Recently, I went to Ikei Island at the far northern part of the eastern side of Okinawa. A bridge to the main part of Okinawa connects the island with the rest of Okinawa. It was a rainy day. More or less at the end of the road is the only resort there (actually just a hotel with several cottages) and had lunch; then, I went to the beach. To get to the beach, one has to walk to the northern point of Ikei Island, noting that there is just water between that point and mainland Japan to the northeast. Then, you follow a path to the west.

When I got to the pretty beach, I was surprised that I had it all to myself. I discovered that it was low tide and, no surprise, it was raining quite heavily. I climbed over some rocks and coral outcropping around the bend just to the south and, finding a pool, I soaked in the salt water. As I did, I noticed that colorful, small, tropical fish surrounded me - yellow, blue, turquoise - then I heard a splash! I thought a visitor had arrived. But no, this was a jumping crab that went after some fish in the water. They look like east coast USA blue crabs but jump like jumping spiders from rock to rock and into the water. A crab is on a rock and then it's gone, having jumped in the flash of an eye to a nearby rock. The jumping technique is just like the jumping spiders – boom, and the spider crab is gone.

Undeterred by the presence of the crabs, some of which were nearby, and realizing that no one else was there, I continued to sit in the water, my only concern at this point being poisonous water snakes or other water-based hazards, of which there are many. Nothing hazardous appeared other than the rain and some impressive thunder. So, I was wet either in or out of the water. It was a wonderful time to be sitting in the water with my newly found fish friends getting pelted by rain all the while being curiously looked at by ever bolder jumping spider crabs. Fortunately, no spider crab mistook me for a beached, white whale, which is how I must have looked to them. I'm not sure what a fish in the water would think – maybe just that something HUGE was churning up food from the sand. Still, the fish looked at me curiously as I sat in their space. Literally and figuratively, I was a ‘squatter' in the full meaning of that word.

It is fairly remote at this location with many sugar cane fields and small farms in the area. The tropical growth crowds out parts of the two-lane roads here, making them one-lane; it's than dense. The resort hotel was small with only six floors and several cottages in rows of four rooms each and was located behind the main building. Also, there was a pool, but no one was in it.

There are many signs posted on the various pathways behind the hotel itself that warn those walking there and on the paths through the underbrush to look out for my other newly found friend, the deadly Habu snake. I'm going to run into one someday. But on this day, since I couldn't photograph a Habu snake in the wild, I took a picture of the yellow warning signs, each with a drawing of a snake and a warning. One doesn't need to be Japanese to understand the sign, it was that clear. So, I was careful where I went.

The following day, I went to an outlet mall. Not a great achievement in an of itself except that this was the mall I couldn't find a few weeks ago. It has been the only destination I gave up on and giving up on finding this mall was the first time that I had given up on finding some destination since I arrived. That was the day I had the mystery meat noodles; covered in another Journal entry.

In trying to find the mall, I had to ask directions even though I had two maps with me. I'm not really that much of an idiot. The reason the mall is more or less hidden is that the expressway extension will go right by it and then it will be easy to find. Right now, it's hard to find. In my previous attempt, I had driven all around it but couldn't see it from any of those small, rural roads. I bought a nice tie and had lunch in one of the upscale food court restaurants.

Next, I went to the large Peace Park on the southern part of the Island since it was only around 1:30 pm, and the park was less than 15 Km away, I knew I had time for a visit. Few were there due to the rain and the fact that the main building is closed on Mondays and this was Monday, July 5 th . I didn't know it, but learned during my visit that the Battle of Okinawa in 1945 was 1) the only combat of WW II that occurred on Japanese soil, 2) killed way too many soldiers and civilians, something in the order of 200,000, and, no surprise here, 3) devastated the island's inhabitants, agriculture, topography, economy, etc.

Here are many, many black granite Vietnam Memorial-type blocks, but smaller, with the names of those killed inscribed on them; some in Japanese, some in English. Appropriately, a dark thunderstorm came round and it rained heavily while I was there. Strangely, I was really grief-stricken at seeing this visual reminder of the pain, suffering and loss inscribed in the granite blocks. When the rain came, I knew that Okinawa was crying with me. This memorial is really much larger and more moving than the Vietnam Memorial in D.C.

For instance, a few weeks ago, I had lunch at a place that was built on the beach where the Marines came ashore in 1945. Up a few miles to the northeast is where the Japanese Army waited in their underground bunkers for the Americans. Once the American forces were well inland, the Japanese Army launched its deadly attack which was met with equal force by the Americans, hence the devastation. There were more soldiers coming ashore here than at Normandy and the battle was much more fierce than D-Day, according to historians, but I suspect a veteran at D-Day would disagree with them. I still think it is strange to be eating a Caesar salad in an air-conditioned restaurant when, literally just outside not too many years ago, amphibious landing craft were coming ashore.

Up on a hill at the Peace Park, there is a tall, modern looking building housing a large image of the Buddha. Inside are also some very nicely done paintings about the history and culture of Okinawa. I was alone with the Buddha for quite some time and so I took the opportunity to pray for peace and for those who died in this tragedy so long ago.

Earlier this week, in stark contrast to what happened in the battle, the polite cashier at the nearby grocery store take my Yen when I buy bananas and graciously gives me change by carefully putting the coins and receipt in my hand and holding the bottom of my outstretched hand with her free hand to make sure, I guess, that the coins don't drop. All the while giving me a short and brief bow and a polite "Arigato, Gozai Masu" (Thank you very much). It seems that all cashiers do it this way for every customer, at least in every store I've visited thus far. But 50 some years ago, as the Peace Park silently testifies to, it was quite a different story.