German Culture Village and Miyako Rock Festival

Saturday, Saturday, Saturday! Ako returns home with Rito back into Tokyo and we take her back to the Miyako Airport today. The airport’s pretty nice inside, with many interesting things to see and manage to snap some shots despite that I couldn’t get a picture with Ako.


Miyakojima (Miyako Island) model at the airport

Inside Miyako Airport (to drop Ako off)


My host mom was planning to take us to a buffet at a German Culture Village (not kidding!) in Miyakojima with our relatives. Driving is always a beauty on the island, you can see the ocean on the horizon over the afternoon sun. We arrive in the village and go into a hotel (we’re not checking in, just eating) and I shout “Guten Tag”. No one understands me, but I do manage to draw some attention from people whose eyes are fixed on me, amazed and wondering if I’m German from the two words I had just shouted. We find our table and begin eating.


Heading to the German Culture Village





German Culture Village in Ueno with the Welcome sign in German


Inside the buffet


My first plate

Lots of pasta! Yummy! The first non-Japanese dinner I’ve eaten in a few days—it was great (though I do like Japanese cuisine). Even my adored garlic toast was there. I grab my second plate, and my hands get scortched by hot water after a staff member was replacing a meal and the water dripped on my hand. She apologized and I tell her it’s okay (I found out she speaks English after living in the US for 22 years in Colorado when I ask her where the bathroom was a couple minutes later!).

After the second plate as I was grabbing my third one, I happened to stumble on an item I wanted to try.



It said “本日のスープ” (Honjitsu no Soup) which meant “Today’s soup”.

It looked good, but why was it clear (click picture to enlarge)? Whatever, it must be good. I grab a rice bowl (another mistake I—a foreigner—make, as rice bowls are supposed to be used for rice). I bring it over back to the table and Yuki-san laughs me from the wrong bowl. I was startled when she tells me I used the wrong bowl, and I “Eh? Maji de?” (Huh, really? [slang]). We laugh and the waiter that burned my hand earlier tells us that it’s okay to use that bowl for soup since it was a European buffet.

I sample the soup, and I’m baffled at its flaver. Tastes like water. This isn’t soup. Or is it? It looked perfectly like soup! Yuki-san finally notices what I’m doing and tells me it’s actually NOT soup. It’s water (yappari! – I knew it!) used to clean the scoop/spoon (?) for the soup (which is in the other closed jar). We burst into laughter and the waitress comes back and asks us about why we’re laughing. She joins along. The real soup was in the left, closed, metal jug in the picture.

I finally get the right soup this time and spent the last 10 minutes eating that and dessert. After eating, I happened to bring my PSP along and there is WiFi near the door, as the sign reads. Dang, it doesn’t work.



View of the ocean through the window of the buffet

Next, we head to a video store to buy tickets for the Miyako Rock Festival and return home.


We happen to stumble on a patrol car
(沖縄県警察 - Okinawa Ken Keisatsu; Okinawa Prefecture Police)


Front of the ticket


Back of the ticket

On the way home, Yuki-san asks if I’m sleepy, I tell her no (since car rides on long roads are so soothing). It was about 2:30 PM when we arrived home, and I told Yuki-san I wanted to leave at 3:30 PM. I watch TV with Yuki-san and, bummer, I fell asleep on the spot. I woke up the exact time I wanted to leave, Kana and Kumi-san were waiting for me at the beach (where the concert was) and called us that Puffy (Puffy Amiyumi is a famous Japanese band) was performing. Gah! I rush over and Yuki-san drops me off at the spot and I find the two waiting for me.

I asked if I can take photos, and they tell me it’s dame (ダメ= dah-meh), meaning no good, or in a more natural translated way, you can’t. I did manage to see Puffy perform but didn’t take photos. Suddenly, I see two concert staff running in with a stretcher. In the hot beach, I’m assuming someone is having heat exhaustion. They run past me and run back this time with a young girl having a seizure. Everyone near me has their eyes fixed on her instead of Puffy performing. I’m horrified since I’ve never seen someone like this before and wonder if she’s okay (most likely is after receiving medical attention). This told me too that I had to be careful (2 more people fainted/had head exhaustion during the festival).

When Ellegarden and the other bands (including Funky Monkey Babys) perform, I told myself that’s it. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity and just pulled out my camera. Everyone was waving their (Japanese) fans in sync with the beat as the performers performed. I pulled out my fan (provided upon entry free of charge), raised my camera over the crowd and placed the fan behind my camera so that no staff members could see I was taking a picture (and a video sometime after).

Ellegarden performing


Second shot at Ellegarden


Kumi-chan and me (: The background lighting made us look dark


Everytime after a band performs, the stage undergoes testing. I found it rather funny. (The tester is shouting "hey! hey!")


湘南乃風 (Shounan no Kaze - Shounan's Breeze) performing

Second shot at 湘南乃風 (Shounan no Kaze)


Funky Monkey Babys performing (remember them from school?)


Second picture of Funky Monkey Babys

I meet some friends of mines from Miyako High and dance along with them. I perhaps danced a little too much and too hard, my legs were sore for 4 days.

After that, Shounan no Kaze (湘南乃風) performed for about 20 minutes, and at the end of the song, people were really hyped up and shouted アンコレ ("Encore!") for another go at the song, and I joined along as well. And soon enough after exiting the stage, Sounan no Kaze went back out and played for all of us another song. What a crowd :)



I do recall somewhere during the Rock Festival of myself shouting something in English (I was rooting for a band) that really stole everyone's attention because I looked Japanese and they least expected an American in the crowd. I just don't remember what though....




Empty stage at the end

The festival finally finishes at 8 and I return home with Kana and Kumi (they are friends of Yuki-san) in Kana’s (rather awesome) car. High-tech inside. Foot lighting, and a nice TV between the driver and passenger seat.

Ako's cool car (:

I return home, eat dinner, shower and head to bed.