Statues of Two Famous Kerama Island Dogs

Shiro

The statue of Shiro may be seen on the island of Aka, just inside the ferry terminal.

 The dog named Shiro became a movie star, back in the mid-1980's.

The photo was taken from aboard the ferry to Zamami-jima, as the engines were idling.

Aka-jima is a stop, made enroute to Zamami but, I couldn't disembark.

So, the camera lens was zoomed to 220 MM and, a few shots were taken.

One of these days, I'll go back to that island and, spend a few days, doing photography.

Besides the dog statue, there are some deer on that island, I'm looking forward to meeting.

This dog statue is facing towards Zamami-jima, where the other dog lived.

Maririn

Maririn (Marilyn in English) is, the other half of this movie star couple.

Shiro, used to live on the island of Zamami but, his owner moved to Aka-jima.

Three kilometers (about 2 miles) away from his lover, Shiro would return to visit her.

The couple became famous, when a movie was made of their escapades.

Maririn ni Aitai (マリリンに逢いたい) Marilyn I want to meet you, made the dogs very popular in Japan.

For those, who would rather read the story, links to references:

Flash Fiction and other cultural nuggets from Japan

Find a Grave Marilyn Dog

Travel Photo: Maririn the Dog

Home from Zamami Island

 

 

This adventure began Friday morning and, I just got home today, sort of.

Thousands of photos,  taken over the weekend  will be processed during the next few days. 

This is the only one, I'll post here for now.  More may be seen on Facebook.

If you haven't heard about the statue of this famous dog, look here. 

Camera: Pentax K1

Lens: Pentax 15-30 at 30MM

Exposure: f/11   1/160   ISO 100

Location: Zamami Island, Okinawa, Japan

Date and Time:  JUN 25  2016  10:44AM

Travel Photos: Statue of Maririn the Dog on Zamami Island

Maririn would be pronounced Marilyn in English.

The statue represents the female half of two dogs who really liked each other.

The dogs, liked each other so much, they had three litters of puppies.

The male dog, named Shiro (white) lived on another island.

Shiro, used to swim from Aka Island to hook up with Maririn over at Zamami.

The story of the two dogs was made into a movie in 1988.

There are a few places, you can find books, DVDs or download the movie, in Japanese only.

Maririn ni aitai, meaning I want to see Marilyn would be the title.

A short clip from the movie may be found on YouTube. 

And, an interesting tale from some ocean scientist, about the dogs may be seen here.