Thermodynamics Rule #1 - “Cold camera + hot moist Okinawan air = instant fogged lens”
If you’re anything like me and sleep with the air conditioner cranked up to the max, you camera will be nice and cool the next morning. Consequently when you leave your hotel room and whip out your camera to photograph the first lovely subject you see, you’ll think you’ve gone blind because you won’t be able to see anything through your view finder. Your lens and viewfinder will be covered with condensation until your camera achieves temperature equilibrium with the surrounding ambient air.
This takes time and patience. In the meantime your lovely subject will probably get bored and wander away for cooler haunts. Meanwhile, you will have no choice but to wait for your camera to get that warm and fuzzy feeling while you dissolve into a lump of sweaty, dripping human ectoplasm. Hey, nobody ever said that photography was easy!
To ease your suffering, seek out the nearest Starbucks and order a grande frappucino. I’ve found Starbucks located on Kokusai Dori across from Heiwa Dori, at the San-A Main Place Shopping Center and at Jusco in Oroku. Just be advised that you may have to order 2 since everything in Japan is down-sized (except, apparently, for sumo wrestlers and the current generation of high school kids) and “grande” in Japan translates to tall size in America.
Thermodynamics Rule #2 - “You’ll know it’s hot when even the Okinawans are sweating”
The difference is that they pull out little handkerchiefs and use them to wipe their faces and necks. I, on the other hand, wear a furo towel draped over my neck and use it to furiously swab every bit of my anatomy that I can reasonably reach while still maintaining a modicum of public decency. I found that grocery stores make really great refuges from the heat, especially the fresh meat, seafood and produce sections which are kept refrigerated. You go in and pretend you’re shopping for dinner and sample the demonstration foods while you’re really just waiting for your body’s core temperature to drop to something resembling normalcy.
Thermodynamics Rule #3 - “For cheap thrills, ride the Yui Rail”
The air conditioning in the monorail cars feels wonderful! And it’s not very expensive if you buy an all day pass for 600 yen. Since each segment of the ride starts at 200 yen, after 3 segments every additional ride that day is free! An even better deal is the 3-day pass which costs 1400 yen. After just 7 segments (and you can easily do that in one day) every ride is free. And at the end of the time period you get to keep the ticket, which has a color photo of the Yui Rail train, as a souvenir of your visit. The place to buy these passes is at the Kencho-mae station, but be prepared in case the station attendant doesn’t speak English. A 1-day pass is “ichinichi joshaken”, while a 3-day pass is “mikka joshaken”. Heck, order in Japanese anyway; it sounds so cool to say “ichinichi”!
As I rode the Yui Rail to Jusco today, we passed Onoyama Park and the fair grounds are nearly set up. I think I’ll go back there tonight to see if the fair has started. If not, then I’ll just continue on to Jusco for dinner. Why not? I’ve got a 3-day pass, after all!