and local beer, snorkels and flippers and a bottle of vinegar to treat potential habukurage—box jellyfish—stings). We headed up the coast, and it took approximately 17 minutes before the floor of the rental car was coated in a ‘let’s-hope-wedon’t-need-to-pay-extrafor-this’ layer of sand. But we didn’t care. We were carefree. It was 2013, the summer of Two Door Cinema Club, and, for the next 48 hours, it was just us and the open road. “This is the life,” we quipped to each other knowingly, for we had unlocked the secret to the universe. We gazed over the East China Sea at Hirakubosaki, the far-northern tip of the island marked by a lighthouse, and indulged our eyes and our stomachs during a picnic at the gorgeous Tamatorizaki viewpoint. Happily, Sunset Beach delivered what it promised and we were able to tick ‘frolicking with butterflies’ off our bucket list at tranquil Banna Park. Yonehara Beach gave 48 us a pleasant afternoon of General Bumming About, before we gorged on beniimo, the region’s famous bright-purple sweetpotato tarts, washed down with tangy shikwasa juice, made from the small, green citrus fruit native to Okinawa. Between all the frolicking and gorging and bumming, we also took the time to brush up on our basic first aid, given everything on the island and in the water could potentially kill us. We had been right in thinking vinegar would alleviate the searing pain of a habukurage sting, however, we discovered that with certain other creature bites, it would actually make things worse. The long list of emergency treatments included sucking out the venom, never sucking out the venom and drinking the tears of a virgin while bareback riding a unicorn. Alas, these are the risks you accept when your flirt with freedom and annual leave. From Ishigaki, it was a 40-minute ferry ride to Iriomote Island, which has been described as Japan’s “last frontier”. If you’ve ever wanted to really get off the grid—live like Jack and Kate and Hurley in the untamed recesses of J.J. Abrams‘s mind— Iriomote is the place to go. Home to just over 2,000 people,
the island is mostly dense jungle and mangrove forest. Mother Nature has really gone to town here, giving us hidden waterfalls to hike to, rivers to kayak, mountains to climb, coral reefs to snorkel, and constellation-filled skies to sleep under. We spied iridescent blue lizards, ridiculously beautiful butterflies, stoic eagles, rowdy geckos, slippery river eels, waterfearing turtles and fish and coral and anemone of every colour imaginable. The elusive yamaneko, or mountain cat, found only in this tiny corner of the planet was, however, not to be spied. The mostly deserted 58 km road that runs halfway around the island is perfect for wind- in-hair scooter daytrips to isolated beaches, like Hoshisuna-no-hama, where the sand is shaped like tiny stars (truly!). Every morning we’d set out with our snorkel gear, beach towel and picnic supplies of avocados, tomatoes and 200yen pineapples picked up from honour-system stalls on the side of the road. Every evening we’d return sandy, sun-kissed and just that little bit more at one with nature. Or perhaps that was how we justified coming to accept that a swim was as good as a shower, and the need to brush our hair was now redundant. We were also pleasantly surprised to find ourselves smack-bang in the middle of the ‘sagaribana’ flowering season. These unique trees blossom only at night and, by dawn, the flowers have dropped. They hang in bunches and, between their enchanting perfume and their almost phosphorescent appearance, it was fun—in a nerdy kind of way—to imagine we were standing in a magical grove on Pandora. Star-gazing had become our favourite evening pastime and we quickly fell into nature’s
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September Issue 2013