YES! The blog is slightly lagging behind… still reporting about Iriomote some two weeks ago!! who said internet is immediate ??
So this island also has its marathon (note that ten days ago it was the turn of neighbouring island!), half-marathon to be precise… joking that to arrange a full marathon, one would need to run several times around the island – joke!
We started helping the Oohama who were preparing some onigiri 🍙 (rice balls, made here with mix of white and black rice). Kazushige also got some ice, bananas, salt, sugar and other local products. We helped also build an improvised stand, decorated with origami:
The general spirit is relaxed, not a real race but more to have fun and get everyone to participate….
In the evening we joined a huge party to celebrate the marathon… there were lots of people, probably the whole island and many from neighbouring island too.
On a stage we got music and dancing, local groups and special groups from Okinawa.
The crowd was sitting down all around the place, eating and watching the show…
Two big old fishing boats were loaded with sashimi and brought in for everyone to help themselves freely! Yes!! fresh sashimi for free! we took our share, but reasonably….
Again a memorable experience!
To return to our village coaches were organised so no one had to drive!
That was a nice way to end our stay in Iriomote
Time to say goodbye to the Oohama’s
And bye bye to Iriomote…
We hopped from Iriomote to Ishigaki…
Had time for an express visit to Taketomi island (dead flat), so small it can be done by bike in half a day…
Walls are likely to protect from wind, on such a flat island.
Changed plane at Naha (Okinawa), then overnighted in Kagoshima.
A short night and then we took the first hydrofoil boat to Yakushima – https://www.google.com/maps/place/Yakushima
Yakushima here we come …
To be on the map:
So still pretty south…
