Don't Know Much About History?

Welcome to Okinawan History class! A few basic facts to get us started today: Japan is divided into 47 prefectures, which are comparable to states. Prefectures have capital cities and governors and such. Okinawa is the southernmost prefecture, and includes hundreds of the Ryukyu Islands. The main island in Okinawa Prefecture is Okinawa, and the capital city is Naha. Naha is a fairly modern city, since most of the city had to be rebuilt after the widespread destruction from the Battle of Okinawa.

One day last month, Maddox and I headed to Naha to visit the Okinawa Prefectural Museum. Before entering the museum building, we explored a traditional Okinawan home, with shaded porches, many sliding doors for maximizing the breeze, an altar, and tatami rooms.

The roofs are covered with clay tiles and the home is guarded by a Shisa.

Upon entering the museum, we were pleased to find that they had free iPods with audio guides in English. While there were many written descriptions in English, the audio made it more engaging. Or, for Maddox, it was an opportunity to study foreign language by immersion. "Mom! I am listening to the guide in Korean! Cool, right?" 

Here is Maddox posing in front of a display about Minatogawa Man. At this point in the tour she was fairly fluent in Korean.

Minatogawa man is a prehistoric ancestor, dating from roughly 16,000 to 14,000 BCE. There were four skeletons found just south of Naha in a limestone quarry in the late 1960s. These are some of the oldest remains ever found in East Asia. Maddox was intrigued by their height (or lack thereof) and thought it was funny that she was almost as tall as a grown up. The archaeologists think these poor specimens were shot with arrows, cannibalized, and thrown in a dump. It's nice to see them getting some better treatment posthumously.

The museum's exhibits spanned millennia, and included information about WWII and about the post-war agreement. Okinawa remained under U.S. control until 1972 when it returned to Japanese administration. I don't know if "control" is the precise term; Wikipedia terms it "military occupation". Regardless of the name, the relationship is a complicated one. However, I am struck each day by how welcoming everyone has been towards us. Kindness is not complicated. There is much more to say and to learn about post-war Okinawa, but some of my thoughts are best shared in future posts detailing visits to peace memorials.

After lunch and a quick trip to Toys R Us (conveniently across the street from the museum), Maddox and I spent time in the discovery area of the museum, a good place for children to learn in a hands-on environment. Here she is trying out castanets, or as Zoe calls them, "those clicky things".

She also had the chance to play the sanshin (above). The woman working there tried to teach her "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" which held her attention for a few minutes, but then she hurried over to the dress up area once it was available.

My favorite part of this outfit, aside from that grin, are the goggles that were worn by fishermen "in the olden days" when they were swimming around with nets or spear-fishing. The "frames" are wooden, and they are tied with a string. Perhaps Maddox could give them a try for the Garrett Farms Gators one summer.

We wandered a bit more through some sculptures outside that were cool, but about which I have no intelligent commentary. 

Visiting a history museum that is an hour away is a benefit of sabbatical and of our decision to homeschool Maddox while we are here. In real life, I wouldn't do this. An hour's drive for a museum that may or may not be worth it? On a precious weekend day? To an exhibit that Zoe would immediately decide was boring? The challenge when we return from sabbatical is to figure out ways to maintain the sense of exploration and create enough space in our routine life to still have the opportunity for some unusual field trips. Especially ones that will allow Maddox to practice her Korean.