Everywhere and I mean everywhere, far and near my eyes see, the gentle wave of blue eveloped my being, swallowed my body. I cannot breathe with this beauty. If I could paint, if only I could paint this feeling...

Iris tsunami/ drowning all eyes heartlessly/ blue souls in blue clouds.#######This haiku was inspired immediately.

Romancing the fish tyme

Nowadays, when I'm feeling down, I talk to the fish and this morning, this is the conversation.

Every morning, facing the news add more worries on my face. The decreasing grey cells in this brain cannot comprehend such unreasonable killings, such lay off that forced previously reputated family man to eat and sleep on road walks. I know all these are works of Illah SWT. I don't question His Plan. He has a Plan for the World. He lets those killings be done, He Plans those places to be destroyed, so who I am to question His Doings?
Only He knows when to stop, only He knows how long it will go on, only He knows...

On other parts of Japan, fathers are left without work, man are left homeless, breadwinners found themselves eating hand-out food and sleeping in the parks.
I give a little smile to those powerful people who try to control this miserable economic conditions. Work unions and employers are combining heads to bring the situation back to normal.

When those factories cut ribbon and celebrate opening branches there, the people on Okinawa island smiled and join the joyous occasion. But the same factories never open on this island. What has been and always will be on this island is the GI base, the humble islanders and the sugar cane field.

Now, in this economic chaos, what still remain on this island is still the GI base, the humble islanders and the sugar cane field.

Isn't it ironic?

We are not affected by the economic tumble. There is no work layoffs, no shutdowns, no homeless in the park.

This, I would say, is another one of His Plans. Thank you, thank you.

Morning that sips time

I've been eating clear soup with spinach, shiitake mushrooms and carrots adding 2 pieces of mochi rice-cake for the past 3 days.
On top of that I haven't been cooking for several days as we are eating sashimi (raw fish) all the time. Those are gifts from people around us. It's not like we are in with the festive occasion, it's just that the current of flow pulls us in the wave of celebrations.
The cold, biting winter wind that is blowing from the north as a way of nature welcoming the changing year, is stopping me from stepping out in the world.
Sipping on a cup of hot, milk coffee, I looked at the sparrows in my front yard feeding on the bird feeds that Otto throws.

Yes, life is easy,
Life is moving,
and I'm moving easily with life.

The last singer of the Kouhaku Utagassen 2008 (The Red & White Singing Contest)-Hikawa Kiyoshi with Zun-doko Bushi.
The song is about how he missed his mother while staying apart, starting a new life of his own.