During Golden Week families visit their relatives. It's like going to Grandma's house for Christmas. The island was crowded with many visitors with lots of cars. We were told that many from the main land came to Okinawa during the week of celebration. Houses and parks were decorated with windsocks and pinwheels. Each windsock resembled a fish and represented the number of children in the family. In years gone by the family would hang out a fish for every boy. Woman's Lib has come to Japan and they now hang a fish for every child, girl and boy. Over the windsocks the pinwheels turned in the wind to signify the continuity of life. What a beautiful celebration.

A special week for us was to be the week between the University's term 4 and term 5. The school was closed and we planned to finally do some island hopping.

The island of Okinawa is one of 4 large and 1,000 small islands that are part of Japan. Okinawa is the largest of 160 islands that makes up the Ryukuan chain. The people of Okinawa are descendents of the Ryukyus who are thought to be the first to inhabit the island. The Ryukyus had ties to both Japan and China and trading relations with Korea and the East Indies. The Ryukyus were first mentioned in the Chinese and Japanese history around the year 600 AD.

Of the 160 islands, only 50 are populated by man. Some are sparsely inhabited and exhibit the life style of an earlier generation. Visiting these islands can be like going to another country. Many of the islands can be reached by a ferry ride; a few have bridges from Okinawa.

The Saturday after classes ended we went with some friends to Nago where you catch the ferry to Ie Island. Ie is a small island west of the Motobu Peninsula, northwest from our house. In the middle of the island is a large mountain call Mount Gusuku. On a clear day you can see the mountain from the shores of Okinawa. The mountain has been used as a landmark by navigators and during World War II, Ie Island was the scene of heavy warfare and bombings.

The ferry ride to Ie took one half hour. It was a beautiful day and the ride reminded us of our ferry ride in Sydney, but not quite as grand. When we arrived on the island we decided to rent a car so we could get around faster than the bicycles could take us. When we got to the car rental, a small shack near the harbor, the owner told us all the cars were rented for the day but we could use his car. For 3000 yen the four of us piled into his car. After we traveled down the road a bit we realized the breaks on the car were not what they should be. We decided not to let that ruin our day.

As we drove we could see lush, green fields of peanut plants that spread out all over the island and down to the sea. The island is known for its peanut crops and sells peanuts in their shell, as well as, all kinds of wonderful goodies made with peanuts. It was quite different from Okinawa with its sugar cane fields in between all the concrete buildings. We saw cows for the first time since we have been here and wondered if the islanders produce milk as well as peanuts. Most of the cows were in small sheds next to the more primitive houses made of wood with thatched roofs.

We continued to explore the island and came upon some caves that were on the beach near the sea. The woman with us was Japanese and could read the signs in the cave. Within the caves is a stone called Bijiru or Stone of Power. Legend has it that if a woman picks up this stone she will become pregnant. I didn't touch it! One section of the cave had large stones that stood vertically along the back wall of the cave. A sign there told us that the ghost of an old man and woman dwelt in the cave. When we looked through the camera to take a picture of the stones there was a strange red light in the camera lens. The light was gone when we looked at the stones with the naked eye. Ghost or no ghost it was a little spooky.

We stopped for lunch at a restaurant by the sea and enjoyed some shrimp tempura. After lunch we went up to the mountain to explore and enjoy the magnificent views of the ocean. We bought some peanut brittle and sampled the other peanut treats that were for sale in a little shop at the top of the mountain.

We visited one of the resorts on the island and got some quotes on room rates in case we decide to come back for a weekend. The resort is right on the beach and has a beautiful swimming pool overlooking the coast.

On our ferry ride back to Okinawa we talked about what island we wanted to visit next and decided to try another trip the next day. Unfortunately Mother Nature had other plans. Now, I have been given a number of different dates by a number of different people telling me when the rainy season comes to Okinawa. It rains here a lot, remember it is a tropical island, but the rain usually comes for a short time and then the sun comes out. Well the rainy season came the day after our trip to Ie Island. It rained and rained and rained some more, six days straight of rain.

We spent a lot of time during the school break eating in good restaurants and going to the gym to work off all the pounds we put on in the restaurants. One day we even got so bored we went bowling. I hope some other special day we can get to Miyako, Kume, Zamami and Yoron Islands.