It's a National Holiday in Japan Monday July 18, 2011. Call it The Day of the Sea, Marine Day, Oceans Day or Umi No Hi (海の日) or whatever you like. I'm just going to show a dozen photos to explain why Ocean Day in Japan is important to me. It might surprise some people, even some way over in Scotland.
Many of the festivals and ritual ceremonies I take photos at are events associated with the ocean.
The gals hootin, hollerin, chantin, dancin in the ocean and beating drums are rooting for their team rowing a boat at the Unjami, a festival held in Ogimi Village Okinawa, Japan every August.
One of my favorite birds in the whole wildlife kingdom, the osprey, depends on the ocean for his food.
On a hot summer day, you don't need air conditioning when there's an ocean nearby to cool you down.
Dragonboat races, are held everywhere. We wouldn't have them at all if it weren't for the oceans.
Some people go fishing as a sport, or a way to get out of the house just for relaxation.
For others, it isn't for relaxation. It is a matter of survival. Get some fish or go home hungry.
Water sports and other recreational activities that take place in the ocean are good for tourism.
Once a year we have a festival where a guy butchers a fresh tuna right before your eyes.
Everybody lines up a gets a serving for FREE !
If you aren't into catching your own, or standing in lines at festivals, you can always find a fish market with the catch of the day. You won't catch me eating any fish that was stuffed into a can.
All of the above photos demonstrate why the sea is important to me. Just like Okinawa, many places in Japan are close to the ocean and depend upon it for the same reasons I do.
The Holiday commemorates a trip the Emperor of Japan made way back in 1876. The ship the Emperor sailed around Japan in was built by A SHIPBUILDER IN SCOTLAND !
I WONDER IF MY FRIENDS IN SCOTLAND KNEW ABOUT THEIR CONTRIBUTION TO OCEAN DAY IN JAPAN ?
The Anti Smoking Campaign
Must continue until we get everyone properly trained.
Doggonit, there's etiquette we have to teach smokers.
First, we ought to cut down on the size of the cigarettes.
Look at the size of that thing.
It could qualify as a bazooka !
Etiquette? Well, if he'd side step a little further when he sees someone downwind of him, the smoke wouldn't have got the guy.
Look at the dog, though. He aint no dummy. Naturally smarter than his master or went to one of those schools like DOGGONIT ACADEMY
The dog came out clean. Hah!
This Sunday's Silly Sign was spotted at a convenience store in Okinawa, Japan.
It was posted on the ashtray outside the front door of the place. That's where I go to buy my smokes and iced coffee. Somebody with no Slurpy Etiquette spilt a drink on the sign !
VISIT MY HOMEPAGE FOR THE PHOTO OF THE DAY
This week I just had to give credit to Photographer Shawn Miller for Photo of the Week.
He takes his Nikon D90 with a Tokina 11-16mm lens, a strobe and a camera case for underwater photography and finds things like this Parrot Fish ( Scarus prasiognathos ) with a yellow heart displayed on its side. How deep does he dive to find these critters ? How about 100 feet below sea level !
Visit Shawn Miller's OKINAWA NATURE PHOTOGRAPHY to see more excellent photos taken on and around the island of Okinawa, Japan.
This is the time of year in Okinawa where the sound of drums can be heard every evening.
Obon season is just around the corner and rehersals for Eisa Dancers take place weeks in advance, every night from 7PM until close to midnight. Enjoy the sound of the drums, they are speaking to the spirits!
SEE MORE OF THE CULTURE OF OKINAWA HERE
This photo of a White Snake was taken May 2011 up north in the mountains of Okinawa, Japan on one of my excursions traveling through the Dai Sekirinzan in search of wildlife and admiring the rock formations known as Karst.
When you visit this tourist attraction, the entry fee of a few hundred yen gets you a bus ride to the top of the mountain. It's one of those diesel-powered, air-conditioned tour busses that looks and feels real inviting and it really is comfortable to sit in on a steamy-hot day. Then, it starts moving.
If you are toting along a camera or anything fragile, like a baby, or something, you'll have to take a few extra precautions. The bus takes you flying up the hill at a decent speed and hits enough potholes, ruts and bumps to jar the lenses right out of your cameras. I imagine, if you were dragging a little kid along for the ride, you'd have to worry about their eyeballs popping out of the sockets, too.
Fortunately, when the bus ride ends, there's a rest stop. They have rest rooms, refreshment machines and a gift shop/museum, of sorts. Everyone, stretches and mills around trying to get their land legs back on before going to follow the trails through the karst formations.
This white snake is cooped-up in a glass enclosure. Just trying to make conversation with the Okinawan Papasan who appears to be some sort of guide/caretaker at the place, I asked him what kind of snake this was and tried to find out what the story was behind the thing. I've heard that a white snake is considered to be a good thing in these parts of the world so, wanted to see if there was some local myth associated with this one. I love to have a great caption to post along with a wildlife photo.
Well, the guy says, "That's a White Rattlesnake from Texas". Hah !
Ryukyu Rusty was standing right there. He says, "BULL__IT, I'm from Texas and that aint no Rattlesnake"!
That's one thing I like about Texans. I had an Aunt from Texas. I loved to hear her talk.
She'd say stuff like, "We don't lie in Texas unless we're playing Poker". Then she'd get this gleam in her eye and say, "Wanna play some Poker"? And she'd pull a deck of cards out of her back pocket !
My research on this white snake isn't done, yet but, I'll show you some of what I've gathered, so far.
From China, a guy who falls in love with a gal WHO TURNS OUT TO BE A WHITE SNAKE
From Japan, there is folklore saying there is a WHITE SERPENT GOD
It will probably take me some time to discover the true story behind this white snake in Okinawa but I'm fairly certain it aint from Texas. Do you think people just make legends up ?
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