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Seven Hours to the Beach

2023.05.22

Photo Credit: マサコ アーント @ pixabay


One cheap way to get to the beach in Japan is to fly with Peach Airlines from Kansai International Airport to Ishigaki Island in Okinawa. In March, I flew round trip for ¥15,000, and with a bargain deal on a new hotel with a free breakfast for ¥6,000, the choice to see the ocean before school started was an easy one over a weekend stay in an urban setting in Tokyo.


After exiting the new airport on Ishigaki even with a Starbucks cafe, I took a city bus 15 minutes to my hotel in front of the new Intercontinental ANA Resort Hotel and walked to the beach in 5 minutes. Without a car, I had to take a bus around the island. The main gem of a beach is called Kabira with clear, clean water and star-shaped grains of sand. It was an undeveloped beach in a pure state, very peaceful and beautiful. That is in contrast to the downtown area with many izakayas serving Orion beer and souvenir shops selling ceramic shisa figurines. Almost all of the homes in Okinawa have a pair of shisa dragons on the roof or at the entrance. One of the shisa has an open mouth beckoning for good fortune to enter, while the other one has a closed mouth to expel bad fortune. These figures are seen everywhere as spiritual guardians.


The other lyrical touch that I appreciated was constantly hearing the music of the sanshin, I guess Hawaii’s counterpart being the ukulele.


The vibe down there is mellow, and it is a place that needs more tourists to survive economically. This is a great place for students since the costs are low and the warm weather will make it easy to pack a light carry-on suitcase.


Questions:

1) What musical instrument is heard on Ishigaki Island?  

A - ukulele

B – sanshin

C – guitar

 

2) What is special about the sand on Kabira Beach?

A – it has gold in it

B – it smells good

C – there are star-shaped grains of sand

 

3) What Okinawan figure/decoration/guardian is also connected with luck inside and outside the house?

A – Setsubun

B – Maneki Neko

C – Shisa

 

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers

 

 






 

 

 

Answers:

1) B

2) C

3) C

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