7/12/08 On to Miyagi Minshuku
I went by Mama Yamashiro's to say goodbye and thank you and she served me breakfast and said no one had come by today and she had cooked, and I'm glad I was there with her one more time before I leave for Miyagi. She cut three passion fruits in half for me and handed me a little spoon to scoop the juicy, seedy insides out. I was amazed to see how this fruit looks inside and how it lovely it smells. The inside of a passion fruit is all peachy juice and some kind of stringy flesh clinging to the walls of a firm, almost hard shell and there are dark seeds. The overall effect, and I'm very surprised by this is that I'm eating a juicier, seedier version of a muscadine or grape. And I thought it would be like an apple!
Once on the road, I can never take a direct route. I have to veer off and stop off and eventually eat, of course. I stopped in Kyoda at the Michi-no-Eki Kyoda Yanbaru Product Center. There were men unloading a truckload of fresh Okinawan pineapple in the parking lot. Inside, the first section I came to was like a produce department and it contained produce from the Yanbaru area of the island. There were fruits and vegetables of every sort - pineapples, of course, but also passion fruit, melons of every description, mango, papaya, bananas, okra, greens, eggplant and it goes on and on. I sampled spare ribs in the next section and there was a big assortment of Okinawan brown sugars and salts and sweets and awamori and shirts that look like Hawaiian shirts, and a man playing flute type instruments of all sorts, really playing real music, even on a broom - HAD to get a photo of that. That section merged into a little restaurant where the counter help came out from behind the counter and she and an Okinawan man with good English helped me choose an Okinawa soba with pork, a goya salad and rice with vegetables.
The Okinawan man was with his wife and two young German men whom I would learn were staying with the Okinawan couple. I think I heard one of them refer to the man as Sensei, so he may have been their teacher, maybe martial arts? The Okinawan man's erect posture made me think it could be so. They invited me to sit with them. The Okinawan man ordered everyone at their table a squid soup that was blacker than black bean soup and they had rice and salad. The man and his wife made quick work of their entire meals, while I barely made a dent in mine and was full as can be.
On the road again, I thought it wouldn't be long before I'd be at Miyagi Minshuku, but as has happened so often on this trip, I was wrong. In Nago, I spotted a Jusco! I knew about Jusco and wanted to explore. I don't know how to describe it, but it seems to me, just my deduction, that it is like a mall, but in one building and the stores aren't separated by walls.
On the way to the rest room, I walked through the biggest kiddy section I've ever seen and more wondrous than anything Walt Disney could have conceived! There were children just everywhere and it was almost like the biggest, most colorful, most spectacular Chuck E Cheese you've ever seen. On one wall, there were even panchinko machines and people were lined up at those, their posture like the people in Las Vegas who just sit there feeding the slot machines. There were housewares, clothes, sporting goods, electronics, notions, fabric, kimonos and those short men's pajama outfits with the wrap, kimono style tops. There was an entire section of the special Okinawa specific food items, the tarts, cookies, salts, sugars, etc. There were cosmetics and liquors and candies and a great looking food court up and downstairs at the front.
I spied a Mister Donut and people were walking out of there toting Mister Donut boxes, so I went up and took the bait. You get a tray and grab a pair of tongs and you walk the length of the counter and choose what tickles your fancy. I got a small 80 yen fruity cream filled donut and iced tea. It was divine! They also have an incentive program to get the kiddies hooked. Apparently, you can acquire points that you can redeem for premiums - premiums being toys and items desired by children.
I did quite a bit of video in there and in the parking lot and was on my way. Going to turn in now and finish this in the morning, but also went to Nakijin Castle and it was wonderful!! good night....
