Fantastic Okinawa

Ie Island Easter Lily fields invite to annual festival

By Bill Charles

Get ready to grab the camera, pilefamily and friends in the car andput a trip to Ie Island on the cal-endar for this weekend to take in

a million Easter Lilies rolling into fullbloom on the northwest Okinawa island.

April 18th marks the start of the 20thannual Yuri Matsuri, the Ie lsland LilyFestival, showcasing more than one millionteppoyuri, or Easter Lilies, that are avibrant symbol of this small island. Thetiny island of 5,000 inhabitants becomes amini-metropolis for a couple weeks –thefestival runs through Golden Week andends May 6th– as tens of thousands of visi-tors pay homage to the fragrantly sweetlilies.

Ie Island is located west of Motobu onthe northwest coast just west of Nago City.The festival builds to its crescendo duringits final week, which coincides with theGolden Week, one of Japan’s principal hol-iday periods. Ie Island swells with visitorsflocking to the flowers, and to the action-packed entertainment schedule thatincludes taiko drum and Eisa dance per-formances at Ie Lily Field Park.

For all but the two festival weeks, IeIsland is a farming island, perhaps bestknown to Americans for the monumenterected in honor of war correspondentErnie Pyle, who was killed in a hail ofJapanese machine gun fire on the islandApril 18th, 1945, during the battle ofOkinawa. The monument is only one ofthree tribute monuments permitted toremain following Okinawa’s 1972 rever-sion to Japanese control. Tobacco is amajor crop, while cattle are raised on the20-kilometer circumference island.Fishing and fish farms are also Ie Islandenterprises. Also a part of Ie Island life is aU.S. military airstrip manned by a smallgroup of American servicemen.

Make no mistake, though. Lilies arethe centerpiece and visitors can wander thepaths at will, stopping to take pictures, lis-ten to the soothing sounds of the water sur-rounding the eight-square-mile island, andeven pausing for a food and beverage breakat one of the many vendor stands. And it’smore than lilies. Ie Island is known for itsdaffodils, hibiscus and chrysanthemums,all floral delights. To one end of the lilyfields there’s even a small petting farmwhere youngsters enjoy ostriches, ponies,

pigs, goats, chickens and more.Festival opening ceremonies are at 11

a.m. Saturday, with local brass bands andkids’ Sumo competition kicking off shortlyafter noon. The following Saturday, the25th, the festival gets Golden Week goingin style with a Hanayakara dance perform-ance (Ryukyu traditional style childdancers) at 1:15 p.m. and Suguru Ikedamusic live at 7 p.m. Sunday evening the26th, Civilian Skunk is on stage at 6:30p.m., and the Dynamites, the house bandfor the Gold Disc oldies club in Naha, areon stage at 7 p.m. All entertainment isfree.

Pop music performances by Okinawanyoung singers take place on Saturday, May2nd, while Okinawan traditional music andfolk songs fill the stage on Sunday. OnMonday, look for Eisa performances at thefestival, and clown Kotora and aHanawarabi Stage with Ryukyu traditionalstyle children’s dancing, on Tuesday the5th.

Visitors can make the trek to Ie Islandany time—and there are no festival chargesuntil the 18th—in a two-part process.Travel along the Okinawa Expressway tothe northern terminus at Kyoda, then on

through Nago City on Highway 58. Turnleft to Motobu on Route 449, heading tothe Motobu Ferry Port. Ferries run fre-quently from Motobu to Ie Island dailybeginning at 9 a.m. At least five runs areavailable daily, but additional runs will bescheduled in the days ahead to handleGolden Week crowds. The last ferriesdepart Ie Island at 5 p.m. or 6:30 p.m.,depending on the day.

Ferry tickets to Ie Island cost ¥1,370round trip for adults, and ¥690 round tripfor kids. The cost for regular cars dependson length, ranging from ¥4,720 ~ ¥9,710.Bicycles are ¥1,180, mopeds cost ¥1,540 ~2,000. Bikes over 125cc are ¥2,480. On IeIsland, bus transportation from the ferryterminal to Ie Lily Park is available at anominal fee.

The Lily Park on Ie Island contains millions of white Easter Lilies now coming to full bloom.

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2Japan Update Classifieds Apr. 16, 2015 - Apr. 22, 2015

Secret to healthier ramen is in chicken brothRamen Ittetsu has been only

two months in business, butis already making its markamong customers looking for

more healthy options while enjoyingtheir ramen.

Since its February grand open-ing, the local community is discover-ing that Ramen Ittetsu is the place togo for tasty, healthy ramen, whichcontains no pork. Ittetsu’s popularbaitang soup, which is made usingonly chicken broth, contains lots ofcollagen, is thick and flavorful and isalso a favorite with female customers.

Ramen Ittetsu -- located outsideCamp Foster’s Navy Hospital Gate nearFutenma Shrine -- serves three types ofnoodles carefully matched to the thebroth they come with. Add the restau-rant’s original spices and chili oil to“heat up” the ramen, and the manager

assures that, “once you get a taste, weguarantee you’ll come back for more!”

Ittetsu’s signature ramen soup is100% chicken-based baitang. Itsumami-rich chicken broth is healthierthan pork bone stock, so no pork- orbeef-based soups here. This addictivebaitang ramen has captivated thelocals' taste buds and beguiled theladies' palates since opening day, andIttetsu is now attracting others with agrand opening campaign that pro-vides coupons good for free gyozadumplings.

Everything is prepared andcooked in the restaurant, such as chilioil and a topping of meltingly tenderroast chicken braised for hours. Don’tforget the excellent side order ofcrisp-fried chicken. The kids havetheir own meal in the menu, too.

The chef’s favorite is Tokusei

Tori Baitang Ramen, a special chick-en-based baitang ramen for ¥1,058including tax. The chicken-basedTori Baitang Ramen is ¥756 includ-ing tax, as is the Tori Shio Ramen, achicken-based salt ramen. The ToriMiso Ramen, a chicken-based misoramen, goes for ¥842.

Ittetsu also offers a specialAjitama Tori Baitang Ramen, anAjitama chicken-based baitangramen, for ¥864. Ajitama is a soft-boiled egg.

Ramen Ittetsu is located at 1-35-7 Aragusuku, Ginowan City.Currently open daily exceptWednesday from 11:30 a.m. ~ 10p.m., the restaurant accepts dollarsand yen. Parking is available. Theowners note that effective May 1st,Ramen Ittetsu will be open sevendays a week.

The 9th Chuko Spring Festival is a per-fect opportunity for visitors and localsto learn about Awamori this weekend,taste some, and even compete in an

Awamori tasting contest in Tomigusuku City.Sponsored by Chuko Distilling Co., one

of the popular Awamori brewing companieson Okinawa that specializes in production ofaged awamori, koshu, the spring festival runsSaturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. ~ 5 p.m. ata special space in front of the ChukoDistilling Co. building, 556-2 Iraha,Tomigusuku City, near the end of the elevatedsouthernmost section of the OkinawaExpressway. Admission and participation isfree.

Many special events are planned for theweekend, with the highlight being drawingsfor two sizes of big ceramic 5.4 and 9 litercasks of Awamori. There are two chances to

win at 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. each day. Peoplewho want to participate in the lottery need tohave a lottery ticket given by every ¥2,000purchase of products.

Other than that, free Awamori tasting anda blind Awamori tasting contest are on tap,and as a preliminary contest of a nationalKaraoke competition at Osaka, a local compe-tition will take place. For children, there aregame booths. Food stalls featuring Yakitori,Soba, Tempura and beers are also set up.Chuko will sell their products including koshu,matured Awamori, and Awamori in ceramiccasks at a special event price. Some will be 50% off the sticker price. And pottery cups, potsand canisters for Awamori, and vases will be30% to 70% off during the event.

Parking space is limited, so Chuko willrun free shuttle busses between the event siteand a temporary parking area.

Chuko Shuzo spring festival is all about Awamori

Experts sample Chuko products at last year's festival.

Ittetsu's Ajitama Baitang Ramen.