Three (not so convincing) reasons for untimely renovation

We are in the middle of renovating our house. With the help of a young but experienced carpenter, we are stripping off old walls and floors and replacing them with new ones. We are making new storage spaces and additional shelves, although we are planning to tear down the house in a couple of years and build a new one on the same site. People would think, quite fairly, we are out of our minds. It is indeed a crazy undertaking. 

There is a Japanese phrase that you have to build three houses before you build a house that really satisfies you. Obviously, we don't have money for two houses of trial and error and the house we are planning to build is our first and hopefully our last. One of the reasons for renovating the house at this unusual timing is to experiment with some of the ideas we are considering incorporating into the new house. They may not work and it is better to know that sooner rather than later. And with less costs. 

Another reason is the effect the renovation has on our psyche. We have realized that it is not only the house we are renovating. Our minds too are being renovated in the process. There must be some powerful link between the two because we are more positive and upbeat persons now, despite the deplorable dent in our savings due to the renovation.

The renovation is also a homage to the house with an extraordinary history of half a century that we have been lucky enough to live in, first as renters and eventually as owners, the tale of which I will tell some other time.

Stroke of fate

We wouldn't be here without him. Our life wouldn't be the same without knowing him. He was a potter and he was the reason we came to the island. 

Okinawa is not our native land. My husband and I are both from the mainland Japan and born and bred in its climate and culture, which are quite different from those of Okinawa. But a fateful encounter with the artist, Seisho Kuniyoshi, brought us here a decade ago.

I came to know about Mr. Kuniyoshi in a small magazine article. Even before I finished reading it, I was struck by an overwhelming desire to meet him, a wish that came true a while later. On a beautiful day of July, 1998, we arrived in Okinawa, without knowing the trip would change our life for ever. The moment we set foot on the island, strange nostalgia hit both of us and by the end of the day, we decided to live in Okinawa.

Mr. Kuniyoshi was a gentleman and a man of great sincerity although he was too modest to let people know he was and seemed comfortable with his public image as an eccentric artist. My husband and I admired him for his personality as much as for his genius. We hoped our budding relationship would last long, but after two more visits and several exchanges of letters, he suddenly departed this world. 

Almost ten years have passed since his tragic death, but whenever I look at his works, my mind still goes back to the moments we shared. I particularly remember asking him what matters most to him as an artist. His answer was "singing in my own voice." Undoubtedly, he found his own voice and sang in it in his remarkable creations.

Quiz of the day

When I was taking an evening walk around my neighborhood the other day, three unidentified objects grabbed my attention. What do you think they are? They are not one-piece dresses as I initially thought. The answer is two photos below.

The house is at the start of this lovely footpath. 

They are bath towels! What a fun way to hang your bath towels!

Land of unintentional art - I

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. The wise words ring especially true when I stroll the streets of Okinawa.

Most people look for the beauty of Okinawa in its emerald blue seas which some claim are among the world's best, its lush forests with subtropical flora, or its streetscapes reflecting the island's unique climate, culture and history. 

But for me, the greatest joy of exploring Okinawa lies in delightful encounters with "unintended art" that is everywhere on the isle. These art pieces are usually hidden in most unexpected places like walls, roofs, or fences of houses, mom-and-pop shops, or deserted buildings. They have been created by chance and are totally unintentional. Their creators would give you a bewildered look if you praise their accomplishments. 

I immensely enjoy this secret treasure hunting, although admittedly the passion is not always shared by people around me. 

Look at the photo above. I wonder why those pillars (are they pillars?) had to be placed so abnormally. They could have been placed a little more vertically or horizontally. To the nagging question, a friend of mine offered a brilliant theory. He said the person who did the job probably didn't want to bother to cut the timbers to make them fit the size of the wall. 

Here is a great patchwork of tin roofs. What the hell is the blue box doing up there, by the way? Any guesses? 

Greetings!

I'm thrilled to finally join the blogosphere with the (rather belated) start of my own blog, Okinawa Diary. This blog is a collection of photos of and essays about anything which attracts my attention and piques my curiosity in my life in Okinawa, a subtropical island in southwestern Japan. I hope this little blog will find readers in various corners of the world and be a fun place to visit for them just like numerous blogs out there that give me so much inspiration.