Amami, island of the morning calm.
I don't even eat breakfast at home, here I eat fried fish and sausage at 7am.
Fried fish is part of a traditional Japanese breakfast. On Okinawan islands I usually got spam ("not for me" is the nicest I can say) so sausage is a nice change, though I would rather leave it out all together.
Owner-cook said the mackerel came from the waters round Kagoshima.
Took the ferry to neighbouring island Kakeroma and spent the afternoon at a beach there.
A giant cement emperor slit shell greets tourists
Someone said to me "Why take so long to get to Amami? You could go to other places in Asia. Cheaper, too."
Thanks for going there, and leaving me this all to myself. The photo above is a nightmare scenario for us.
The best beach is an empty one.
One minute it was burning hot like standing under a magnifying glass in the sun, then the next minute the rain came down in buckets. Took shelter in a tiny shrine up a hill where we ate our lunch. The guesthouse owner made us rice balls filled with leftover seaweed/salted fish etc.
Looking down at the village as we ate our simple but delicious rice balls.
Went back down to the beach after the rain. Many crabs scrammed as we approached, and they were so fast. This one held its breath waiting to see what I would do next.
Had a "sundowner" (or 3) on my deck during golden hour
Views from our room
The room here. Have stayed in traditional tamami room like this a bunch of times. Sit/eat/sleep on the floor hurts my back a lot as I'm not used to it. Ladder to the small loft. (We've moved it sideway leaning against the wall.)
Dinner as the sun was reaching the horizon. It gets very dark very fast after that.
Sashimi
One of the common fish in these waters. I was told it's OK to eat the head, bones and all.
3 tiny fish (cooked in a different way but I forgot to ask how)
Salted fish on soft tofu
Strips of pig's ear in a sour brine
Braised daikon and pork belly
I put the dishes closer together for the photo then put them back when done. In Japan they are particular about the position of each dish on the table.
I brought these from home for the owner. He was very surprised and happy. Okinawan cookery book I bought in Okinawa on a previous trip. In top right corner is some chocolate candies given to me by someone but I eat no chocolate under 99 or 100% cacao content. Also brought with me Okinawan fermented tofu but forgot to get it out of the bag for this photo. Gave it to him later, which he said he also liked to eat it. Many mainland Japanese hate this fermented tofu and can't eat it at all.
I bought the pumpkins recently. Took 3 small ones in my rucksack all the way here.
@Kerala, it's my third visit to Japan. Thanks.
@KennethT, these snacking ones are small, size of small whelks. Pierce the protruding meat using a toothpick and pull it out. It comes out of the shell in one fluid whirl, usually. Texture is a lot like octopus, tastes sweetish and briny.
