We have enjoyed our 2 night stay at one Hundred Days Hotel. Since a cold bug has been with us, we have committed to staying at least 2 nights per stop so that we can get more rest. Barry had a wonderful adventure going off on a ride in search of food and I had a more laid back experience working on the journal (we have been so behind…sorry), having a nap and
beachcombing. Our room is so comfortable and lovely, it was not a hardship to stay behind for the day. Thanks Barry!
We had a lovely spacious balcony with great views.
The young woman who owns and reruns the hotel, helped with the DIY transforming this building to be the gem it has become. She made the 100 mosaic for the entrance.
As we were getting ready to leave, large groups of motorcyclists passed by. She winced and said Thursday to Saturday, it is constant and then it’s quiet again. We wish her well in her business. It is impressive what she has achieved here. She shared with us that she is from Tokyo and had been very successful on TikTok and Instagram, saw this opportunity and the rest is history.
Fishing is a pasttime that so many Japanese people embrace. This fellow is getting ready to head to the beach and we see that he is outfitted for storing his catch in the cooler and a microwave in the back of his Van.
As expected, after the hotel our route went inland and atop the hills for several km. It was a challenge as the gradients were very steep….slowly up and a blinding speed down. Thankfully there wasn’t much traffic.
We are mystified at the popularity of spam in Japan.
There are so many things we love about Conbinis….good bathrooms, ATM’s which accept foreign debit and credit cards, fresh food and groceries….and last but not least, great coffee. I am hooked on having one coffee per day and it is a small latte from a Conbini. Barry prefers a large black coffee. Yum.
Before we got to the bridge, we saw that a Michi-no-Eki was up ahead. We haven’t seen one for some time so we stopped. It was excellent with a park for kids to play, good food plus local food and crafts.
Indeed, the tunnel is incorporated with the bridge. We are so impressed by the cement reenforcement done alongside roads to stop erosion in steep areas.
There is no doubt that our ride today has been punctuated with large climbs, but it has been a glorious ride with incredible scenery. Such variety in a few km.
As we were approaching the enormous American base, Camp Schwab, we were perplexed why Japanese guards were standing by the gates. They were very solemn and were uncharacteristically somber and not smiling as we rode past. We recalled reading about a terrible situation whereby a member of the military who is from Camp Schwab had recently raped a 13 year old Japanese girl and was found guilty. Sadly this is not an isolated incident as there have been several other kidnappings, beatings and rapes of young local girls by US military here. A bit of further history re Camp Schwab. Last year at this time, a thousand locals had gathered outside this Marine Corps base to protest construction to create a military runway from reclaimed sea bottom. The Japanese Government approved the permits despite the Okinawan governor’s refusal to grant permits. All of this combined with over 30,000 Americans stationed on Okinawa makes for a difficult situation for local Okinawans who feel disenfranchised by the imbalance.
These banners that are across from Camp Schwab relate to the most recent incident of rape. Before the trial, thousands of Okinawans positioned themselves here, staged protests and camped out by the road. It is clearly still a volatile situation.
When we arrived at our accommodation we couldn’t get in as there was no one there. We were suppose to have received emails from the owner but nothing had come in. A sign on the door said to phone her number but we don’t have only have internet access on our phones when we travel. In desperation we decided to go across the road and knock on the door of a neighbour to see if we could use their phone. We walked in her gate and we heard this voice calling out to us, and there she was kneeling under a bush pruning it. She truly took us under her wing and made sure we would be ok. A lovely interaction. This hibiscus is part of her garden. And oh yes, it turns out that the key was in the mailbox outside the unit. The problem was that we didn’t know which unit was ours. No worries, we are now established.
