Discovering the Culture - Mid-May 2004

I think that there may be significant cultural differences between Okinawa and mainland Japan, where I lived when quite young and which I visited several years ago on vacation.

After all, this was the Ryuku Kingdom that existed on a series of islands south of Japan for a very long time until the Japanese invaded in the 1879. I suspect that even today, some Okinawans consider themselves to be Okinawans and the Japanese to be Japanese. The language is Japanese but Okinawan's have a unique dialect that is distinct from traditional Japanese when speaking. The Okinawan people I have met seem to be very relaxed and quite friendly. I am sure that any cultural differences will become more clear to me the longer I live here and I will annotate this Journal accordingly.

Here are some other things I've noticed:

Wet Towels at Meals: Recently, I went out to dinner at a seafood restaurant within about a 10-minute walk from where I'm staying. When I was in Japan four years ago, I nearly always was provided with wet towels to wash my hands, even at quick food places. Not so here and I was surprised by not having the wet towel provided at the upscale seafood restaurant. I'll keep an eye out for these hand towels if I dine in a classy restaurant. Or, I could just wash my hands before dining, like the rest of the world does. AN UPDATE: Around the first of June, I started getting towels everywhere, each time I went out to a restaurant to eat. Maybe it's timing, cultural or that everyone reads this Journal.

Social Eye Contact: Making eye contact when talking is considered impolite here – too aggressive. Also, shaking hands is not a preferred way of greeting someone. The Okinawan's want their personal space and so, as in Japan, they would rather look down, bow and speak and hello or good morning to you in their native language. This isn't being shy; it's the culturally correct way to greet someone. In Japan, however, my experience has been that many Japanese will make direct eye contact and shake your hand in greeting you, especially if you are meeting them for some business reason.

Finger Pointing: It is impolite to point one's finger at someone or, it seems, even to point at anything. Instead, the Okinawan's use the full hand with the palm up in a sort of cupped fashion to point at someone or something.

Gift Wrapping: The wrapping of gifts carries special meanings, especially at holidays, like at the New Year or to commemorate important events. For instance, a package wrapped with a bow, with the strings pointing up and which is easily untied, represents a happy time or gift for a joyous occasion. If the gift has a tight knot and the ends of the bowstring point down, and there is some black in the bow or on the package, this means the gift represents something sad or the giver's grief for the recipient's loss. The tight knot is symbolically important. If a package is hard to open, the belief is that it will hopefully be the last time that the recipient will have difficulty in opening a gift representing sadness.

Ancestor Worship: Here, Okinawans practice ancestor worship and families have built elaborate tombs or, ‘ kamekoubaka ' -- which face the ocean, to house the cremated remains of relatives. These concrete tombs are made in the shape of a turtle's back but are meant to represent a Mother's womb in the belief that after death, we return to the womb. I have also seen these constructed as small, square buildings instead of in the more elaborate turtleback style.   The upkeep of the tomb is the responsibility of the family and family members will periodically clean the tomb and then have a picnic there to honor their ancestors.

Improper Use of Chopsticks: It is impolite to pick something up with chopsticks and pass it to someone at a meal. It is, however, proper to pick up a food item and put it on someone else's plate, just don't hand it to them with the chopsticks. The basis of this prohibition comes from the ancestor worship tradition. The reason one should not pick up something and pass it to another is because after a relative dies and is cremated, the family, using very long, ceremonial chopsticks, picks out the bone remnants from the ashes and passes these from family member to family member. The remains are passed from person to person with their chopsticks and not otherwise touched. In this way, the deceased is remembered and honored by the family. I believe it is part of the mourning process. Thus, when dining, it is improper to pass food with chopsticks since this could be taken as disrespectful to one's ancestors.

Eisa Celebration: There is a yearly festival, held during August, known as the Eisa Festival (pronounced "A-sa" - it's a 'long' 'A' and short 'sa').   The festival is held in August and is drawn from the ancestor worship tradition. A month or so earlier, another festival welcomes back the ancestor-spirits. It is during this solemn, earlier festival that the Kamekoubaka tombs are cleaned and ancestors remembered. Then, the “Eisa” begins with gorgeous, costumed drummers literally drumming all over the island. This intensive Japanese-style drumming is meant to send the ancestor-spirits away with a festive send-off until next year.

Monk: I recently went up to the north part of the island on a tour of the military facilities there and saw a Buddhist monk sitting cross-legged, dressed in yellow and white robes, rhythmically beating single beats on a round sort of drum, but more like a wooden fan and yet not a fan at all. Since the American driver was fluent in Japanese, I asked him if he would mind stopping and asking the Monk if I might take a picture. I wanted to first ask since it is considered impolite to take a picture of someone without getting his or her permission first. So, the driver and I went over and asked him. The Monk looked a bit startled but agreed, so I took a picture. He has been there since the start of the Iraqi war and sits, cross-legged, slowly beating the fan/drum in his hand every day. I have posted his picture on the home page of this site. Look at the picture and you may see his intense concentration, which I find quite remarkable.