the ferry to Okunojima

The Japanese do campin right! A big group of us (gaijin and nohonjin - foreign and japanese) headed out yesterday morning to Okunojima - an island about 15 minutes from Mihara.

The island is now a peaceful resort, it looks like Jurassic Park - very lush; with views of Inland islands. It used to be a secret island - not on maps or anything - where the Japanese made poisonous gas from the early 20th century until the end of WWII. Now there is a museum and monuments that commenmorate all the workers and rabbits who died or were affected by the production of mustard gas. The rabbits were set free after the factory was closed and now roam free on the island. There are thousdands of them sleeping and frolicking along the paths, in the shrines and all around the campsites. Bunnies more than any other animal I think, need adverbs. The do not sit - they flop. The do not run but lollop about. They are very tame and will quitely sidle up to you, noses twitching and eat straight from you hand. The ones by the campsites are fat and velvety. The ones up in the hills are a little more rugged so I made a point of feeding them lots.

The island is covered in wooden walk paths that lead you up to the very top of the hills and all around the coastline. The views are stunning, the inland sea is a milky teal colour and perfectly warm. I spent happy hours reading The Great Gatsby on the mossy ground surrounding the island temple and also on the beach - a tiny patch of sand which i had to share with hoards of frolicking kids. We went for a swim at night and the ocean was teeming with phosperesence (sp?). I felt like a Harry Potter character, cutting silver lines in the black water with the silouettes of mountauns all around.

The campsite, like everything in the country, is clean and super organised. We set up our tents in a straight stripe looking out over the sea. I was aware that as a South African, used to tonnes and tonnes of braai meat, I may be a little dissapointed by a Japanese BBQ, but no! I was well impressed. For meat we had tender little medallions of beef that came off the braai super tender. Instead of marinading they went onto the fire flavourless and we then dipped them into a variety of deeply delicious sauces. After the meat came yakisoba - onions and cabbage fried down to sweet strings that are then added to noodles and fried again. We had this for dinner in the leftover meat juices on our plates and then again for breakfast on thick slices of white bread, with scrambled eggs and mayonnaise. So good!

One feels a great triumph swimming in a new sea. The inland sea was no dissapointment. I kept having to remind myself to take it all in - the view of mountains and islands, the little fishing boats buzzing lazily along and big tankers going about their business in the distance. I got horribly sun-burned (sorry mom) - thats what you get for falling asleep on the beach. It was well worth it.

I will definitely go back to Oukonojima in the autumn and spring to watch the bunnies go about their business under the colourful trees. For more pics of bunny island check my flickr account.

What fun I did have. The weekend made me want to buy a tent and a camping chair and do the whole of Asia from campsite to campsite. Coming home to Mihara I felt that sense of achievement one feels after camping - i did it! Also the feeling of fantasy, that not an hour before you were in a wrold without buildings or trains, just watching the sea go in and out on an island where bunnies rule supreme.