Japanese swimming tease.

Konichiwa from Okinawa!

Such a pristine serene marine scene!

However!…

… Looks can be deceiving. Turns out you can’t swim here – under any circumstances, by (natural) penalty of death!…

The beach is peppered with ‘Do not swim!’ signs and pics of all sorts of ghastly poisonous monsters – jellyfish with long tentacles, rock-fish and even snakes. Yikes! And there are plenty of sites on the net that seem to confirm that swimming here is a no-no. I wasn’t so sure though. After all, some sites say walking down the street without a helmet on is guaranteed suicide. So I investigated further…

I had a good long peer along the coast but discovered nothing there out of the ordinary. But then I looked around and saw quite a few heavily-built lifeguards walking about in smart blue shirts. Maybe the threat to life should be taken seriously after all? But I felt more under threat by these guards! Stocky, stone-faced, mysteriously menacing… though they do bow and smile and say konichiwa. Not sure I’d like to be ‘rescued’ by them. I’ll take my chances with the underwater Okinawan threats :).

Bottom line – no swimming. Shame. Maybe next time – in a less guarded and signposted Okinawan spot…

This ‘lovely view, deadly swimming’ lark reminded me of a similar experience: besides scores of signs screaming ‘No swimming! You’ll die!’ or some such were much more convincing signs of danger: every 10 or so meters along the beach were installations that housed… vinegar! Yep, dousing a bite from a ‘stinger’ in vinegar is the best antidote until proper medical help is sought. That was in Australia. You see how the vinegar in the bottle is blue? It’s dyed specially – so folks don’t steal it!

And anyway – it IS possible to swim on Okinawa: I did so on another part of the island in 2009 or thereabouts.

Another ‘anyway’… – what were we doing here? We were here for a large Japanese conference on all things cyber, including cybersecurity. Here’s how we were greeted at the welcoming gig on the eve of the conf. Only in Japan.

https://www.instagram.com/p/95IQKuuic-/

And on that charming local-specific note, I end this mini-series from Japan. I’m now heading home for some time off from hectic business trips in faraway places. Recuperation in the home nation, as it were :).

All the photos from Japan are here.