When I knew I was coming to Okinawa, I got in touch with a yo-yo friend I met during my last visit. A 2A (looping) player, Chika is a super nice guy who is a driving force behind Okinawa's yo-yo scene. The timing is perfect, he told me, as he had just returned to Okinawa from living in Tokyo for work, and they were planning to have a 練習会 (practice meetup) right by my station on Sunday.
Since the meetup was at 1:00 p.m., I had a fair amount of time to kill in the morning. I decided against taking my laptop with me on this bike tour, so I spent the morning going through emails and responding to everyone I could, getting as much work done as possible so I could feel free for the rest of the week.
I walked to the Hoshizora Community Center and found the room filled with yo-yo players. Because it had been a while they had a fair turnout, with almost a dozen players come to trade in tricks and stories. Some of them had come to the contest in Osaka, and one friendly young man was the reigning junior 2A champion in Japan. I'm still amazed at how smoothly they make everything look, I need more practice before I can even clumsily hit a trick. After a while, some children walking by smushed their faces up against the glass, and Chika opened the door to invite the family in to join us. It turned out that their dad was a kendama champion, but yo-yo players are a force of nature, and they left with some new yo-yos in hand and smiles on their faces.
Right around 3:00 I had to take my leave and get started on my journey. I went back to the hotel and picked up my bags, slung my giant backpack across my back and rode my bike to MyPlace, who graciously took them off my hands, leaving me with a light backpack and a fanny pack as my only luggage for the rest of the week.
The first leg of the journey was mostly through the developed areas of northern Naha, Chatan (where I had climbed and walked through the "American village" a few years back), and past the American base at Kadena. Wanting to hug the coast, I turned before Yomitan to head towards the lighthouse on the tip of Cape Zanpa, where I was delighted by an assortment of friendly stray cats that tolerated my attention for a while. I thought I could stick to the coast but realized that the lighthouse didn't offer an alternative escape route, so I had to backtrack a bit to continue the journey.
Someone at the yo-yo meetup suggested Mr. Kinjo to me for accommodations, and I aimed for one in Onna-son that had a low price advertised. Unfortunately it was getting late and I had to ride for about an hour through the dark before I arrived, ready to wash off the day's filth. "I'm sorry, we stop taking reservations at 8pm" said the clerk. I looked at my watch, it was 8:08.
Not wanting to leave me in the cold, but also unable to rent out any of their rooms, he suggested the Japanese Style Hotel Hokkaisou, a few kilometers back that I had passed on my way. The young man at the counter said the same thing (that rooms were unavailable for booking this late), but since I spoke Japanese he took pity on me and manually processed a room
for me. It was more than I needed but 6000 yen was a pittance to have a shower and a roof for the night. Funnily enough, Kanji, the young man turned out to be from Seto-shi in Okayama, just a few stops from Bizen where I just visited my friend. I made a conbini run and got him a green smoothie to thank him, and we split a nashi as we chatted a bit before I went upstairs to crash for the night.
Tour Day 1 Stats:
Distance: 57.27km
Elevation gain: 420m
Moving time: 3:36
Calories burned: 1,834
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Since the meetup was at 1:00 p.m., I had a fair amount of time to kill in the morning. I decided against taking my laptop with me on this bike tour, so I spent the morning going through emails and responding to everyone I could, getting as much work done as possible so I could feel free for the rest of the week.
I walked to the Hoshizora Community Center and found the room filled with yo-yo players. Because it had been a while they had a fair turnout, with almost a dozen players come to trade in tricks and stories. Some of them had come to the contest in Osaka, and one friendly young man was the reigning junior 2A champion in Japan. I'm still amazed at how smoothly they make everything look, I need more practice before I can even clumsily hit a trick. After a while, some children walking by smushed their faces up against the glass, and Chika opened the door to invite the family in to join us. It turned out that their dad was a kendama champion, but yo-yo players are a force of nature, and they left with some new yo-yos in hand and smiles on their faces.
Right around 3:00 I had to take my leave and get started on my journey. I went back to the hotel and picked up my bags, slung my giant backpack across my back and rode my bike to MyPlace, who graciously took them off my hands, leaving me with a light backpack and a fanny pack as my only luggage for the rest of the week.
The first leg of the journey was mostly through the developed areas of northern Naha, Chatan (where I had climbed and walked through the "American village" a few years back), and past the American base at Kadena. Wanting to hug the coast, I turned before Yomitan to head towards the lighthouse on the tip of Cape Zanpa, where I was delighted by an assortment of friendly stray cats that tolerated my attention for a while. I thought I could stick to the coast but realized that the lighthouse didn't offer an alternative escape route, so I had to backtrack a bit to continue the journey.
Someone at the yo-yo meetup suggested Mr. Kinjo to me for accommodations, and I aimed for one in Onna-son that had a low price advertised. Unfortunately it was getting late and I had to ride for about an hour through the dark before I arrived, ready to wash off the day's filth. "I'm sorry, we stop taking reservations at 8pm" said the clerk. I looked at my watch, it was 8:08.
Not wanting to leave me in the cold, but also unable to rent out any of their rooms, he suggested the Japanese Style Hotel Hokkaisou, a few kilometers back that I had passed on my way. The young man at the counter said the same thing (that rooms were unavailable for booking this late), but since I spoke Japanese he took pity on me and manually processed a roomfor me. It was more than I needed but 6000 yen was a pittance to have a shower and a roof for the night. Funnily enough, Kanji, the young man turned out to be from Seto-shi in Okayama, just a few stops from Bizen where I just visited my friend. I made a conbini run and got him a green smoothie to thank him, and we split a nashi as we chatted a bit before I went upstairs to crash for the night.
Tour Day 1 Stats:
Distance: 57.27km
Elevation gain: 420m
Moving time: 3:36
Calories burned: 1,834
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ONNA JAPANESE STYLE HOTEL HOKKAISOU $31 ($̶5̶1̶) - Prices & Lodge Reviews - Okinawa Prefecture, Japan
Now $31 (Was $̶5̶1̶) on Tripadvisor: Onna Japanese Style Hotel Hokkaisou, Okinawa Prefecture. See 19 traveler reviews, 23 candid photos, and great deals for Onna Japanese Style Hotel Hokkaisou, ranked #3 of 78 specialty lodging in Okinawa Prefecture and rated 4 of 5 at Tripadvisor.
