Fantastic Okinawa

Sakurazaka Asylum 2015

Tony Nakamoto

The picking season for Tankan, a citrusfruit grown especially in the northernregions of Okinawa, is in full swing. Andso is the season on the best known straw-

berry farm on the island. So what better way tospend a day than pack the family in the car, takea drive up north, pick a few bags of the sweetTankan and then swing by Ginoza to indulge instrawberries on strawberry field in Ginoza.

If you have recently driven up north takingroute 84 from Nago towards Churaumi Aquarium,you might notice trees on the hills bear a lot ofyellow fruit. They’re Okinawan tangerines called"Tankan." They’re relatively small, and theirorange-colored skin looks a bit rough and hard topeel off. But once you try a taste of it, I believeyou'll become a big fan of its sour-and-sweettaste.

Tankan ripens from January to March onOkinawa. It's cultivated in many places on theisland but the most famous area is Izumi, MotobuTown on Route 84.

Some orchards in Izumi put a sign on theroad welcoming people to enjoy tangerine pick-ing. But for English speakers, it might be a bitchallenging to communicate well with local farm-ers. In this case, you want go to "Mikan no Sato"information center. It's located on the right side ofthe road heading to the aquarium. It has a tall sign

in front so you can't miss it.Arriving there, say you want to go "Mikan-

gari," meaning tangerine picking. There arealways some farmers waiting for customers toescort. All you have to do is just follow thefarmer's truck to his orchard. Most orchards arelocated within 5 to 10 minutes distance from theinformation center.

At the orchard, you pay admission. It's 250yen for an adult and a child of elementary schoolage or older. Once you enter the orchard, you canpick and eat fruit as much as you want. Trees areusually cut so that most fruit are within yourreach.

Trees getting abundant sun light tend to bearvivid colored sweet tangerines so you'll walkaround the orchard area to find the best tree tobear good fruits. It's really fun.

According to the information center, due toTyphoon No. 19 hit northern part of Okinawa lastOctober, this year's fruits are smaller than usual.But thanks to temperature gap between warm andcold days in autumn, they have ripened well andare sweet.

After you eat your fill at the orchard, it's timeto choose some as souvenirs for your family andfriends or yourself. You pay ¥300 per kilogram,which is about a half of the retail price. Theadmission and take out price is all same through-

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The 8th Sakurazaka Asylum 2015 isbringing an estimated 100Okinawan, mainland Japanese andinternational artists and musicians

to Naha Saturday and Sunday.The festival is a new style music

event, taking place not in a large hall orstage, but instead at some 20 smaller ven-ues, mostly around the Sakurazaka area inNaha. Aside from the events chargingentry fees, there will be food stalls andother sales booths at the site of SakurazakaMarche flea market in Kibogaoka Park.Anyone can participate to the market forfree between 11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. onboth Saturday and Sunday. Popular Nahacafés and stores will participate.

Other than music, Tsutomu Makiya, afilm artist and the pride of Okinawa willhold a wall art projection performance. Theartists will lighten up and create expressiveliving art on the walls of buildings.

Both single and two-day tickets areContinues on page 2

Weekend Sakurazaka Asylum music festival hits Naha

Isamu Shimoji and Yukito Ara are amongthe Sakurazaka Asylum performers.

Tankan, strawberries mark taste of Okinawa winter

Strawberry picking is fun Ripe and waiting for picking. Tangerine trees are often cut to size so everyone can reach the fruit.

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Sunflowers compete with sakura for visitor attention

SakurazakaContinued from page 1available at FamilyMart e-plus,Lawson Ticket, Ticket Pia andSakurazaka Theater. Advance sin-gle day tickets are ¥3,500 whiletwo-day tickets are ¥4,000. Singleday tickets the days of the event are¥4,000,while two-day tickets are¥7,000. The two-day tickets areonly available on Saturday.Participants must also purchasemulti-tickets for use in chargingdrinks at the venues for ¥500 each.

Sakurazaka used to be thelargest nightlife district on Okinawa,bustling with hundreds of bars,snacks, cabarets and theaters afterthe war. Later, the area largely died

out, and stores disappeared since the70s, but it bounced back in the2000s. Sakurazaka has seen a boomresurgence among young peoplethanks to cheaper leases and distinc-tive ambience of the district.Sakurazaka has changed lately, butstill there are a lot of fans of thearea.

There are many artists andstores collaborating with this annualevent. Artists, musicians, stores andvenues can be checked atwww.japanupdate.com/events inEnglish and at the event website inJapanese. Artist information is athttp://www.sakura-zaka.com/asy-lum/2015/artists.html, while infor-mation on the stores is athttp://www.sakura-zaka.com/asy-lum/2015/hall.html.

Bursts of golden yelloware cropping up in thefields ofK i t a n a k a g u s u k u ,

where sunflowers are expectedto be in full bloom in aboutthree weeks, like the colorfulcherry blossoms are in bloomin northern Okinawa thisweek.

According to organizers,the 7th Sunflower inKitanakagusuku event, origi-nally scheduled to start thisweekend, kicks off in ShiosaiPark next to Kitanakagusukuprefectural housing estate, onSaturday, Jan. 28 and runsthrough Mar. 15th. Admissionis free to the festival, which isopen daily 10 a.m. ~ 4 p.m.Parking is limited near thepark, but there’s ample park-ing at the adjacent port.

Details on the venue and park-ing are available athttps://www.facebook.com/Him a w a r i I n K i t a n a k a .Organizers point out that thisyear’ s festival location atShiosai Park is a new venuesite.

Although not yet inbloom because of the coldweather, the carpet of sun-flowers is expected eventuallyto cover the 10,000 squaremeters’ site in about threeweeks. During the event, peo-ple can come to enjoy the sun-flowers any time.

Kitanakagusuku Villageis proud of the sunflowers,and is holding its annualHimawari Festival to cele-brate. Aside from viewingand photographing sunflow-ers, local farmers will be tout-

ing their wares, and foods, andbeverage stands will be inbusiness during the event.

On plantations at Adaniyaand Ogidou, the sunflower,which is indigenous toAmerica before migrating toAsia via Europe in the 16thcentury, is enjoying sunshine’sreturn after being impeded bycool temperatures and rain.

The sunflower’s populari-ty was enhanced when its fla-vorful oils were squeezed outand the product became awidespread cooking ingredient.Sunflower leaves aren’t wast-ed, either, being used for cattlefeed and the fibrous stems forpaper production. Sunflowersoften grow to 1.5~5 meters (5-12’) tall, with the flower petalswithin the sunflower’s clusterare usually in a spiral pattern. Sunflower are pretty, and a valuable crop prized for its oil and seeds.

FLiPMariko Goto