Friday - March 17, 2017
Update: March 31, 2025

It's always good to have a back-up plan. The primary plan for this Friday was that Michael Martin from Furugen would drive up to meet Michael Lynch from Kin Town and me at Bios on the Hill. That's a place that I had read about and wanted to see this year. Well, the weather dictated otherwise. My primary goal at Bios was to take a ride on the boat through the jungle. Not such a good thing to do when it's raining - if they even take the boats out in the rain. That brings us to Plan B. I spent a little time that morning scoping out other things of interest. While I drank my coffee and ate my Spam & eggs I poured over sites and attractions in Uruma. Remember, Uruma was this year's focus. The Urumaichi Tateishikawa History & Folklore Museum sounded like a good place to stay in from the rain and learn some- thing new. I hoped only that when I got there (assuming I'd find the place) there would be English-language signage. Ima... ikimashou! If you've been following my trip diary videos then you recognized the drive out of Konbu. Usually though, I turn left at that light. In this case I turned right and we're heading north on Rte 255 to find the museum. I had "Google walked" to the museum before leaving the house and had a few notes to remind me how to get there. Between looking for car lots, lumber yard and a dental office I was sure I'd get there, but it turned out that I had to, as usual, turn around after having gone past my destination. But, hey!, I got there! So, after parking I went into the building and approached the first "official-looking" place, a window to a small room occupied by a woman who had been eating her lunch. Ooops! Gomennasai. But she was gracious and pointed me in the right direction. She was a custodial worker who was familiar with everything in that building so she was very helpful. She didn't speak a lick of English and I thought that maybe that didn't bode well for my hopes of finding English-language materials in the museum. We'll see. Never give up hope, eh? I got off of the elevator and was immediately met by some pretty cool displays with signage totally in nihango Apparently I forgot the word "press" when I encountered the sugar cane press on display. Also, the movies that I have of the sugar cane press that I talked about are from the SEVENTIES - not the 80s as I had stated. Tsk! There being no English-language guidance I simply walked through the museum and tried my best to interpret. So, c'mon along and we'll take a look at things together. Anything that you see/read and understand, please... enter your information here and then click "Send it!" Thanks, Mick This clip is of some things that were on display at the reception area, before getting into the museum proper. Included was a cool model of a grain storage building like the one we saw during the Ryukyu Village and the Murasaki Mura visits. I like the way they did the thatched roof. Some other local handicrafts are shown too. Now, moving along to the inner sanctum... The next clips are pretty quick walk-through views which will be followed by photos. Once again, if you can explain and/or interpret some of the information, please send it along to me and I'll include it in this feature. Photos are HERE And then it was all over, and time to leave. Thanks for coming along! Don't forget to check out the 270 photos Questions, comments, critiques? All are welcome. Type here then click "Send it!" Thanks, Mick Back to ClickOkinawa.com ©1996-2025 Contact: ClickOkinawa.com