Domo Arigato Mrs. Roboto: Fun times in Okinawa- Part 2

Tombs

When you get to Okinawa and get a chance to explore the island one of the things you notice right away is the tombs. They line the hills and streets and can be seen in a variety of sizes nearly everywhere on the island- seriously, they're everywhere you look. These tombs serve as ancestral vaults for holding the remains of the deceased in carefully arranged urns.
In Okinawa, there is a strong belief that ancestral spirits are always nearby, observing the daily life of their descendants. This belief brings an annual observance where living family members gather at family tombs to pray, pay repose to their ancestral spirits, and feast on offerings prepared by each family.
There are two types of tombs you will see while in Okinawa: the turtleback tomb and the gable type. The turtleback tomb is easy to spot due to its distinctive shape (which resembles the back of a turtle's shell) while the gable type tomb looks more like a house. These tombs are also built in the shape of a woman's womb. Buddhists believe the reasoning behind this is to return the deceased back to where they originally came from: the womb.

Here are a few photos...

Turtleback Tombs

Gable type

Cemetery

Foot Binding & Lotus Slippers

I know foot binding was practiced in China and I'm in Japan but this experience is still one that I want to share.

Another piece of history that smacked me in the face when I got here was that of foot binding. Soon after arriving some of the wives took me to an antique shop and I came across a pair of lotus slippers which are the tiny shoes worn by girls and women with bound feet.
I'd heard of foot binding but I didn't really know about it. I didn't know the ideal measure of a woman's foot was 3.5in and that girls as young as Charlie (4yrs old) literally had their feet broken and bound and then broken and re-bound many times over the course of many years to reach the desired length and shape. I didn't know that bound feet was essentially "the" standard for beauty. I didn't know that the prevailing belief was that the only right thing to do for your daughter was to bind her feet so that she could marry and be taken care of. I didn't know that in the 1,000yrs that foot binding was practiced as many as 1billion women had their feet bound.
Anyway when I came across these tiny little shoes that so many women had to wear my heart broke. I felt a deep sadness for what these women went through, which was immediately followed by a sense of gratitude that I entered this world in the time and place that I did. The feeling is hard to explain... I don't know... I get the same feeling when I read accounts of slavery, if that makes sense.
Anyhow I was compelled to buy a pair. Actually I bought 2 pair. One pair had never been worn, while the other pair was broken and busted at the seams. I keep them at the top of my closet because Marcus is grossed out by them. But I take them down every now and then and take a good hard look at them to remember what people on this earth had to endure and to remind myself of how fortunate I am.

These pictures say it all...

This is my foot next my pair of never worn lotus slippers.

I wear sizes 8.5 & 9.

These are Charlie's feet with the same pair.
Remember, these shoes were intended for a grown woman...Charlie wasn't even 4yrs old when I took these pictures.