Habu snake
August 9th, 2009Another Wikipedia image.
Poisonous snake native of Okinawa, talked about far more often than seen, though it was no secret they lived out in the sugarcane.
I never saw one in the wild, once in captivity. While not something anyone would care to tangle with, they are over-hyped. Have killed a few people though, nothing to mess with -- will at least land you in the hospital, though fatalities are rare today. In 1910 the mongoose was introduced to Okinawa to control them & promptly became a pest itself; the Japanese want to eradicate mongoose, as they kill endangered birds.
Some info, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trimeresurus_flavoviridis
Legal stuff: Author: Al Coritz. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled "GNU Free Documentation License".
Banana spider
August 9th, 2009OK, yet another Wikipedia image. The variant on Okinawa looks a little different from this monster, but essentially the same. Some could cover the hand with legs left over (not that I tried it!).
They are one big spider; when I worked for the Service on Okinawa I heard stories of them attacking people, but consider such unverified. While I wouldn't recommend getting bitten, they are nowhere near as toxic as, say, a black widow, and mostly a painful annoyance. I fed a few bugs to banana spiders.
Some info, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_silk_orb-weaver
Legal stuff: User Shreeg88, Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike license versions 2.5, 2.0, and 1.0.
Sugar cane
August 9th, 2009OK, another image I stole from Wikipedia. It grows wild all over the island; saw enough when I lived on Okinawa & this trip, But no nice photos.
Legal stuff: Attribution: User Hgrobe, Wikipedia. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.5 License. In short: you are free to share and make derivative works of the file under the conditions that you appropriately attribute it, and that you distribute it only under a license identical to this one. Official license. -- End legal stuff.
Ornate Okinawan grave
August 9th, 2009OK, a public domain image I stole from Wikipedia.
Saw a zillion of these when I lived here, and a few on this trip, but could get no nice photos.
Where Anne Tibbitts & Dean Moore used to live, Okinawa?
August 9th, 2009Where Anne Tibbitts & Dean Moore used to live, Okinawa? Y-57? Looks right. Dan thought it right.
The scene of many a poetry reading, including, of course, the GREATEST POEM EVER WRITTEN IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, "Pretty Little Officer's Wife," by Anne Tibbitts & Dean Moore:
- Pretty little officer's wife
- Her life has no stress or strife
- And then one day,
- with her husband away
- She slashed her wrists with a knife.
Ahh, Anne's poetry readings. A fond memory.